With its extremely light and tough qualities, titanium has suddenly become popular as a component for the shells of flagship smartphones. In the last seven months, both the iPhone 15 Pro and Galaxy S24 Ultra have embraced the metal for their respective frames, and it appears that Samsung’s first foldable to embrace titanium will arrive later this year.
That’s according to the reliable leaker @Tech_reve, who leaves little to the imagination in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Z Fold 6 equipped with titanium,” the tipster writes.
Z Fold 6 equipped with titanium.March 23, 2024
Of course, “equipped with” isn’t necessarily the same thing as a full titanium frame — indeed, Honor’s Magic V2 foldable has a titanium hinge. But previous reports suggest that this is going to be the full shell, giving the foldable added durability, hopefully with a slight weight reduction.
We say “hopefully” because while titanium is known for being a light metal, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 already uses an aluminium shell. And while the iPhone 15 Pro was able to shave 19g from the iPhone 14 Pro with a move from stainless steel to titanium, the S23 Ultra to S24 Ultra achieved a less impressive 2g reduction with the switch from aluminium.
But it is tougher, and that should be welcome, though such a move would likely add some cost. Indeed, once upon a time, the upgrade was rumored as coming to a possible Galaxy Z Fold Ultra, but that could be dead in the water.
With Samsung’s most expensive phone currently starting with an MSRP of $1,799, anything that adds additional dollars to that should be treated with caution, if foldables are ever going to become mainstream.
What else are we expecting from the Z Fold 6? An upgrade to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 seems like a no-brainer, and there’s talk of wider aspect ratio on the cover screen, closer to the Pixel Fold’s.
Given Samsung’s previous generation foldables are getting the S24’s news AI features via a software patch, the Z Fold 6 will almost certainly follow too. But we’re not expecting a built-in S Pen or any hardware camera upgrades.
Don't expect much change in Galaxy Z Fold6. At least we can be sure of the camera. It is the same as Fold4 and Fold5, that's for sure.October 19, 2023
The Z Fold 6 is expected this summer — and there’s talk of it launching a little earlier than recent years.
An Unpacked date of July 10 has been rumored thanks to the imminent Olympics, and Samsung’s sponsorship of the games. Alongside the Z Fold 6, we’re expecting to see the Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Galaxy Watch 7 and the Galaxy Ring.
