Samsung's Thinnest Foldable Yet: Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition

The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition has the same boxy shape in an armor aluminum chassis as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 (review) but is significantly thinner and only measures 4.9 mm on its side when unfolded or 10.6 mm when closed. That's a few hairlines thinner than the new Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold but is still thicker than the new Honor Magic V3.

It's also slightly taller and wider to accommodate the wider displays of a 6.5-inch OLED at the front surrounded by a nearly non-existent bezel and an 8-inch main OLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 2,600 nits peak brightness. However, the foldable Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition ditches S Pen support, which is a tradeoff by going for a thinner build and new displays.

Thinnest dust and waterproof Samsung foldable 

Despite sporting larger displays, Samsung shaved the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition's weight down to 236 grams from 239 grams. The device is still IP48 certified for dust and water resistance, which makes it more impressive given the foldable devices from the competition from other brands that lack complete ingress protection.

The Z Fold Special Edition foldable is only offered in a single black colorway, although it has a unique brushed texture on the frame and lines on the back panel. The triple rear camera module is now headlined by a 200 MP sensor with optical image stabilization and backed by a familiar 12 MP ultrawide snapper and a 10 MP 3x telephoto. The cover display has a 10 MP front-facing while the main flexible screen has the same partially invisible 4 MP UDC.

Powering the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Edition is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset, offering a few extra horsepower on the CPU and GPU compared to the vanilla version of the flagship SoC. The single memory configuration consists of 512 GB storage and 16 GB RAM. A 4,400 mAh battery supports 25 watts of wired charging, but we've yet to confirm if wireless charging is included.

The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition boots on Android 14 with a One UI 6 skin. As with current Samsung foldable phones, you will get a suite of AI features through Galaxy AI such as Live Interpreter, Photo Assist, and Circle to Search, among others.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition price and availability

Samsung's South Korean website currently lists the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition to be available for preorder for KRW 2,789,600 (~$2,040), but it didn't specifiy when shipping will begin. There's no word on whether the company will release it to global markets, though we've recently seen leaks tof the same device certified in China.

Would you prefer missing out on S Pen support in exchange for a thinner foldable design? Share your answers with us in the comments.

Source: Samsung KR