Samsung may have given the Galaxy Fold 2 a strange new design, if a new render of its next-generation foldable phone is accurate.
Serial tech leaker Ice Universe posted two simplistic-looking renders of the Galaxy Fold 2 on Twitter, which show the phone's display and camera layout. Most of it looks like we were expecting, but the interior punch-hole camera location has us raising our eyebrows.
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The punch-hole itself isn't a surprise, since this is what you'll find on the Galaxy S20 series, and it's what we're also expecting for the Galaxy Note 20, too. What's strange is its placement.
The punch-hole is set to the right, rather than in the center like most Samsung phones. The cutout also isn't tucked into the corner like most other phones with this type of design try to do in order to make the hole in the display as inconspicuous as possible.
Fold 2 pic.twitter.com/ysdw6oIjqcJune 24, 2020
This makes for an unusual-looking device, but there is some logic here if you think about it. The camera does look to be centered within the right-hand panel of the foldable. And it should also match the placement of the punch-hole on the external cover display when the phone closes, based on the other image Ice Universe provided (below). It looks like Samsung wanted to keep its unique design and make it consistent through the phone, even if that meant the inside display looks odd out of context.
Whatever your opinion on this design, it's certainly better than what the original Galaxy Fold had. That had a large cutout for its internal camera, which ate up a fair chunk of the large display. which was odd as having a lot of screen space was one of the main reasons to buy such a foldable phone.
It also had several other issues like the build quality and its hefty weight and size that made the phone hard to recommend to all but the most devoted pursuers of futuristic phone tech. Let's hope that the Fold 2 can fix these issues, too.
Other major areas where the Galaxy Fold 2 is claimed to be building on the foundation of the original Fold are with the cameras, performance and displays. The cameras are believed to be the same as those found on the Galaxy S20 Plus, which means you'll be getting the standard flagship quartet of main, ultrawide, telephoto and time-of-flight sensors, plus an internal camera and the cover camera.
Within the Fold 2, we're expecting a Snapdragon 865 chipset, which will give it plenty of performance potential and 5G connectivity to those in areas with active networks.
As for the screens, both the external and internal displays are larger, with the internal one also getting a very welcome upgrade in the form of a 120Hz refresh rate. Unfortunately, the Fold 2 is likely to keep a similar price to its predecessor, which was around $2,000.
We'll most likely see the Fold 2 make its first appearance alongside the Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Watch 2 and Galaxy Tab S7 at an event in August.
