Not even a month has passed since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 line and rumors are already beginning to drop for the Fold 7. Samsung’s president, TM Roh, wants the next foldable to be thinner than S24 Ultra, a regular slab phone. But to compensate for the space, may increase the screen size to 8 inches.
The Fold 6 is already slim at 12.1 millimeters thick, 1.3 mm less than Fold 5, and weighs 239 grams which is 14 grams lighter than before. But Samsung has more ambitious plans. KedGlobal reports that the engineers have been tasked with making the Fold 7 as thin as the S24 Ultra when folded which is 7.7 mm. Not only that, they want it to be lighter still at around 232 grams. Now that would be an impressive feat, if Samsung can pull it off.
The Fold 6, when unfolded, is already slimmer at 5.6mm than S24 Ultra which sits at 8.6mm. But Samsung now wants the thickness levels to be comparable when it is not folded making it a better option than Fold 5.
The Fold 6 sports a 7.6 inch display when unfolder but the next model may be slightly bigger at 8 inches. Maybe increasing the size of the display may compensate for lost space due to reduced thickness? Only a teardown can reveal that.
So why is Samsung and other foldable smartphone companies obsessed with thinner smartphones? That’s because despite all the innovation and tech that is going into making these phones, they are still not mainstream. Folding phones account for less than 2% of global smartphone market. Reason? They are bulky, expensive, and folding displays are prone to damage. Samsung has worked on the hinges in the recent years. But the fact that Huawei has taken the lead from Samsung in folding phones, they seem to have a problem.
Also, the Fold 6 series is still not completely dust and water resistant. Again, Samsung has made good progress here. The first Fold series was not rated for either, Fold 3 was rated IPX8 while the Fold 6, that was recently launched at Paris, was rated IP48. We expect Fold and Flip 7 to be IP68 rated but no news or rumors yet. Subscribe and follow us to stay updated.
It is interesting that Apple, a key competitor, has still not launched a single folding phone so far. But as Tim Cook noted in a video with MKB:
Our objective is never to be first, our objective is always to be best. – Tim Cook
Maybe that explains their current folding phones strategy? Either way, the battle for dominance in the folding phones market is heating up which is always good for the end users because that means better products and more innovation.
