Here's how the Galaxy Fold 2 may take the best 2020 foldable phone crown from Mate Xs
Samsung is preparing to soon release the OG Galaxy Fold successor, most likely showcasing it on stage alongside the Note 20 announcement in the beginning of August. After the original Galaxy Fold sank before it was even released to the general public in the spring, it underwent a thorough overhaul with a screen/hinge reinforcements before it was finally outed in the fall.
That will still mean almost a year and a half between the first Fold's original release date, and the second Fold's actual one, so Samsung has had time to enhance and polish the concept further. Unfortunately, the S Pen is not happening, as the company is still mastering the display covering needed to both bend and be used with a stylus.
For the Fold 2, Samsung will be using ultrathin glass (UTG) on top of the flexible display panel, just like it does on the Galaxy Z Flip. The cover layer of the Flip is 30 micrometers in thick, while, say, the Galaxy Note 10’s cover glass - Corning’s Gorilla Glass 6 - has a thickness between 0.4 to 1.2 millimeters, depending on where you measure.
Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 display size and refresh rate specs
As if to compensate for the lack of the rumored S Pen, the Galaxy Fold 2 specs will introduce a 120Hz display, at least according to Korean media, which would be sight unseen on a foldable device. That's not the first time we are hearing that particular rumor, too, as display industry analyst Ross Young has been tipping the Fold 2 display specs for a while, and said it won't have an S Pen due to cover film troubles even before Korean media corroborated those facts from their own industry sources.
That is in reference to the big internal foldable screen which has now grown in size from 7.3 inches on the Fold, to the 7.7 inches on the Fold 2, complete with 120Hz refresh goodness. The thing that kept many people from even considering the OG Fold, however, and we don't mean the cover film and hinge troubles, was the puny 4.6" size of the external display. At this size and the tall aspect ratio, it was good for quick checks, rather than long browsing or video watching sessions for each of which you had to to open the phone.
With the Galaxy Fold 2, however, Samsung is now preparing to flip the "in-folding" concept on its head, and provide a full 6.23" external display, so that people can do a lot more on it without resorting to a hinge movement.
The premise is simple, and has already been done on "out-folding" devices like the Mate Xs which we reviewed not long ago - you have one big 6"+ display on the outside to do the bunch of your smartphone-ing, and one even bigger, tablet-sized screen to unfurl when needed to read, browse, game, or watch videos on a more generous canvas.
If Samsung manages to pull these juicy Fold 2 specs off, then it is shaping up to be the best foldable phone announced, beating the Mate Xs to the punch with the higher refresh rate and the ultrathin cover glass. The price, however, is expected to be just a Benjamin shy of the OG Fold at release which means that it will still be a very, very expensive device.
Here are all the rumored Galaxy Fold 2 specs and price list:
Display(s): 7.7" 120Hz 2213 x 1689 internal, 6.23" 2267 x 819 pixels external screen
Camera(s): 12 MP main, 64 MP telephoto, 16 MP ultrawide
Processor: Snapdragon 865 w/ Qualcomm X55 5G modem
Memory: 12GB RAM/512GB storage
Price: $1780
Galaxy Fold 2 display specs and foldable phone sales forecast
Things that are NOT allowed: