external screen, hinge… everything we already know about Samsung’s folding

After a very successful folding clamshell smartphone in 2022, Samsung should normally release its successor in 2023: the Galaxy Z Flip 5. If no information has been confirmed on this model for the moment, serious rumors have been multiplying for a few months. Let’s recap what we know or think we know about this next premium smartphone.

As every year for three years, the South Korean manufacturer Samsung should release its next two models of folding smartphones in 2023: a model foldfoldable in book format, and a model flip, foldable in clamshell format. Two high-end smartphones that are always pushing technological innovation further on these products, but it’s the second model that interests us: the next Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

The Z Flip series models outsell the Z Fold series due to their compact size and lower cost. Price, release date, new design… we take stock of the rumors and assumptions made about what could become the next most popular folding smartphone on the market.

The latest high performance chip

The first information on this Galaxy Z Flip 5 reached us in July 2022… i.e. before the release of the Galaxy Z Flip 4! It’s the South Korean media The Electric who fired the first salvo of rumours: according to his sources, the next two models fold And flip from Samsung would be equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. Information corroborated more recently by the leaker Ice Universe via his Twitter account, March 19, 2023.

This would seem logical since the last two Galaxy Z Flip models integrated the latest high-end chip from Qualcomm available at their release. Based on our previous tests of this chip, we can therefore expect improved performance as well as reduced heating during long gaming sessions. Good news if it is confirmed since the Z Flip 4 struggled to keep up with greedy uses.

8. 8Gen2 for Galaxy, the same processor as the S23 series.

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) March 19, 2023

Another credible rumour: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s storage size choices may remain the same as the previous generation. This was stated at the end of February by the news site Sammobile, specializing in the South Korean brand. According to its source, you would therefore again have the choice between 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB of internal memory.

Sammobile further advances by estimating that, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 released in early February 2023, only the 128 GB model would use the UFS 3.1 flash memory standard, while the 256 and 512 GB variants would benefit from UFS 4.0. A technology which, on paper, doubles the speed of reading and writing files on internal storage compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Design: a pivotal moment

However, the majority of leaks relayed by the specialized media for several months mainly concern the design of Samsung’s next flip smartphone. An important point, since the exterior design of the Z Flip range has not changed much since the Galaxy Z Flip 3, released in 2021.

There should therefore be changes on this Galaxy Z Flip 5, in particular for its external panel, dedicated to accessing certain functions on a smartphone even if it is folded. In early December 2022, the screen production line specialist Ross Young asserted that this screen would be much bigger» on the next model flip, estimating this one at more than 3 inches (compared to 1.9 inches on the Z Flip 3 and 4). In response to another tweetRoss Young later clarified that corridor noises evoke a slab between 3.3 and 3.4 inches.

Disclose some Fold5/Flip5 specifications. I mentioned them before, but now I’m putting them together.

1. Both Fold5 and Flip5 adopt water droplet hinges and support IPX8 level waterproof.

2. The size of Fold5 is only 0.2mm different from that of Fold4, which can be almost… https://t.co/yEiPfgYQF1

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) March 19, 2023

This change would not be a surprise: pioneer of clamshell folding in 2019, Samsung has since been caught up by other smartphone manufacturers on the size of this small screen, whether by the Oppo Find N2 Flip (3 .26 inches) or the Razr 40 Ultra (3.6 inches). Samsung could therefore get to their level.

We also have a slightly more precise idea of ​​the design that this future Galaxy Z Flip 5 could adopt.

We notice a much larger screen therefore, which would bypass the two photo lenses, placed no longer vertically, but horizontally. For the rest, the phone would keep flat edges and a design quite similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Other imprecise information on the screens

Still based on this very prolific leaker, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 could also integrate a “new touch screen technology“, according to a tweet fromIce Universe published on March 19, 2023. Internal, external screen, or both? What are the differences with the previous generation? The formulation remains unfortunately laconic for the moment and, despite the reliability of this source, this information remains too imprecise to deduce anything.

Similarly, this tweet also clarified that “the edges of the internal screen of the Flip 5 would be narrower“. Again, we do not know the dimensions of these future borders or if this change would be linked to this hypothetical new screen technology.

A teardrop hinge without letting water through

Second very competitive design point of the clamshell folding smartphone market: the design of the hinge. This is the other subject of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 rumors. Also in December 2022, Ross Young’s tweet mentioned earlier gave another indication of possible improvements for the next smartphone: Samsung would be working on a new hinge design “which should reduce the visibility of the crease” of the screen.

The technology adopted by the current folding models of the South Korean brand indeed leaves a fairly visible trace and sensitive to the touch on the screen. Here again, its competitors have caught up with it on this point: Motorola, Oppo or Huawei offer on their products a hinge design in “water drop» which allows to enormously reduce the hollow of the fold, while allowing to completely close the smartphone without leaving space between its two halves. On the other hand, this technology seems to prevent the smartphone from being waterproof, as is the case for the Z Flip 3 and 4.

It was this hinge design that Ross Young seemed to be referring to: in two tweets from January and then February 2023, the leaker Ice Universe again echoed the information from the screen specialist, giving “confirmation“according to him that the next Galaxy Z Fold and Flip 5”will adopt teardrop-shaped hinges and support IPX8 waterproof“.

Confirmation: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 and Flip5 will adopt water drop hinges and support IPX8 waterproof.

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) February 24, 2023

If this information is true, the Z Flip 5 would therefore be the first smartphone in the world to opt for this hinge design while retaining the protection against water present on the two previous models. We can believe it, because the manufacturer had already filed patents on this folded screen design as early as 2016. On the other hand, like the other folding smartphones on the market, there is no indication concerning an upcoming protection against dust.

Some characteristics that we can guess

Although the other specifications of the next Samsung flip smartphone are not the subject of credible rumors or leaks at the moment, we can easily guess that certain characteristics of this next Galaxy Z Flip 5 should be similar to the technical sheets of the two models. previous ones.

Logical evolutions

The Galaxy Z Flip range has always opted for the most recent version of Android available at the time of its release, and this is likely to continue: the Galaxy Z Flip 5 could be marketed directly under the One UI 5.1 interface, based on Android 13. Like all of its new models, Samsung is also expected to deliver 4 years of major operating system updates and five of security patches.

Another development that seems likely: the transition to the Bluetooth 5.3 standard, the most recent at present.

No change if it’s still current

We can also think that the materials used on the previous Z Flip models will remain the same, although their proportions may change due to possible external screen and hinge improvements. We could therefore find a screen made of plastic, a glass back and aluminum borders.

On the screen side, AMOLED technology and the 120 Hz refresh rate are still among the best on the high-end smartphone market. We can therefore also expect the Z Flip 5 to be equipped with it.

Finally, the camera types could remain the same, with a main wide-angle module paired with an ultra-wide-angle module. Although market standards have been to integrate a triplet of cameras (wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle and telephoto) for several years, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and 4 have not taken the plunge. Samsung seems to want to make a difference with its Galaxy Z Fold range, equipped with these three modules.

When will the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 be released?

Various rumors point us in the same direction: the Galaxy Unpacked should take place at the end of July. According to the websiteChosunthe exact date of the conference would be Thursday, July 27, 2023.

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