Linux Terminal Finally Hits Galaxy Z Flip 7, Fold 7 Doesn’t Make the Cut

If you’re a power user, here’s another reason to consider the Galaxy Z Flip 7. As it turns out, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is the first non-Pixel phone to support the Linux Terminal app. This app lets you run a full Debian Linux environment inside a virtual machine on your Android device. That gives you access to developer tools that smartphones miss out on.

Galaxy Z Flip 7 finally gets Linux Terminal app

The Linux Terminal app uses the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF), which came with Android 13. Although AVF has been around for a while, the Terminal app itself only appeared with Android 15.

Credits: Android Authority

Samsung usually adds these kinds of features with their yearly Android updates, so this works out to be an Android 16 feature for Samsung phones. Still, the app is only available on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, not on others such as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Galaxy S25 series.

Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority breaks down why this is. It all comes down to the hardware inside these phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 runs on the Exynos 2500 chipset, which supports non-protected virtual machines. This is a must for the Terminal app to work. On the other hand, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy S25 use the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which only supports protected virtual machines, so they can’t run the app.

Qualcomm is expected to update its chipsets to support the needed virtualization features eventually. But for now, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is the only Samsung phone that can run Linux in a virtual machine. That makes it stand out among other devices on the market. Samsung also plans to bring support for graphical Linux apps soon. This could turn phones like the Galaxy Z Flip 7 into powerful, portable Linux computers.

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