Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Tipped to Debut With S Pen Slot: Report

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the company's latest foldable smartphone powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC was launched at the Galaxy Unpacked event in August. Months later, purported details of next year's foldable smartphones have been spotted online. The next foldable offering from the South Korean smartphone company could get a dedicated S Pen slot to make the lineup more popular. As Samsung expects the foldable smartphone market to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of up to 80 percent by 2025, it is reportedly planning to make the anticipated Galaxy Z Fold 5 weigh less and thinner than the outgoing model. It is also expected to get a thin crease and a durable design.

According to a report by The Elec (in Korean), Samsung could equip its upcoming foldable smartphones with an S Pen slot. In a meeting with component suppliers, Samsung reportedly said that a dedicated S Pen slot is one of the features needed for foldable phones to become more popular. As per the report, a thinner and weightless design, durability, slight crease on the screen and improved camera performance are the other challenges Samsung believes suppliers have to adopt to increase the popularity of foldable smartphones.

The South Korean brand had reportedly planned to include a dedicated S Pen slot and flagship cameras on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, but it failed to implement both features due to weight and thickness limitations.

As per the report, Samsung expects the foldable market to grow by 80 percent each year through 2025. It expects Apple will enter the foldable market by 2024 with foldable tablets and notebooks. Besides, the report quotes Samsung as saying "iPhone users in their 20s and 30s in South Korea were changing their devices to Samsung's foldable smartphones at a rate 3-4 times higher than before". As per the report, Samsung said that up to 90 percent of foldable smartphone users are expected to buy foldable smartphones as their next device.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is the expected sequel to the current Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 was launched globally including in India at the Galaxy Unpacked event on August 10 with a starting price of Rs. 1,54,999 for the 12GB + 256GB storage variant.

It is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC and has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus protection on display. The handset runs on Android 12-based OneUI 4.1.1 and features side-mounted fingerprint sensors for biometric authentication.