Galaxy Fold 2: Rumours Thus Far

The original Galaxy Fold was Samsung's first take on foldable devices and turned into a complete disaster. Just days after Samsung sent models to reviewers, the display's started to break thanks to a plastic covering. It became pretty bad, and needed to be fixed. The Galaxy Fold 2.0 was released a couple months later which did a bettery job at hiding that display cover to reduce the likelyhood of fracture. Also, every model came with 2 screen replacements before the device ultimately died. The whole situation wasn't great, but that hasn't stopped Samsung. The Galaxy Z Flip has became quite a success, with some reviewers actually recommending it over the newly specced out Galaxy S20 Ultra. But, Samsung are relentless with unwanted devices and features (Bixby), so we're going to get a new Galaxy Fold, dubbed Project Champ and Winner 2, this year alongside the supposed Galaxy Note 20 series (which don't look too great either).

The above renders are a little old, but still hold (mostly) true to the rumours. However, we may actually get numerous variants of this device, including a more premium version (likely to be regionally restricted) and even a slightly cheaper variant (4G model). These rumours primarily focus on the regular 5G model, but we will give out any information we have about either of these variants as they come in.

FRONT PANEL

The front panel is slightly different in comparison to the header image, instead opting for an Infinity-V teardrop notch instead of the Infinity-O. However, it is a major improvement over the tiny Galaxy Fold front display. We are likely to see either a 10 MP or 40 MP selfie camera. We've heard both numbers a few times, so there could potentially be a 10 MP on the front and a 40 MP on the back or vice versa, but we are unsure of the actual MP count. Either way, they will still deliver good enough pictures. Until Samsung upgrade their camera processing tech, they'll always be the same. 

Now, the front panel obviously has a very weird aspect ratio, reaching 6.23" vertically, using Sony's smartphone design to an extreme. This front panel is assumed to be less used by Samsung and so only uses a 60 Hz refresh rate and a slightly lower 720p resolution (2267 x 819). The height on this display is slightly larger than the main display, based off the resolution of said display, but it's not as if we're going to be using this front panel that often, are we?

MAIN PANEL

The main panel has a slightly larger 7.59" display with a 2213 x 1689 1440p resolution. It also has a higher 120 Hz refresh rate to bring the same smooth look as the S20 series and the upcoming Note 20's. The difference with this display is the right-aligned hole punch notch. I think Samsung finally listened to us when we hated on the massive notch on the original. 

REAR CAMERA'S

This next gen phone isn't getting any better camera's than what we currently have been given. It's rumoured to have a Galaxy S20+ setup rather than the Galaxy S20 Ultra's, which would look like this: 12 MP main, 64 MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, 12 MP ultrawide and a ToF sensor. I s'pose that could work. It's a little disappointing that they aren't providing anything new for such a high price device, but it'll work good enough to capture some people's eyes. 

BATTERY

Last year, the Fold's battery would've been seen as pretty big, even by today's standards really, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will last all day. There were so many battery intensive features, that the Fold just withered off within about 4 or 5 hours, if that. This year probably won't be much different, since the battery will range between 4,500 and 5,000 mAh, which isn't that big an upgrade considering 5G support and a 120 Hz refresh rate. It won't charge up that quickly either, with a meager 25w fast charge upgrade over the 15w on the prior device. It gains 9w reverse wireless charging though?

OTHER INFO

There have been rumours of S-Pen support on all models of the new Fold, and all of the 5G capable variants will run on a SnapDragon 865 or 865+ CPU with an Adreno 650 GPU. No information has leaked on the amount of RAM, but it's likley to be 8 or 12 GB DDRL5 much like the S20. That will come with 256 GB and 512 GB storage variants. The previously mentioned premium Galaxy Fold 2 could come with a sturdier stainless steel frame and use ceramic back panels. It may also be regional specific, likely within China or South Korea. 

_____________________________________________

That's all the news so far, but I'm sure we'll get more information as we get closer and closer to the Galaxy UNPACKED launch event sometime in late July or early August. We will probably see some software upgrades to OneUI 2.0 there as well as the next Note devices, possibly even a Galaxy Tab S7 tablet range. Stay tuned for more information!