What you need to know
- Samsung is reportedly working on a Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim foldable that could debut at the end of this year.
- The company will reveal its typical foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, at a Samsung Unpacked event on July 10.
- The possible Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim is rumored to offer a few notable advantages over Samsung’s regular foldable, including a larger 8-inch display.
All eyes are on Samsung, as the company is about to reveal its next-generation foldables at a Galaxy Unpacked event on July 10. That includes the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6, which are set to offer a few upgrades over their predecessors. We’re expecting to see other cool things, too, like new Galaxy Watch models and the Galaxy Ring. However, the most exciting Samsung foldable of the year might not be released at the summer Galaxy Unpacked event.
It’s looking increasingly likely that Samsung will introduce a third folding phone at some point this year. Leakers have dubbed it the “Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim,“ and it is rumored to be a more premium version of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. That could mean a lot of things—this rumored foldable might have more premium features and a higher price tag. Of course, the “slim” moniker would suggest that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim is thinner than the standard model.
According to prior reports, this ultra-thin version of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 would be looking at a fourth-quarter release. One report indicated that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim could be released in October, right around the time we’d usually see new Pixels debut. Now that Google has moved up its event to an August date, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim could be the lone Android flagship released in that month.
It feels like Samsung was resting on its laurels as the king of the foldable space for a while. The company was uncontested in the U.S. foldable market for a while, but a lack of significant improvements to the Galaxy Z Fold 5 opened the door for the OnePlus Open to earn the title of best foldable, at least in terms of specs. Similarly, the company’s foldables aren’t even close to matching the devices coming out of China these days. All these factors contributed to Samsung losing the title of global folding phone shipments leader, with Huawei taking Samsung’s top spot in Q1 2024.
That’s why it’s exciting to see a rumored Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim in development that could truly rival cutting-edge foldables, especially those from Asia. However, the supposed release timeline for this device certainly complicates things for prospective buyers. If the rumored October release window is accurate, it’s smack in the middle of Samsung’s typical Galaxy Unpacked event. That might make potential Galaxy Z Fold 6 buyers wait a few months to make their purchase or make potential Galaxy S25 customers purchase a Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim early instead.
Why the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim could be worth the wait
The latest information about the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim comes from The Elec, a South Korean publication with a reliable history of reporting on Samsung’s future plans. The site says that this new folding phone will feature the largest display we’ve ever seen from Samsung on a foldable. It’ll be eight inches diagonally, per the report, which is significantly more screen real estate than the 7.6-inch display on current phones.
This will mean that the cover screen will also be larger, measuring 6.5 inches diagonally. Samsung is poised to make the cover screen on the standard Galaxy Z Fold 6 slightly wider, matching the trend that the Pixel Fold and OnePlus Open ushered in. However, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim will reportedly be even bigger.
The thinner design is intended to keep Samsung competitive with other Asian phone manufacturers, like Huawei and Honor. They have ultra-thin foldables available that are barely larger than a traditional smartphone. As such, Samsung might restrict sales to certain countries or regions, like Asia. The company might only make 500,000 units, according to recent reports, and it’s unknown whether the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim will be available in the U.S.
There are some tradeoffs that will come with the more compact design. For example, Samsung is expected to remove S Pen support for the Slim version of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. It’s unknown what it will cost or where it will be available, so there is a risk to waiting for a foldable that might be out of your price range, be missing core features, or simply be unavailable in your country or region.
With all that being said, it still might be worth waiting to see what comes of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim before buying a standard Galaxy Z Fold 6. Folding phones are too expensive to purchase, and one could be one-upped by a newer model just a few months later.