The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is anticipated to launch later this year as an updated version of the company’s book-style foldable phone, featuring a sleeker design with straight lines. While Samsung has been releasing phones with incremental updates over the past two years, competitors have introduced slimmer models, setting new design benchmarks. This year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 is thinner than its predecessor at 12.9mm, but rivals from Vivo and OnePlus, already available in India, are slimmer at 11.2mm and 11.7mm, respectively. Samsung is also expected to launch another foldable phone this year.
The rumored Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim is projected to be slimmer than the current Galaxy Z Fold 6, which recently went on sale. However, The Elec reports that the new foldable may still be thicker than its competition. According to a source, Samsung has achieved a thickness of 11.5mm when folded by removing the digitizer, which is required for S Pen use. The digitizer layer adds about 0.6mm to the thickness of the current model.
Even at 11.5mm, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim will compete with older foldables like Vivo’s X Fold 3 Pro (11.2mm) and OnePlus’s Open (11.7mm). Xiaomi’s latest book-style foldable, the Mix Fold 4, is just 9.47mm thick when folded. Similarly, Honor’s recently announced Magic V3 is slightly thinner than the Mix Fold at 9.2-9.3mm.
The report states that Samsung has faced long-term reliability challenges in designing foldables slimmer than its current models. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim is said to feature a larger 8.0-inch display and a 6.5-inch cover display with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. However, it is expected to be available only in select markets, including South Korea and China.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim is rumored to debut in October. An earlier report indicated that Samsung Electronics President and Head of MX Business TM Roh had tasked engineers with developing an ultra-slim foldable smartphone similar to the Galaxy S24. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, reviewed this year, is just 7.7mm thick but is not a foldable phone.
