Sometimes you don't get the full picture of the best phones specifications until a few days after launch: time and attention spans are limited, so manufacturers often deliver the headline features and release the rest of the spec later. That happened with the iPhone 13 and it's happened with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 too. One of the specs is a seriously impressive upgrade to the Z Fold's display, joining the rest of its improved specs in making it the best foldable phone Samsung has ever made.
The display in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 includes two new bits of tech, which Samsung calls Eco2 OLED Plus and UPC Plus, and they're both in the phone's main display. Together they make a huge difference to what you see and how long you can see it for.
What is Samsung Eco2 OLED Plus?
Samsung officially demonstrated the two technologies at Korea's K-Display 2022, the country's largest display exhibition. Eco2 OLED Plus is a redesigned OLED panel that transmits more light and consumes less power; in the demo Samsung showed a power reduction of 25%, but claims that consumption can be reduced by as much as 37%. It also increases light transmittance by 160%. More light for less power is great in any phone, but it's particularly important in a foldable phone where space is at even more of a premium.
The other display tech, UPC Plus, is an under-display arrangement that manages to hide the camera sensor behind the screen. In this incarnation it does a better job than before: Samsung says it works at 1.4x higher resolution than it did in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.
When it comes to display technology Samsung has an advantage over many rivals: where the likes of Apple's iPhone 14 and Motorola's Razr 3 use panels bought in from other companies (typically Samsung Display and LG), Samsung's mobile division can work closely with its display division to bring new tech to market more quickly. This is a good example of that: right now Samsung's best foldable has the best display tech of any folding Android phone or iPhone.
