Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4: everything you need to know

by techlowdown · 5 May 2022

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the hotly-anticipated 2022 reiteration of Samsung’s top-tier foldable phones. What started with the clunky Galaxy Fold was quickly improved upon with the Galaxy Z Fold 2, fleshed out with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and — at this point — we can’t wait to see what Samsung will do next.

We have a bunch of interesting reports and rumors on where Samsung is planning to take the Z Fold line — better cameras, sleeker design, and a more affordable price being up there. So, let’s go through everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 so far!

Latest Galaxy Z Fold 4 leaks [updated April 2022]

Galaxy Z Fold 4 release date

The Z Fold has slowly but surely taken up the space of what used to be the Samsung Galaxy Note. Now, Samsung launches a Note-like Galaxy S Ultra early in the year. This leaves a lot of stage time for foldables during the annual August Unpacked event.

Model	Announcement date	Release date
Galaxy Z Fold	Feb 20, 2019	Sept 27, 2019
Galaxy Z Fold 2	Aug 05, 2020	Sept 18, 2020
Galaxy Z Fold 3	Aug 11, 2021	Aug 27, 2021
Galaxy Z Fold 4	Early Aug, 2022 ?	Late Aug, 2022 ?

So, yeah, we fully expect the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to launch alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 in August of 2022, continuing the tradition of a late-Summer Unpacked event with cutting-edge technology phones.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 price

Recent leaks state that Samsung is expecting to ship a lot… a lot of foldables this year. Reports state that Sammy is aiming at having double the amount of Z Fold 4 phones made for launch day, than it did Z Fold 3. This could mean a couple of things, but most probably — a price drop, a definite price drop.

By how much? We… still don’t know. But there you have it, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will definitely, probably, maybe cost less than $1,799!

Phone	Starting price
Galaxy Z Fold 3	$1,799
Galaxy Z Fold 4	< $1,799

A foldable smartphone is still a pretty tough thing to build at scale — the first and second Fold phones were both hitting that $2,000 mark. Then, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 finally managed to reduce the price slightly, starting at $1,799.

So, with a huge grain of salt:

Galaxy Z Fold 4 expected price: $1,600 (speculation)

Galaxy Z Fold 4 camera

While the Fold series has had adequate cameras thus far, rumor has it that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will go all out and adopt the superb camera system from the Galaxy S22 line. Now, here’s the interesting part.

Earlier rumors said — not the S22 Ultra, as this camera module is way too thick to fit in the half of a Galaxy Z Fold. This would mean a 50 MP main camera, a 10 MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom, and a 12 MP ultra-wide camera.

Newest rumors say — yes, the S22 Ultra camera. Well, kind of — the Fold 4 would get the 108 MP main camera, which is awesome, but it will not have any crazy zoom capabilities. Which is only fair.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 storage, memory, processor

The Fold series are pricey, but at least Samsung acknowledges this and doesn’t play stingy with the storage. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 came with 256 GB of storage at its lowest tier.

It’s fully possible that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will also have 256 GB at its cheapest tier, though, if Samsung really is trying to bring the foldable’s price down, we may get a 128 GB option this year.

One interesting rumor that popped up recently is about the type of storage — reportedly, the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 will be the first Samsung phones with new UFS 4.0 chips. Those are supposed to be twice as fast as the currently-used UFS 3.1 chips, by providing 23.2 Gbps per lane. Storage speed is integral to overall device speed as well as perceived Internet connection performance, so this will be a huge upgrade for the 5G era.

The Z Fold line is constantly touted as a multi-tasking device by Samsung, and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 had 12 GB of RAM to support the multi-window chops of the device. And yeah, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 should also have 12 GB at a minimum.

All of this will be powered by a rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. We don’t know much about it, but — as can be expected — it will be a slightly improved version of the current flagship processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 design

What will Samsung do with the extra room? Well, it is said that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will have an S Pen slot and come with an S Pen of its own. That’s right, the most optimistic rumors out there say that you won’t have to buy an S Pen for the Z Fold 4 separately.

In typical “premium phone” fashion, the Fold 4 will come in more muted, or “boring”, colors. Latest rumors say — black, gray, and beige. Wow, we never expected to be excited about beige, but hey, there’s a first for everything.

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 fingerprint scanner will also have a new home, reports state. Instead of being embedded in the power button on the side, it will be under the display now.

“Which display?”, you ask? Both! Apparently, Samsung has been developing a dual-sided fingerprint scanner, which would have face ends on both the external screen and the left side of the internal display.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 display

As can be expected, Samsung will have AMOLED panels on both the front and the inside. The company has been on top of its game with AMOLED tech for years now, so that’s hardly subject to change.

In fact, rumors say we will get a new generation AMOLED screen — a new M12 OLED material to build the next generation of panels.

What does it do? We… don’t know. Speculation suggests it will present the opportunity for even brighter screens and, supposedly, improve the longevity of the OLED pixels even more. But Samsung has said nothing about it yet, so we have nothing.

That new AMOLED panel will also be covered by an upgraded glass — yeah, Samsung still calls the foldable screen “ultra-thin glass”, and rumor has it that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 would get a “Super Ultra Thin Glass”. Supposedly, it would be a bit more durable than what we had before. This only makes sense — considering the foldables now support an S Pen, Samsung may be making extra sure that you can’t damage the screen by doing too much of the stabby stabby with a stylus.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 battery

In an unexpected turn of events, reports now say that the batteries inside the Fold 4 would be made by… LG? This is a bit weird, seeing as Samsung has its own tech, factories, and the ability to produce its own batteries. Who knows, maybe LG is lending a helping hand, as Samsung is expecting to make more Folds this year than ever before.

We currently have no concrete data on what battery capacity to expect. The Z Fold 3 had a 4,400 mAh battery, which is not huge, but still quite impressive when we consider the phone’s form factor and, well… foldability. So, we don’t expect the Z Fold 4 to stray far from that number — the Galaxy Z Fold 4 battery capacity should be between 4,500 mAh and 5,000 mAh, unless Samsung pull a super ace out of their sleeve and blow our minds.

Galaxy Z Fold 4 features and software

The Galaxy Z Fold series is popular for being able to run 3 apps on screen (add a 4th floating window if you fancy) and generally tries to make the best use of the large canvas that the square-shaped internal screen provides. App Continuity makes sure that you can start a task on the small external screen and pick up where you left off when you unfurl the device.

S Pen and multi-window features aside, the software on the Galaxy Z Fold 4 will most probably be the same One UI you can get on the Galaxy S22 series.

Should I wait for Galaxy Z Fold 4?

You should wait for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 if you want to dip your toes in the foldable space and enjoy all the power and features that a top-tier company with enough expertise can provide. If you have been waiting to upgrade from an OG Fold or the Z Fold 2 — the Z Fold 4 seems like it will have all the bells and whistles to make you upgrade, too.

You should not wait Galaxy Z Fold 4 if you don’t want to spend $1,500+ on a smartphone. Plus, keep in mind that — even with a rumored improved hinge — it would still be a rather thick and heavy device that doesn’t always make for a convenient everyday carry.

Should I upgrade from Galaxy Z Fold 3 to Galaxy Z Fold 4?

With all the rumors and leaks we have to work with — it looks like the Z Fold 4 will have some nice new features, but not enough to fully overshadow the previous model. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a pretty soldi device as it is and we predict that it will still be relevant throughout this year and even the next.