Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, which is thinner and lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 6, yet has larger screens and an improved camera system.
The Z Fold Special Edition also comes with 16GB of RAM to support a “Galaxy AI experience optimized for foldable devices” and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset. We have yet to hear how much storage space the device contains.
The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition will only be available in South Korea when it launches on October 25, and the sole Black Shadow color option will cost 2,789,600 won (or about $2,000 / £1,550 / AU$3,000).
Leaks have been hinting at a release in South Korea for months, but rumors of it launching in China remain unconfirmed. There are currently no signs of a wider worldwide release.
The official announcement includes comments from Sung-Taek Lim, executive vice president of Samsung Korea, who called the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition a “gesture of gratitude to domestic consumers who are leading the foldable market.”
We’re hoping the Z Fold Special Edition upgrades will make their way to the next globally released Z Fold phone – but the Z Fold 6 was just released in August, so we may have to wait a while to find out come.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the major upgrades coming to the Z Fold Special Edition.
Bigger, wider displays
The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition has a 6.5-inch exterior display and 8-inch interior display, compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s 6.3-inch exterior and 7.6-inch interior displays.
These expansions bring Samsung back in line with its competitors, as the Z Fold 6 hasn’t quite caught up to the likes of phones like the OnePlus Open and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold when it comes to screen size. And with a 21:9 aspect ratio, the Special Edition’s outer screen is proportionally wider than the Z Fold 6’s thin 22:9 wrap-around screen.
The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition marks the first increase in interior display since the Z Fold 2 was released in 2020, and features the same nearly square 20:18 aspect ratio as the Z Fold 6’s interior display.
A true flagship camera
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition could mark a turning point for the Z Fold series by finally offering a comparable photography experience to Samsung’s flagship phones.
The Z Fold Special Edition is equipped with a 200 MP wide main camera, the same resolution as the main camera on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. This is a big step up from the 50MP main camera fitted to the Z Fold 6; at least on paper.
Our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review found the 50 MP camera to be a frustrating oversight. So we’re happy to see steps towards parity with Samsung’s other ultra-premium phones and hope the same steps are taken with the next global Z Fold release.
Thinner and lighter
Although the race to produce thinner phones has been over for years, things are only getting more exciting in the foldable world.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition has a folded thickness of 10.6mm, which is an impressive 1.5mm difference compared to the Z Fold 6.
At 236 grams, it’s also 3 grams lighter than the Z Fold 6 – a modest improvement, but still a welcome boost for one-handed use.
This means the Z Fold Special Edition is both thinner and lighter than most other flagship foldable phones, slimmer than both the OnePlus Open and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but still beaten by the Honor Magic V3.
We would like to see Samsung keep the same competitive spirit when it comes to the design of the next global Z Fold phone.
As mentioned, we probably won’t see a global release for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, but otherwise we would have expected this new phone to find a spot on our lists of the best Samsung phones and the best foldable phones.
And as always, you can check out our Samsung phone coverage for the latest updates.
