Even though Samsung has yet to release its considerably more durable, powerful, and beautiful sequel to the first-gen Galaxy Fold, the company is already reportedly working on a flurry of additional foldable devices that could see daylight sometime in the next year or so.
These are likely to include both a proper sequel to the Galaxy Z Flip and
a lower-cost clamshell model of some sort, as well as a grand total of three new members of the Galaxy Z Fold family. The latter consists merely of the recently unveiled
Z Fold 2 5G variant and 2019’s non-Z OG Galaxy Fold, so if Samsung does indeed plan to roll out the Z Fold Lite, Z Fold 3,
and Z Fold S in the near future, that clearly suggests the company is aiming to turn foldables into mass-oriented products.
The Galaxy Z Fold Lite has been in the news before
Apart from possibly forcing
Samsung to delay the commercial debut of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G by a few weeks, the coronavirus pandemic may have led to the rescheduling of a Z Fold Lite release initially planned for late 2020.
This may or may not be the real design of the Galaxy Z Fold Lite
That means the cheap and fragile plastic coating of the main screen is likely to make a comeback, replacing the state-of-the-art Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) technology of the
Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold 2 5G. If you’re willing to make that compromise and settle for a type of plastic called Colorless Polyimide (CPI), rumor has it you’ll be able to get a fancy-looking foldable handset in exchange for $900 or even less.
Obviously, the Galaxy Z Fold Lite is unlikely to look quite as fancy as the
Z Fold 2 5G, possibly sporting a primary flexible display with a large notch and
a divisive strip-style secondary panel for alerts, notifications, and not much else. The inexpensive phone could also borrow the dual rear-facing camera system from last year’s Galaxy Fold, although it’s clearly too early to be certain of things like imaging specifications, processing power, or memory and storage options.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fold S are largely cloaked in secrecy
If Samsung is truly thinking of
pulling the plug on the Galaxy Note series (which
remains a big if), it would definitely make sense for the Galaxy Z Fold lineup to be expanded every fall. And if the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G’s follow-up effort breaks into the mainstream, we can also understand why Samsung would want to separately experiment with various quirky foldable concepts.
Enter the Galaxy Z Fold S, which could be the world’s first smartphone to fold both inwards and outwards, thus taking the flexibility and versatility of the Z Fold 2 5G and
Z Flip 5G to a whole new level.
The Huawei Mate Xs is a strictly outward-folding affair
While we’re not exactly sure how something like that would even work, we’re certainly excited about both the Galaxy Z Fold S and a Galaxy Z Fold 3 tipped to integrate both S Pen support and UTG technology.
What we’re not particularly excited about is seeing how Samsung will manage to fix the “price problem” of an S Pen-wielding third-gen Galaxy Z Fold. Adding stylus capabilities to the foldable device is a much more delicate and complicated matter than just… adding the S Pen itself.
The company needs to further strengthen the display and implement a digitizer feature, both of which are pretty costly operations, threatening the mass appeal of a Galaxy Z Fold 3 undoubtedly set to also offer everything from standard 5G connectivity to the latest Snapdragon SoC, a whole lot of memory, storage, and a bunch of state-of-the-art cameras.
