It looks like the next folding phone from Samsung might be based on an S10 which can fold in half.
It’s a known fact that Samsung is working on more foldable form factors than the famous Galaxy Fold and it turns out that one of them has winded up on Chinese social media.
The pictures that were recently made public display a Samsung phone comparable with an S10 size and shape wise, but folding in half like a flip phone, which might be Samsung’s direct hit against the 2020 Motorola Razr foldable phone.
Is it really Samsung?
There is no visible Samsung logo in the pictures, but the device is clearly using the Android based Samsung Skin with their specific icons, Samsung Pay, the hole punch camera design which is centered in the top part of the display, similarly with the latest devices from Samsung.
Looks and functionality
The inner bezel looks like it received the same treatment as the Galaxy Fold. Regular slab smartphones are completely covered in glass and their bezel consists only of the edges of the display, the Galaxy Fold (and on the device we are speaking of, too), the bezel consists of a physical piece of plastic which sits on the top side of the display. One of the available pictures shows the bezel sticking up above the display just a tad (like we have previously seen on the Fold), allowing users to snap the phone closed without also having the display come in contact with itself. The physical plastic bezel also works like a cover for the display, keeping away dust, fingerprints and anything else from trespassing the fine, flexible display. The Galaxy Fold’s giant 7.3 inch display has fairly decent, low profile bezels. It looks like this regular-sized smartphone will feature similar bezels, however, and on this smaller handheld they will be noticeably bigger than the typical smartphone bezels that we are used to.
Biometrics
The vast majority of the devices that were launched in 2019 failed to pack an in-screen fingerprint sensor, and the Samsung Galaxy Fold was no exception. Instead, the Korean tech giant utilized a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. The sides of the leaked device aren’t clearly exposed so we can’t make pertinent assumptions. However, it looks like the handheld device features a physical volume rocker and power button, which sticks out less than the volume rocker, which is typical for most side-mounted fingerprint readers, which are flat, wide and regularly stick out less than a standard button of comparable sizing. The fact that there is no icon marking the presence of an in-screen fingerprint reader also backs this up. However, this is only pre-release software, so there is a chance that the phone actually has an in-screen fingerprint reader but there is no regular symbol to show it. Implementing an in-screen fingerprint sensor in a foldable phone is no easy task .
Rivalry
The 2020 Motorola Razr surprised people with its high tech design that allows the device to freely fold without creasing the display. The mechanism of the (supposedly) Samsung can’t be properly analyzed in the leaked pictures unfortunately.
Release date, introduction
There is no official release date from the next folding phone from Samsung, but the fact that they have previously announced their foldable device alongside their (back then) new Samsung Galaxy S10 flagship might suggest that a similar release plan will follow this year too.
