The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 isn’t expected to launch until July or August — well after the Galaxy S23 series. But that hasn’t stopped rumors about its possible design and features from trickling in.
Recently one report said that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 could be much thicker and heavier this time. Now we are hearing about Samsung reportedly fixing one of the biggest design flaws with foldable phones with a new display and hinge mechanism and also a possible camera upgrade for its Galaxy Z Fold 5.
South Korean publication Naver says that Samsung could eliminate the crease completely on the Fold 5 by going with a new “waterdrop” type display structure. This means that the company’s next foldable phone will fold out to be completely flat with no gap between the two halves of the phone and, more importantly, it could have a creaseless display.
The report mentions that Samsung apparently calls the waterdrop mechanism a “dumbbell” type hinge internally. The company reportedly patented this design back in 2016. The new structure could work by allowing some portion of the inner screen to roll inside the phone's main body to prevent the display from creasing.
Thanks to this new dumbbell hinge design, the durability of the Galaxy Z Fold 5 might improve as well, according to the leak — and it will be able to withstand more folding and opening in its lifetime. Samsung may also offer an IPX8 rating for water resistance for the Fold 5 but it could possibly miss out on dust resistance. This is similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which that has an IPX8 rating for water resistance.
It is not clear if the Flip 5 will get the same hinge design.
One of the chief complaints about most of Samsung’s foldable phones has been that there is a visible crease when the phone is opened. Samsung has not just improved upon the foldable design with each new variant but also tried to make the crease less obvious as well, especially with the latest Galaxy Z Fold 4. But in our testing of the phone we found that it was still visible. The new design without a crease could be a game changer for foldable phones at large as well.
Early rumors for the Fold 5 said that Samsung could also finally include a holster for the S Pen. Samsung apparently wanted to include a slot for the S Pen with the Fold 4, so they might finally be doing that with this year’s model.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: rumored camera upgrade
Samsung’s next foldable may not only be getting a big design upgrade but also jumping ahead with its megapixels on its camera. One rumor says that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 could upgrade to a 108MP main camera.
This claim comes from Vietnamese outlet The Pixel which reports that the Fold 5 could get the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 108MP camera. In addition, the phone could get a 64MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide shooter.
The Fold 4 got the same camera on the back as the base model of the Galaxy S22 with a 50MP main lens, 12MP ultra wide camera and a 10MP telephoto lens. It took a few Galaxy Fold generations to get Samsung's foldable on par with the cameras of its other flagship devices and it will be great to see if Samsung pushes the boundaries of the camera capabilities on its next foldable.
Samsung has also stressed the importance of improving the cameras on its foldables previously, which makes us wonder whether this rumor could have any weight to it.
Samsung’s Galaxy S series is also about to reach a new milestone in megapixels with reportedly a 200MP camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Galaxy S23 series is expected to launch soon on February 1.
The Pixel also mentions that the inner dimensions of the display will remain 7.6 inches, like the Fold 4, and the display will have a resolution of 2208 x 1768 pixels.
The Vietnamese outlet had also earlier reported that the Fold 5 could get a new Qualcomm processor and it might be slightly thicker and heavier than the Fold 4. This contradicts an even earlier rumor that said the Fold 5 could be made of a lighter material and will be lighter and thinner.
There is still plenty of time for Samsung’s next foldable to see the light of the day and we will have to see what the phone eventually brings. But with a solid camera and design upgrade rumor, it seems like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 could be one of the heavy hitters this year and possibly top our list of the best foldable phones.
