There is something to be said for playing it safe when it comes to laptop and smartphone designs, but after a while products that look the same year after year start to feel stale and lifeless instead of just safe. While laptops can often get away with this, especially in the business realm, smartphones are a different matter.
There's a reason people get so excited when Google announces a mint green Pixel 8, or a yellow iPhone 14.
And then there's Samsung. The Galaxy lineup has been the same boring minimalist slabs with vertical camera arrays for too long now. Unfortunately, it seems they won't be changing that any time soon if these CAD renders of the Z Fold 6 from Smartprix and OnLeaks are to be believed.
What we know so far
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 CAD Renders were leaked to Smartprix and OnLeaks by Piyush Bhasarkar (@Techkard) who has a 90% accuracy rating for leaks. So there is some credibility to the renders.
In terms of details, Smartprix is reporting that the Z Fold 6's inner screen measures approximately 7.6 inches diagonally while the external cover display measures approximately 6.2 inches diagonally. The Z Fold 6 boasts a triple camera system on the rear, the same as the Z Fold 5. It also features an under-display selfie camera on the inner screen and a punch-hole selfie cam on the outer screen.
The Z Fold 6 design also uses the S24 Ultra's speaker grill design, an embedded fingerprint scanner on the power button, volume buttons on the right side, and a SIM card slot on the left side of the phone. It appears to be using the same droplet hinge from the Z Fold 6.
The inner display is expected to be made of plastic or ultra-thin glass, while the cover display is expected to use the new Corning Gorilla Glass Armor. A higher peak brightness of 2,600 nits is also expected. The Z Fold 6 will likely also feature the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, the same as the S24 lineup.
The Z Fold 6 will likely be announced in late July 2024 at a Samsung Unpacked event, with a launch following sometime in August.
What we'd rather see
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has some minor differences from the Z Fold 5. However, outside of those small tweaks, the design is ultimately the same as the previous iteration. And the design changes are the same small tweaks we saw in the S24 line. These tiny, incremental changes mean little to anyone but the most hardcore Samsung super-fan.
In fact, in most cases, they rarely amount to a decipherable change in design at all. For the Z Fold 6, outside of the speaker grill, it looks nearly identical to the Z Fold 5. The Z Fold 6 retains the same 6.1mm thickness as the Z Fold 5, though the Z Fold 6 is projected to be a bit shorter and wider than its predecessor. But without holding the two phones up to one another, that difference is hardly noticeable. Initial expectations for the Z Fold 6 included a thinner hinge and larger displays. Given the new render leaks, it seems both of those expectations won't be realized in this version of the Galaxy Z Fold.
As for fun color choices, the Z Fold 5 came in five colors - Phantom Black, Cream, Gray, Icy Blue, and Blue. These are pretty boring shades, to be honest. The difference between Blue and Icy Blue is subtle enough that some may not even see a difference between the two shades. The Galaxy S24 at least added Jade Green, Sandstone Orange, and Cobalt Violet shades to add some visual interest. So there is hope the Z Fold 6 will at least get a fun color or two to save it from being entirely drab.
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