- Galaxy Fold 2 leaks have been circulating for months, and these new renders give us an idea of how Samsung might be changing the design for 2020.
- The original Galaxy Fold was an exciting proof-of-concept, but not a great smartphone.
- With the Galaxy Fold 2, Samsung might be looking to release a phone that is both forward-looking and usable as a daily driver the way the Galaxy S20 is.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
When the Galaxy Fold was unveiled last February, it captured the imagination of countless consumers all around the world who were excited to see the next evolution of the handheld device. The design wasn’t perfect, but it was poised to be the first mass-market phone with a foldable display in history. Samsung was given some slack, but when critics finally got their hands on the foldable, reports of hardware issues sprung up almost immediately, and Samsung was forced to indefinitely delay the phone, which was originally set to launch on April 26th.
When the Galaxy Fold finally did launch on September 6th in South Korea, the reaction was fairly muted. There was no question that Samsung had achieved something impressive, but the odd design and the bulk of the phone made it a non-starter for the average consumer. Now the question is whether or not Samsung can learn from its mistakes and release a Galaxy Fold 2 that people might actually want to use as their daily driver.
Earlier this year, Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Flip, which, like the Fold, featured a foldable display, but came in a much more manageable form factor. The reception of the Z Flip was virtually a complete 180 from that of the Fold, as critics praised its design as well as its performance. But now that the Galaxy Z Flip is available, our attention turns to the Galaxy Fold 2, which has been the subject of multiple leaks over the past few months.
Over the weekend, Windows United teamed up with concept artist Waqar Khan put together a series of renders of the Galaxy Fold 2 based on the rumors, reports, and patents that have made their way online up to this point. As you can see below, this design is infinitely more attractive than that of its predecessor:
The unsightly notch of the original Fold has been replaced with the familiar hole-punch cutout of the Infinity-O display seen on the Galaxy S20 series. The rear camera system also appears to be the same as what we saw on the Galaxy S20+, complete with four lenses and a time-of-flight sensor. And the middling display on the front of the Galaxy Fold has been replaced with a full-size Infinity-V display on the Galaxy Fold 2.
Some of these features line up with a February leak from Max Weinbach of XDA Developers, who claimed at the time that the Galaxy Fold 2 would feature a 7.7-inch Infinity Flex Display with Ultra Thin Glass, an Infinity-V display on the front cover, the S20+ camera setup, and a hole-punch or under-display selfie camera.
At the time, Weinbach also said that the Fold 2 would launch “around July,” but that was before the coronavirus crisis became a pandemic, so it will be interesting to see if Samsung’s plans have changed in the meantime.
