Samsung finally launched an ultra-thin foldable this year, the Galaxy Z Fold SE, which is available only in Korea and China right now. It’s not as thin as similar Fold-type designs from Chinese smartphone vendors, but the product appears to be a success. Recent reports from Korea show that the phone keeps selling out. Then again, that’s bound to happen with a limited production run.
A few weeks ago, I said that Samsung now has to adopt the Galaxy Z Fold SE design and use it for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 next year. Anything else would send the wrong message. Recent reports confirmed that. Apparently, Samsung has decided to reuse the SE design for next year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7.
That detail came from Ross Young, a display expert familiar with the inner workings of the smartphone panel industry who has been accurate about unreleased Samsung and Apple products before. Samsung will not confirm the Galaxy Z Fold 7 design until next summer, but we have a new report from Korea that reinforces Young’s claims.
Not only will Samsung make an ultra-thin Galaxy Z Fold 7 next year, but the company will steal an idea from Apple to make it happen.
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One issue with the Galaxy Z Fold SE is that it lacks S Pen stylus support. Samsung removed the digitizer layer from the Fold SE’s panel to make the foldable thinner than the Fold 6. That meant the ultra-thin device would not work with existing S Pen styluses compatible with foldable phones.
It’s one thing to make such a decision with a limited-edition phone and quite another to make the same design change on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Plenty of S Pen enthusiasts may want a stylus, and it could end up being a dealbreaker if Samsung removes support.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold SE: Thickness measurements. Image source: Samsung
Samsung will not add the digitizer layer back, as it wants to keep the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as thin as the SE model. However, Samsung wants to give buyers the option of using a stylus. According to ETNews, the solution comes from the Apple Pencil.
Samsung has been using electromagnetic resonance (EMR) technology to add S Pen support to its phones. The digitizer creates an electric field on the display to register stylus input. As a result, the S Pen does not need electrical components like the battery, and it’s smaller than the Apple Pencil that works with the iPad.
Without a digitizer in place for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Samsung is looking to create an S Pen that’s more similar to the Apple Pencil. The stylus will contain the electrical components, including a battery that needs to be recharged. This S Pen design will use active static electricity (AES) to work with the display.
The downside is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s S Pen will be larger and thicker. It’ll also need frequent charging. But that’s all to serve Samsung’s endgame here: An ultra-thin Fold-type device that can work with a stylus if required.
The other obvious implication is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will not be paired with the S Pen. The latter will be sold separately. Since it will be larger, there’s probably no way to build this one into the Fold 7.
If you own a Galaxy Z Fold SE, this new S Pen design might also work in your favor. I’m assuming here the new stylus would work with the SE model, though that’s just speculation.
Finally, there’s another interesting tidbit in the ETNews report. Samsung is reportedly considering titanium as the backplate material for the next-gen Fold phone. The company used carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for this display component to prevent electrical interference with the digitizer in previous Fold models that supported the S Pen.
