Samsung has finally lifted the veil over its long-awaited jab at a thinner foldable phone, and the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is official at a price higher than its thicker Z Fold 6 sibling.
In what seems a limited release, the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition has been posted on Samsung's Korean website as a "thank you note for customers who love Galaxy Foldable," complete with specs and a pricing scheme.
Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition specs and size
The chief selling point of the Z Fold SE is that it is very thin, at just 10.6mm when closed, and 4.9mm when opened. That is thin for Samsung's Z Fold line standards, of course, as a lot of Chinese book-style foldables are now sloshing below the 10mm mark.
Dimensions
The Z Fold Special Edition is 157.9 x 142.6 x 4.9mm in dimensions when open and 157.9 x 72.8 x 10.6 when closed, weighing in at the decent 236g, so it is not big by any means, just not exuding the same elegance as, say, the Honor Magic V3 foldable.
Samsung, however, has managed to make it tougher with Armor Aluminum frame, water-resistance, and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 all around, that is why it is releasing it as its third foldable phone for the year.
No S Pen support
Unfortunately, to achieve that more elegant design, Samsung has eschewed S Pen stylus support on the Z Fold SE, just as rumored before, as it would've added an extra layer of digitizer thickness.
Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition size | Image credit – Samsung
The Special Edition of the Z Fold seems to only be available in Black Shadow color, too, with a "straight-line pattern design" on the metallic looking finish. The screen, however, is different from what's on the Z Fold 6.
Displays
The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition comes with a 7.99-inch display, the largest that Samsung has put on a foldable. The screen offers 2184 x 1968 (QXGA+) pixels resolution, 2,600 nits of peak brightness, and 120 Hz dynamic refresh rate.
The cover display, on the other hand, is 6.5-inches with 2520 x 1080 (FHD+) pixels resolution and Samsung stays mum over whether it has a higher refresh rate, but we'd wager to guess no since it is not listed as a 120 Hz screen.
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Cameras
Besides the record thin (for Samsung) girth, the Z Fold SE boasts one another remarkable set of specs, this time in the camera department. The 200 MP + 12 MP + 10 MP kit is better than what we have on the Galaxy Z Fold 6, at least as far as the main sensor is concerned, despite that the Special Edition foldable is thinner than before.
The rear cameras are capable of 3x optical zoom or 2x optical zoom utilizing adaptive pixel sensor, as well as up to 30x digital zoom, again a far cry from the Chinese or Google foldable phones that are using periscope zoom lenses. There are also a 10MP cover screen selfie camera, and a 4MP under-display camera sensor at the top of the main display.
Processor and battery
Samsung keeps mum on the processor powering that thing, but the octa-core chipset clocked at 3.39GHz, 3.1GHz, 2.9GHz, and 2.2GHz for the peak or midrange cores is the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy powering the Z Fold 6. The rated Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition battery capacity is 4,272 mAh, again lower than its Chinese counterparts.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition price and release date
The Z Fold Special Edition is priced at the whopping $2020 equivalent in Korean won, about $500 higher than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 starting price there.
Even If we account for the fact that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition comes with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, the equivalent Z Fold 6 with half a terabyte of memory still costs about $400 less.
We are proud to present this new product in Korea as a gesture of gratitude to domestic consumers who are leading the foldable market. The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition provides a slim and light foldable experience, and is a product with a sophisticated design with elaborate patterns and deep colors.
Sung-Taek Lim, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics Korea
Samsung has now put the Z Fold Special Edition up for preorder and will be releasing it this Friday, October 25 in Korea as a "thank you note" for its foldable phone fans there. Any takers?
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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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