You could say that Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold line was in something of a plateau with minor yearly updates that left it trailing behind the Chinese foldables. Enter the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, which was just announced in South Korea. It alleviates several pain points from the Z Fold6 with larger displays, a slimmer profile, and a 200MP main cam. Larger cover and main screens for starters. A 6.5-inch LTPO AMOLED 2X cover screen, up from the 6.3-inch panel on the Z Fold6 with an updated 21:9 aspect ratio that should make it more akin to using a regular bar phone display.
The main screen has now grown to 8 inches
and features a 10:9 aspect ratio. Both panels feature 120 Hz refresh rate and
the external one has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on top. It seems the
rumored switch to Ultra Flexible Glass (UFG) – an updated version of the
Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) for the foldable panel did not come to be as Samsung
mentions nothing about it. The Special Edition Z Fold is way slimmer - 4.9 mm
when unfolded and 10.6 mm in its folded state. The weight has dropped down to
236 grams – 3g less than the Z Fold6 proper. Sacrifices had to be made to
achieve this slender profile as the new Special Edition lacks S Pen support.
There's a noteworthy upgrade in the camera
department too – a 200MP main shooter with OIS that brings a notable
improvement over the 50MP main cam on the Z Fold6. The 12 MP ultrawide lens now
gets autofocus which is a big win. The 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom is
carried over as are the dual selfie cams - 10MP housed on the cover display and
a 4MP UD unit on the main screen. Fold Special Edition is equipped with
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy and is available in a single 16GB RAM
and 512GB storage trim. It also get improved connectivity with the addition of
Wi-Fi 7 – the Z Fold6 is yet to see that enabled.
The software side is handled by One UI
6.1.1 based on Android 14 with Galaxy AI. Samsung will bring 7 years of
software support. The battery is the same 4,400mAh cell used in the Z Fold6
with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. Samsung is offering the Z Fold
Special Edition in a single Black Shadow color. Pricing in South Korea is set
at KRW 2,789,600 which converts to US$ 2,028/€ 1,868.
Unfortunately, the device is currently
exclusive to South Korea and rumors suggest it will only make its way to China
(possibly as the Galaxy W25) without ever stepping foot outside those two
markets.
