AdminNow that 2023 is well underway, rumors of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 are popping up fast and thick, with the latest speculation surrounding the upcoming foldable camera setup.
According to a new report from a Vietnamese tech store Pixel (opens in a new tab)The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 could replace the 50MP rear camera used by its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, with a much more powerful 108MP rear sensor (like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra).
Pixel also suggests that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 could come with a 64MP telephoto lens (with 2x optical zoom) and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera. This setup would trump the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s 10-megapixel telephoto sensor, but would lose out on the latter’s 3x optical zoom capabilities.
This last point tells us to be a little wary of these new rumors. While it’s undoubtedly exciting to think we might finally see a foldable phone that can match non-foldable phones in the photography department, it’s hard to imagine Samsung giving the Galaxy Z Fold 5 lesser optical zoom capabilities than its predecessor.
Moreover, how SamMobile (opens in a new tab) notes that Samsung’s track record of sparsely deploying two major versions of the trotting camera raises another red flag. The Galaxy Z Fold 4’s camera setup marked a significant improvement over the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3’s equivalent sensors, making us a bit skeptical that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will feature another major snapper update.
Of course, we’re expecting some photographic improvement from the Galaxy Z Fold 5 over the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but at this stage, we’re hesitant to completely bury the rumors of a 108MP rear sensor and 64MP telephoto lens.
Analysis: Assembling more than just camera upgrades
However, we have more faith in rumors about the design of the Galaxy Z Fold 5. According to a South Korean outlet Naver (opens in a new tab)Samsung intends to use a waterdrop-shaped hinge in its upcoming foldable phone, which would allow the phone to fold completely flat with no visible gaps between the two halves of the display.
Several phones from Chinese manufacturers are already taking this approach to designing their foldable devices (for example, the Huawei Mate X2, Honor Magic Vs and Oppo Find N2), but at the expense of full water resistance. However, Samsung is rumored to be planning to add a new hinge shape while keeping the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s IPX8 rating, a feature no rival has been able to compete with in the foldable space.
As for the phone’s release date, we expect the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 to arrive in August 2023. The Galaxy Z Fold 4, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 2 were unveiled in August in their respective release years, so we expect that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will stick to tradition in this respect.
There’s no word yet on the phone’s price, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 launched for $1799 / £1649 / AU$2499, so a similarly staggering figure is to be expected from its successor. Still, these improvements could help it find a place in our roundup of the best Samsung phones.
