Depending on what sources and publications you choose to put your confidence in right now, we’re either around six weeks or close to two months away from Samsung’s next big Unpacked event. This is likely to center primarily on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, both of which have been the subject of a cavalcade of revealing reports and leaks over the last few months.
Is this the real thing?
In addition to choosing such a painfully slow method to leak the visual appearance of the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 6, prolific social media tipster and well-connected industry insider Ice Universe (aka @UniverseIce) is also being infuriatingly cryptic about what these images actually depict.
It’s obvious that “the next fold” in the two pictures is Samsung’s 2024 book-style flagship, but are we dealing with a real-world prototype here, a dummy unit made to resemble the device rendered by a computer a while back, or… something else?
This was the first puzzle piece revealed by Ice Universe.
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Unfortunately, we have no way to answer that question at the moment (without speculating based on our gut feeling, at least), but in general, Ice Universe only vouches for highly trustworthy designs. That means we can be just about certain the Z Fold 6 will be overall sharper and boxier than its predecessor, exactly how those aforementioned factory CAD-based renders suggested three whole months ago.
The cover screen bezels are… not great, both at the top and on the sides of said panel, which certainly looks quite a bit wider than the 6.2-inch display on the back of last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 5. The Z Fold 6 has been rumored a couple of different times to keep the 7.6 and 6.2-inch screen sizes of its predecessor largely unchanged, but of course, that doesn’t mean the aspect ratios need to stay the same… necessarily.
On the other hand, this is an extremely close-up photo that could well mess with our perception and make us see things that aren’t really there. Still, the bezels are undeniably chunky, the corners much sharper than ever before in the Galaxy Fold family’s history, and the centered hole punch is definitely not going anywhere anytime soon.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian’s passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for ‘adequate’ over ‘overpriced’.
