OPINION: Samsung led the cost when it got here to the world of foldables, however the firm appears to have grown complacent within the years since, a lot in order that competing foldables from the likes of Oppo, Honor, and Huawei outshine latest entries within the Galaxy Z Fold assortment.
Whereas we did see a notable enchancment in total design from the Galaxy Z Fold 5 to the Galaxy Z Fold 6, it’s nonetheless chunkier, heavier, and lower-specced than a lot of the book-style competitors. If Samsung desires to retain its foldable crown for for much longer, one thing wants to vary with this yr’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.
With that in thoughts, and having used a lot of the greatest foldable choices round proper now, listed below are 5 upgrades that I feel the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 desperately wants to remain aggressive.
1. Slimmer design
The obvious change I’d prefer to see from the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a slimmer, lighter design. Samsung made nice progress on this regard with the transfer from the 13.4mm-thick Galaxy Z Fold 5 to the 12.1mm-thick Galaxy Z Fold 6, but it surely’s nonetheless thicker than an everyday candybar smartphone – and the competitors has taken issues a lot additional.
Simply weeks after the Galaxy Z Fold 6 was revealed, Honor revealed the competing Honor Magic V3. It was dubbed the thinnest book-style foldable on the time, measuring 9.2mm thick, a full 2.9mm thinner than the Z Fold 6. It was additionally lighter, at 226g in comparison with the Z Fold 6’s 239g, in keeping with common smartphones.
Whereas I believed that was already pushing the bounds of what foldable tech may obtain at this stage, Oppo stated, “Maintain my beer,” and gave us the impossibly skinny Discover N5 in early 2024. Measuring 8.9mm thick folded and 4.2mm unfolded, the following barrier Oppo should overcome is the width of the USB-C port. That’s onerous to wrap my head round.
Critically, it’s an unimaginable feat of engineering that seems and feels years forward of the Z Fold 6.
It makes it all of the extra irritating that Oppo determined in opposition to a correct worldwide launch, as a substitute promoting it in China, Singapore and some different nations in Southeast Asia – however hey, there’s all the time the Discover N6…
2. Discount of show crease
Other than the overall heft of Samsung’s book-style foldables, the opposite large offender is the crease on the internal foldable display.
Now I’m not anticipating Samsung to thoroughly eradicate the crease – I think about that’s near-impossible on condition that, typically talking, issues which are folded get creased – however the dip within the display is nearly cavernous in comparison with the competitors.
Once more, Samsung started to handle this with the Z Fold 6, providing a shallower crease than its predecessor, but it surely’s nonetheless rather more distinguished than what you’ll discover from foldables just like the Honor Magic V3, Oppo Discover N5 and even the two-year-old OnePlus Open.
It’s nonetheless current on these foldables, in fact, but it surely’s a a lot shallower crease that’s each much less noticeable visually and when operating your finger throughout the display. I can solely hope for the same expertise from this yr’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.
3. Higher auxiliary cameras
The very fact is, common smartphone cameras are higher than these on foldables. It has been that method since foldables had been conceived, and I think about it’ll proceed to be the case for fairly a while, on condition that common telephones have far more house inside to accommodate bigger, extra advanced digicam methods.
With that in thoughts, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 truly does a great job the place the first digicam is worried.
It’s not fairly as feature-packed because the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely, however with a 50MP f/1.8 major digicam backed by a 1/1.57-inch sensor, it’s in keeping with the competitors. For reference, the Discover N5 has a 50MP f/1.9 snapper with a 1/1.56-inch sensor, and the Magic V3 has a 50MP f/1.6 lens with a 1/1.56-inch sensor.
Nevertheless, the hole begins to widen in the case of the auxiliary zoom and ultrawide lenses, with the competitors providing extra advanced, higher-res options than Samsung’s foldable.
Whereas the Z Fold 6 presents a reasonably primary 10MP 3x fastened telephoto lens, a lot of the competitors as a substitute opts for the extra superior periscope lens tech for higher zoom efficiency. Not solely that, however they’re higher-res; each the Magic V3 and Discover N5 provide 50MP sensors with 3.5x and 3x zoom respectively, although each may be pushed past that.
A transfer to periscope zoom tech can be a fantastic begin, although that will ideally be coupled with a better decision to permit for higher digital zoom efficiency.
The ultrawide may additionally use some love. The 12MP fixed-focus ultrawide on the Z Fold 6 seems a little bit primary in comparison with the AF-enabled 40MP different from Honor’s book-style foldable.
4. An even bigger battery
Battery life is one other space the place the Z Fold 6 wants some TLC. Whereas it might get you thru a few full day, the competitors is once more making strides on this division.
It’s largely because of the adoption of the newer silicon-carbon battery expertise, which permits for higher-density batteries in a slimmer type issue. This permits producers to basically add bigger battery capacities with out sacrificing house – an important issue for foldables specifically.
With that in thoughts, it ought to come as no shock that the silicon-carbon-enabled Discover N5 and Magic V3 provide greater batteries at 5600mAh and 5150mAh, respectively. Each of those are huge will increase on the 4400mAh Li-Po battery within the Z Fold 6 regardless of being thinner and lighter than Samsung’s foldable.
Samsung actually wants to leap on this bandwagon if its foldables are to proceed to be aggressive whereas nonetheless being comparatively slim.
5. A distinct type issue
This one’s method much less doubtless, contemplating Samsung has seemingly doubled down on the tall-and-thin design of its cowl display, even with a barely wider Z Fold 6, however I feel Samsung must go additional. It’s nonetheless taller and narrower than an everyday smartphone display, making content material look cramped on the duvet display – although I do admit it’s good to make use of one-handed consequently.
Nonetheless, with its barely awkward design, it stands alone in comparison with just about each different foldable in the marketplace.
I’d a lot reasonably Samsung conform to the norm on this side, providing a canopy display that extra intently resembles a standard smartphone. It’s the very best of each worlds: an everyday smartphone expertise on the duvet and a big-screen expertise inside. Why Samsung continues with its tall and slim different is past me.
