Samsung has now fully revealed the new version of its folding phone, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, outlining a number of changes to the former device.
It represents a shift towards the mainstream, with a general feeling that folding phones are now much more on the public consciousness as we move beyond the first-gen. As such, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 integrates many areas of improvement, based on customer feedback, addressing the sorts of issues that we highlighted with our review of the original phone.
Starting with the AMOLED display, the Infinity Flex display expands to 7.6-inches with a resolution of 2208 x 1768 pixels. There's a 27 per cent reduction in the bezels and it now integrates the front camera in a punch hole - it's a 10-megapixel, 1.22µm sensor with f/2.2 aperture - the same as the cover camera, integrated into the cover display on the outside.
The main display gets the adaptive refresh rate from the Note 20 Ultra, meaning that it can offer anything from 11 to 120Hz based on the content that you are viewing.
There's been a huge shift in the cover display, expanding to 6.2-inches with a 2260 x 816 pixel resolution. Again, it is an AMOLED panel and the change addresses the biggest criticism of the original phone: that the exterior display just wasn't big enough to be really useful. The expansion of the display on the outside will mean you can do more on the go, without having to open the phone all the time.
On the rear of the phone, the Z Fold 2 gets a unique set of cameras. The main camera is the same 12-megapixel 1.8µm sensor as the Galaxy S20+, with an f/1.8 aperture. The ultra-wide is also the same, at 12-megapixels, 1.12µm and f/2.2, but the telephoto is different from recent devices, using a 12-megapixel 1.0µm sensor and f/2.4 aperture.
There are a lot of clever features going into the camera to support the unique design of this phone. When taking a photo of someone you can have the cover display show a preview, meaning that the photographer gets the main display while the subject gets a preview too. The subject canthen control the camera too, raising a hand to trigger the self-timer. Samsung says that this means the person posing can be incontrol of the picture that's taken and it's also going to be great for taking selfies.
On the video front, the phone can track your movement around the frame and keep you in the centre. If you’re dancing, for example, this will allow better framing, without having someone else to follow you trying to keep you in the centre of the picture. Again, it's a big play to content creators, giving more freedom to move around without worrying about stepping out of the frame.
Samsung’s big software push seems to be on the expansion of Flex Mode, a feature it’s lifting from the Z Flip, allowing you to fold the phone and get controls on the bottom half of the screen and your content above.
This is going to work in the camera as well as in a range of other apps, especially around media and video consumption. There's a new hinge design that will allow you to set the screen at whatever angle you want so you can really take advantage of the folding format.
While the phone comes in Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black, there will be customisation options with Metallic Silver, Red, Blue and Gold hinge insert options. At the time of writing we don't know if there will be an additional cost for this customisation.
Powering the phone will be a 7nm octa-core processor and Samsung hasn't specified who will be getting what, but we suspect it is Exynos 990 in some regions and Snapdragon 865 in others. There's 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. It's a 5G phone and there's a 4500mAh battery.
The price is expected to be £1799 in the UK with availability from 18 September. Overall, it looks like a great refresh to what is a ground-breaking device, addressing many pain points of the original phone.