Samsung had unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G on 5th August, alongside the Galaxy Note 20 series phones. But that was more of a sneak-peak of the device. Today, the South Korean tech giant has launched the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, fully revealing its spec-sheet, pricing, and availability details.
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G comes as a successor to the Galaxy Fold that was launched last year, which happened to be the first foldable device from the brand. This new foldable smartphone brings a ton of improvements compared to its predecessor.
While the outer display (which Samsung calls Cover Display) of the Galaxy Fold was just 4.6-inches in size owing to thick bezels, the outer display on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G is a massive, 6.23-inch unit with extremely thin bezels. It is a Full HD+ AMOLED unit with a 60Hz refresh rate. We wish Samsung had gone with a 120Hz refresh rate for the outer display.
The inner display on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G measures 7.6-inches — up from 7.3-inches on the Galaxy Z Fold – with AMOLED technology and 2208 x 1768 pixels resolution. What is even more interesting is that the inner display has a 120Hz refresh rate, up from 60Hz on the Galaxy Fold. Moreover, the inner display now has a tiny punch-hole for the camera instead of a wide notch, and it features Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) for improved image quality and a better feel.
Samsung has also upgraded the hinge mechanism on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. It features a Hideaway hinge with a CAM mechanism, which allows Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G to stand on its own from 75 degrees to 115 degrees. The hinge mechanism has a Sweeper feature to keep dust particles away. This is the same kind of hinge that Samsung has used for the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, albeit with stronger components to handle the extra weight.
The software of the phone has been customized to take full advantage of the dual-screen and foldable nature of the device. When you are using the inner display, you’ll be able to use certain apps (like Outlook) in a split view. Apps like Camera, Gallery, Calendar, and YouTube will recognize if the inner display is being used and show actionable content. Moreover, the outer display can be used as a viewfinder when taking images with the triple-camera setup so that you can use it for selfies as well.
Speaking of cameras, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G features a triple camera setup at the rear comprising of a 12MP primary camera with dual-pixel PDAF, a 12MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom, PDAF, and OIS, and a 12MP ultrawide camera with 12mm focal length. The primary camera at the rear can record 4K videos at 60 frames per second. As for selfies, you get two 10MP cameras with dual-pixel PDAF, one on the outer display, and on the inner display. Both the selfie cameras can record 4K videos at 60 frames per second.
Coming to its processing power, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G features the fastest mobile processor from Qualcomm to date, the Snapdragon 865+. Mated to the chipset is 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. And that is the only memory configuration you get on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G. On the software side of things, the phone runs on the Android 10 OS with One UI 2.5.
The phone is backed by a 4500mAh battery – up from 4235mAh on the Galaxy Fold – with 25W fast wired charging, 15W fast wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. As the name of the smartphone suggests, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G features 5G connectivity. Fortunately, it has support for mmWave as well as sub-6GHz 5G networks.
Coming to the most important part, the price, the Galaxy Z Fold 5G costs a staggering, $1,999 in the US. (£1,799 in the UK and €1,999 in Europe). Pre-orders of the device will start from tomorrow and it will start shipping in around 40 countries from September 18. You can get the phone in Mystic Black and Mystic Bronze colors. There is also a Thom Browne Edition on offer which has a special color scheme. This limited-run variant costs a jaw-dropping, $3,299; it is available on pre-order starting today and it will ship from September 25.
Our Take
While Samsung has been releasing foldable smartphone for two years now, there is no sign of a foldable iPhone. The next premium smartphone war would be fought in the foldable segment and Apple seems to have been left behind. Do you want the foldable iPhone to look like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G or do you want to follow a different concept? Do let us know about your thoughts in the comments section below.
