Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Source: Pocketnow
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to be announced sometime in July or August, and while we’re still a few months away from the official announcement, we have already heard a lot of news about the upcoming foldable flagship. We heard that the new foldables from Samsung might not be as exciting as we thought they would be, and there may be only some slight changes on both the Z Fold 4 and the Z Flip 3 devices.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 was a solid upgrade over the Galaxy Z Fold 2, and it introduced S Pen support, a far more durable display, and even water resistance. The hinge mechanism was significantly improved, and while we still had a crease, it wasn’t too bad. The next-generation Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to bring even more changes, but those might not be as big as we initially thought.
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Galaxy Z Fold 4 Specifications
IceUniverse and Yogesh Brar have shared the specifications for the upcoming foldable, revealing the specifications. It’s nothing that we didn’t already expect, and it seems like on the hardware side of things, the Z Fold 4 will be a welcome upgrade.
The leak reveals the Z Fold 4 will have an internal 7.6-inch QXGA+ AMOLED display with 120Hz and a 6.2-inch HD+ AMOLED 120Hz external display. This aligns with the Z Fold 3, which had the exact display sizes and similar resolutions. However, the Fold 4 is rumored to have a slightly wide panel on both displays, changing the aspect ratio ever so slightly to be more manageable and easier to use. Unsurprisingly, the Z Fold 4 is going to be powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, and it will pack 12GB of RAM and 256/512GB of storage.
As for the camera, there will be a total of five sensors. There will be a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP telephoto offering up to 3-times optical zoom, improving the 2x capability from the Fold 3. The outer selfie camera will be a similar sensor with a 10MP unit. Samsung is also expected to keep the 4MP under-display camera.
It’s unclear when Samsung will finally unveil the Android 12L update for the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but the device is expected to arrive with the OneUI 4.1.1 update, based on Android 12. The Z Fold 4 will likely receive the new Android 13 update in the coming months, as Google is rumored to start rolling it out sometime in September.
Galaxy Z Fold 4 design
The design of the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 will be unchanged and look nearly identical to the Fold 3. It will reportedly not have a dedicated S Pen slot, as we’ve seen previously in some concepts, and while the display will have a new aspect ratio and it will be wider, the design will be very similar.
The display crease is rumored to still be there, although the hinge mechanism will get a welcome upgrade, making the crease look less noticeable to the eyes and to our fingers. We don’t know if the UTG glass is receiving an upgrade, but we’d assume that it’s one of the things that Samsung has tried to improve in the past year to make the display more durable.
Battery and charging speed raise a few questions
The battery of the Fold 3 was everything but impressive, and I often find myself looking for a charger in the middle of the day. It’s worth noting that I am a power user, still, the 4,400 mAh battery is far too small to power a massive 7.6-inch display. The phone can last longer when only using the external 6.2-inch panel, but it’s less useful due to its narrow design.
The new Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC will make the device more power-efficient, but it still remains to be seen how the device will hold up, given that the battery capacity remains the same as the one in the Fold 3. Android 12L and Android 13 will also bring more battery optimizations and other features to make the phone last longer on a single charge, but speaking of the charging functionality, it will stay at a measly 25W speed.
25W charging speeds are getting to the point where they’re unacceptable and slow, and Samsung has failed to innovate and bring faster-charging technologies to its devices. The Galaxy S22 Ultra supports 45W fast wired charging, although Samsung limited it through software. Suppose Samsung doesn’t support faster-charging technologies on its upcoming premium and flagship devices. In that case, they will be much harder to recommend in a world where most other manufacturers support 30-60W fast wired charging.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G is the latest foldable flagship from Samsung. It has an IPX8 certificate, supports the S Pen, and comes with the powerful Snapdragon 888 chipset.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the phone to get if you’ve been itching to try out the folding form factor without breaking the bank.