The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip was an important step forward for Samsung's foldable phones, and the industry at large. Exciting as the Z Flip is, though, it's far from perfect, and reports suggest Samsung is further looking to hone its foldable design with a successor to last year's Galaxy Fold.
Artist Waqar Khan has produced a series of renders of how the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 could look, in cooperation with German tech blog WindowsUnited. And it's certainly piqued our imagination.
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A translated version of WindowsUnited's story states that Khan's mockups are based on "previous patent documents, rumors and inside information." We'd advise you take that with a bit of caution; Patent documents aren't necessarily reflective of final products, and a lot what Khan's proposed here appears to be a natural progression from the design established first with the Galaxy Fold, and iterated upon with the Z Flip.
That's not to say these renders aren't exciting to see. Khan's vision for the Galaxy Fold 2 addresses some of the first-generation model's less admirable quirks, like its inability to fold flat, the massive camera notch on the inside display and the big bezels above and below the exterior screen. If the next-gen Fold looks anything like this, it's going to be a beautiful device.
The approach here generally seems cleaner and closer to the ideal of what a foldable phone/tablet hybrid should be. If Samsung is simultaneously able to improve the strength and reliability of its ultra-thin glass protective material, the Galaxy Fold 2 could mark a milestone for the industry's push toward establishing foldable devices as more mainstream options.
On the specs front, we have a murkier idea of how the Galaxy Fold 2 could take shape. WindowsUnited suggests that the device should have the same 108-megapixel, Isocell Bright HM1 camera introduced in the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, though there's no evidence to support that wishful thinking. At this stage, it just seems like a nice-to-have.
Likewise, Khan's renders include the presence of an S Pen stylus, a staple of the Galaxy Note phablet range. If that did come to pass, you'd really hope the display covering is strong enough to withstand repeated jabs and strokes.
As you may recall, reliability issues with the first-generation Galaxy Fold's flexible plastic display resulted in that phone being delayed from its intended April 2019 launch all the way until September. Therefore, it's possible we could see the Galaxy Fold 2 surface by this summer — though the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has pretty much thrown every phone maker's launch plans into limbo. So we'll simply have to wait and see how the year develops and if the Galaxy Fold 2 remains in Samsung's immediate plans.
