Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 promises to be Samsung's most elaborate foldable. It appears slightly less tall than its predecessor, the Fold 3. Earlier rumors suggested the same.

The Fold4 will soon come out in beige, Phantom Black and gray/green. That automatically means no "Bora Purple" version of the Fold. According to Pricebaba, the device will get a cheaper version with 128GB of storage. Expect a launch on August 10. August 26 it will hit stores.

Less visible crease

Almost simultaneously, the render below of the Galaxy Fold 4 appeared on 91mobiles. Here we see the three color versions of the device fully opened. Samsung reportedly worked to make the crease less visible.

Given the amount of footage released recently, we suspect that Samsung has started to distribute the press material. That usually means more is coming soon. So expect more images of and information about the upcoming Fold 4 5G soon.

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Evan is currently fighting a legal battle with Samsung. The South Korean company is not too happy with the sheer amount of leaks published by @evleaks. As a result, Samsung tried to take Evan's Twitter account offline in early 2022, citing numerous copyright violations. Evan has now blurred out some parts of the image to avoid future claims.

The most important thing is the date of August 10. And blurry or not, we see a folding device. Is it the Flip 4? Is it the Fold 4? We don't know, but most likely, both will be announced.

Unfold Your World

According to Blass, the event is named "Unfold Your World". That date of August 10 is not entirely new for us. Jon Prosser previously mentioned it before. On June 8, he posted a tweet mentioning the exact same date. According to him, the Fold4 and Flip4 will be announced on August 10 and go on sale August 26. Whether the latter is true is something we will undoubtedly hear on Wednesday, August 10.

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The list about the Fold 4 specifications comes from Yogesh Brar. A familiar name in the industry as he writes for 91mobiles. An Indian tech website that more often publishes about unannounced products. Although this time Yogesh is posting his scoop on Twitter.

It looks like a complete list but also one that is very reminiscent of the current Fold 3. For example, the screen sizes are the same, the storage memory and battery capacity. Also the screen resolution seems to match (QXGA+ and HD+) but possibly will be slightly different on the Galaxy Fold 4. Earlier rumors suggested the new Fold is somewhat wider and, therefore more practical.

Higher selfie camera

Speaking about the cameras, we previously reported that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 presumably features a 50+12+12MP camera system with 3x optical zoom. Now we also know what resolution the selfie camera will get. A 16MP selfie camera on the inside under the screen and a 10MP selfie camera on the outside. This means that especially the Under-Display camera inside will improve in resolution.

Right battery

Other than that, we mainly see a lot of usual suspects like a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and 12/256GB of storage. This year, the variant with 512GB of storage will have more RAM memory: 16GB. Unfortunately, little change is to be expected in terms of battery. The capacity remains at 4400mAh, and it will also be fast-charged with "just" 25W.

All in all, this seems to be a modest upgrade. At least if the design and price also remain the same. Unfortunately, we still know little about that. Actual renders have not yet surfaced, and we, unfortunately, do not know the final pricing either.

This report comes from Twitter leaker @UniverseIce who brings us this kind of details more often. Previously, Ice Universe brought us information about the battery and cameras of the Fold 4. A phone that, at the time of writing, is still months away from being released.

Up till now, Samsung's foldables always had a visible crease. This is not visible when sitting right in front of an enabled screen but is visible from a side or off. Vivo announced another foldable in April of 2022 that essentially solves this problem. The Vivo X Fold features a mechanism in the hinge that tightens the screen. Samsung doesn't appear to be going the same route for the Fold 4, but according to the source, the fold is less visible than on the Fold 3.

"Looks smoother"

According to the same report, the screen of the Galaxy Fold 4 also looks smoother than its predecessor. What exactly is meant by this is still unclear. The Fold 3 already had a 120Hz screen, and we don't expect this to get any higher. Perhaps the intended processor, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, will bring the necessary speed improvements.

We previously wrote about the suspected camera of the Fold 4. It will still be 3 of which each camera appears to be floating on the black. According to a report from insider Ice Universe, Samsung is opting for a combination of 50, 12 and 12 megapixels.

Previously, a 108MP main camera was assumed, similar to that on the S22 Ultra. The report today disproves that though it remains a rumor. Still, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 has an edge over the S22 Ultra. For example, the source claims that the 12MP telephoto camera has a better zoom than the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

"Samsung's strongest 3x camera ever"

Whether this is due to the higher resolution of the sensor or if it has better lenses, we do not know. The maximum zoom still is 3x. That's not as far as the 10x of the Ultra but more than the Fold 2. We'll have to wait and see what turns out to be true. Expect Samsung to announce their new foldable around the Fall of 2022.

The images below are from Onleaks and published at Smartprix. They are based on the production drawings and thus correspond well to the final product, as we have seen many times now. Even though we discussed the Fold 4 many times, we have not seen any real images until now.

