With the Galaxy S series now surpassing its predecessors, Samsung has notable ambitions for its 2024 foldable devices – the Z Flip6 and the Galaxy Z Fold6.
All the rumors point to the biggest revamp of the series yet and the book-style foldable will be the star. So here’s what we know so far.
It will be launched in July
In July, Samsung will launch the Galaxy Z Fold6 along with the Galaxy Z Flip6, the new Galaxy Watch7 series, and the new Galaxy Ring. Reports point to July 10th, which is just before the Summer Olympics kick off on July 26th.
This continues the trend with Samsung’s previous Galaxy foldable releases – the Galaxy Z Fold4 arrived in late August, while the Z Fold5 came in early August.
A Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra is coming, 200MP camera in tow
For the first time, Samsung will split the Galaxy Z Fold series into two. It wasn’t clear for a while whether we’d get a regular fold and a cheaper fold, or a fold and a fold ultra, but it’s seemingly clear now that a higher-end Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra is coming.
The Z Fold series is taking a page from the Galaxy S book here, but it’s not yet confirmed what the Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra will upgrade over the regular model.
The most credible reports point to a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra with a better camera setup. It’s likely that the Ultra will get the 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera from the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but no word on the rest of the camera setup.
The other rumors point to a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra. It will reportedly weigh 239g, which is significantly lower than the Fold5’s 253g. In addition, the Ultra can use Titanium, as in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The Ultra Fold will be just 5.6mm thick when unfolded and 12.1mm when folded – down from 6.1mm and 13.4mm on the current Fold5.
A cheaper Galaxy Z Fold6, with the Z Fold5 cameras
It is unclear whether we will see a regular Galaxy Z Fold6 under the Ultra or a Galaxy Z Fold FE. There are some credible reports about the FE, but it seems unlikely that Samsung will drop a vanilla model.
Whatever the name, the cheaper foldable notebook will have both an Exynos and a Snapdragon chipset, depending on the market, with a fixed 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage.
This Galaxy Z Fold6 is likely to use the exact same camera setup as the Galaxy Z Fold5. That means a 50MP 1/1.56″ ISOCELL GN3 wide-angle camera will be joined by 10MP 1/3.94″ 3x zoom and 12MP 1/3.06″ ultra-wide shooters. A 10MP 1/3″ punch-hole selfie, and a 16MP 1/3″ under-display selfie camera completes the list.
The best part is that this base model Galaxy Z Fold6 could be cheaper than we expected. This report says it could start at $799. That’s incredible value, given that the Galaxy Z Fold5 started at almost twice as much. Of course, $799 can translate to nearly €1,000 across the pond.
New design with a thinner frame and a wider cover screen
Samsung tweaks the design of the Galaxy Z Fold slightly every year, but it’s too conservative and has fallen behind the competition lately. Last year we got a clamshell phone with an ever-so-slight widening of the aspect ratio.
This year we hear of more substantial changes. We already mentioned the thinner frame, which is expected to allow for an 11mm folded Galaxy Z Fold6.
Early renders suggested a device almost identical to the Galaxy Z Fold5, but with flatter, sharper edges.
A flatter, squarer design
Those versions also had dimensions – 153.5 x 132.5 x 6.1 mm. This is a few mm from the other, more recent report of a 5.6mm unfolded thickness. CAD returns the 6.1mm profile, but it could be a difference in models – Z Fold6 vs Z Fold6 Ultra.
The same report says the front-facing display will become a bit more conventional – it will be a 6.3″ 22:9 unit, compared to the Fold5’s 6.2″ 23.1:9 one. Expect the inner screen to retain the 7.6″ bezel.
