Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 could get this radical redesign

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold iv could become this radical redesign

(Epitome credit: Permit's Go Digital)

Update: The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 could prepare Fold three'south biggest flaw : the under-display photographic camera. And co-ordinate to a new rumor, the Samsung Milky way Z Fold 4 won't accept a slot to store an S Pen , which could be rather disappointing and a missed design upgrade.

Given the success of the Galaxy Z Fold iii, Samsung is doubtlessly working on a new version of its foldable phone for 2022. And based on a recently canonical patent, the visitor could be considering a new look for the next edition of the all-time foldable telephone.

Let's Go Digital says that before this month, Samsung won approval from the Globe Intellectual Belongings Part for a a patent that covers a foldable phone with an expanded screen size and a horizontal swivel. To aid illustrate the expect of a such a device, the Dutch site created a concept render showing a Galaxy Z Fold with a horizontal hinge.

The Galaxy Z Fold three, like previous Folds, uses a vertical hinge that allows you to open up the phone like a book revealing the interior display. A horizontal hinge would shift that orientation and so that the device opens more like a flip telephone — only with a Galaxy Z Fold-sized screen, presumably.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 renders based on a patent — (Image credit: Let'south Go Digital)

The advantage of switching to a horizontal hinge seems similar information technology would give Samsung the opportunity to boost the size of a future Galaxy Z Fold while maintaining the portability of the foldable phone. Samsung touts the Galaxy Z Fold equally a productivity booster, and having a bigger screen might appeal to people who want to go things washed on the go.

When closed, the phone in the Let's Go Digital render offers what looks to be a foursquare exterior display — another contrast from the half dozen.two-inch cover brandish on the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

All this doesn't necessarily mean Samsung is eyeing this particular design for the Milky way Z Fold iv, which you lot'd effigy would come out in the latter half of 2022. Patents don't necessarily interpret to finished products — many such patents never result in products that see the lite of day.

Even so, there's no denying that foldable phones are of increasing interest to Samsung. Concluding month, the company said that it sold five times the number of Galaxy Z Fold three units as it had the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

And before this week, Slashgear picked up a report of Korea that claimed Samsung expects to ship 10 million foldable phones next year. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 will make upwards 29% of the foldables Samsung produces, the report claims, while the successor the Galaxy Z Flip 3 volition account for 68% of foldable phone production.

Samsung currently dominates the market for foldable phones between the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3. No real competitor has emerged, and just this calendar week, rumors surfaced that Google was scrapping plans for a Pixel Fold that would have gone up against Samsung'due south devices.

Philip Michaels is a senior editor at Tom's Guide. He has strong opinions about Apple tree, the Oakland Athletics and old movies. Follow him at @PhilipMichaels.