It's also not immediately apparent from the images, but it's both wider and less tall than the Fold 3. That means the outer screen is less narrow and, hopefully, more usable in practice. For the inner screen, it doesn't matter much; it will presumably have the same 7.6-inch screen diagonal.

Fold 4 will be less heavy

Samsung is probably putting the Fold 4 on a diet to lose some weight. 271 grams is how much the current Fold 3 weighs. Samsung wants to get at least 10 grams off. Samsung uses the same tricks as with the S22 Ultra. Thus, the Fold 4 gets more or less the same camera layout. Possibly a renewed hinge will bring a welcome drop in weight.

Fold 4 announcement

It will be some time before Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Don't expect a launch before August/September. The device may be announced along with the Flip 4. The first images of that have yet to appear.

Samsung uses processors from both Qualcomm and Samsung in its Galaxy S flagship series. Europe gets the Samsung Exynos while the rest of the world gets one with Qualcomm Snapdragon. Not fair, as it turns out, because the Exynos version has always proven to be less powerful. The upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 does not have that problem; it will always get a Snapdragon processor.

The Fold 4 is expected to be sold everywhere with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. This enhanced version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is made by TSMC on a 4nm process. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was made by Samsung and has been found to overheat quickly. The 10% faster TSMC version seems to suffer less from this. Whether this is purely due to TSMC or a different ARM design is still unclear.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus

Perhaps Samsung can equip the Galaxy Z Fold 4 with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus (SM8475) everywhere because it sells fewer units than the much more popular Galaxy S devices. To be fair, this strategy is not new; also the Fold 3 was sold everywhere with a Snapdragon processor. The source further believes that the upcoming Flip 4 will also be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+.

Because if this rumor from Dohyun Kim is true, the Galaxy Z Fold4 will get the same 108MP camera as found in the S22 Ultra. That camera, at the time of writing, is in a shared spot 14 in the rankings at DxOMark but is the best scoring Samsung phone.

The Fold3 with its triple 12MP camera scores spot 30 at that same DxOMark so it's not just an improvement in pixel count. Now the Galaxy S22 Ultra features more cameras than just its 108MP main camera. It also has a 12MP ultra-wide-angle and a 10MP periscope lens with up to 10x optical zoom. The former will presumably reach the Fold 4, the latter will not.

3x optical zoom

For zooming, presumably a 10MP sensor with 3x optical zoom will be used. This will make the zoom range slightly less but still larger than the maximum 2x of the current Fold 3.

Whether this rumor turns out to be true remains to be seen. The launch of Samsung's next foldable is not expected until the fall of 2022. So anything can still happen.

Indeed; the Fold 4 becomes especially less hefty. And so then there's no room for a pen at all. That rumor comes from Ice universe who often provides us with correct information. He predicts that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will be mostly smaller and less thick.

It is still unclear whether the Z Fold4 will maintain the same aspect ratio. Oppo recently attracted attention with the Find N that is slightly wider but considerably less high. When folded, this does result in a smaller screen but one that is still usable in terms of its width. This is more convenient when entering text, something the Samsung is not good at when folded. We will have to wait and see if Samsung will use the same proportions.

S Pen in separate accessory

It is clear that the S Pen will not be placed in the phone itself, something that was possible with the Note models. Somehow that is a shame because this means that you have to keep it outside the device, just like with the current Fold 3. In a case for example which in turn makes it extra large. And the chance of losing it is a lot higher.

The rumor that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus comes from @UniverseIce. This insider is more often than not right when it comes to predictions of yet unannounced phones.

If Samsung's next foldable phone is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus is remarkable. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 was made by Samsung but the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus is expected to be made by competitor TSMC. We don't know exactly why this is. Both manufacturers use a 4 nm process but they are not 100% equal. Qualcomm has yet to officially announce the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus, maybe we will a reason when that happens.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus vs Exynos 2200

Whether all Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 models will get a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus remains to be seen. Samsung is also using its own Exynos 2200 processor, mainly for the European market. It is well known that the Exynos version does not perform as well as its Qualcomm counterpart. Much to the dismay of users.

In a recently published benchmark, both the Exynos 2200 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 were beaten by the MediaTek Dimensity 9000. MediaTek is mainly known for its relatively simple chipsets but has recently impressed us with very good results. However, the absolute king of mobile chipsets is Apple's A Bionic chipset, which has still not been overtaken by the competition.

Super UTG

The Z Fold 4 is further expected to feature a new version of Samsung's ultra-thin glass (UTG). This Super UTG layer is said to be stronger and therefore more resistant for use with a stylus. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 was equipped with a special version of the S Pen with a tip that would retract when too much pressure was applied.