Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 launching later this year will have a designated slot for the S Pen stylus and come with a similar screen size as its predecessor the Galaxy Z Fold 3, TheElec has learned.
The South Korean tech giant has recently finalized its plan to make a designated slot on the foldable phone, much like the Galaxy Note series and the recently unveiled Galaxy S22 Ultra, sources said.
Galaxy Z Fold 3 which launched last year also had S Pen support but it didn’t have a designated slot on the device to house the stylus. Rather, Samsung sold a separate cover accessory that could be used to attach the S Pen on it.
Fold 3 sold fewer models than its sister phone Galaxy Z Flip 3 last year, but the integration of the S Pen is expected to narrow the gap. Samsung is expecting the integration of the S Pen on the Fold 4 to be a big “selling point,” the sources said.
At the same time, Fold 4 will come with a 7.56-inch main screen, slightly larger than Fold 3’s 7.55-inch counterpart.
Fold 4 will also come with a 6.19-inch external screen, slightly smaller than Fold 3’s 6.2-inch counterpart.
The screen sizes will be more or less the same between Fold 4 and Fold 3, the sources said.
The external design of the two models also won’t be drastically different, they said, as Samsung is focusing on the durability of the Fold 4.
Around 2019, the tech giant had considered developing an 8-inch foldable phone but scrapped the plan as prototypes were shown to be difficult to hold in one hand.
Like Fold 3, Fold 4 will attach a digitizer on the main OLED panel using electromagnetic resonance method, which means a battery won’t be needed on the S Pen.
A digitizer is a dual-sided flexible printed circuit board used to recognize the S Pen.
Samsung had been reviewing applying active electrostatic solution, which won’t require a digitizer. Apple uses the solution for the Apple Pencil.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Flip 4, which will be unveiled with the Fold 4, will have a 6.7-inch main screen and a 1.9-inch external screen.
The main screen size is more or less the same as the Flip 3 but the external screen is larger than the prior 1.83-inch.
Samsung is aiming to ship around 13 million units of foldable phones in 2022.