Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2: Everything you need to know

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is finally official and this is the sequel to last year’s Galaxy Fold. After getting feedback from its customers, the new Fold 2 now features a larger screen and a new hinge which unfolds more possibilities.

Pricing and Availability

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 will be available in around 40 countries including the US and Korean on the 18th of September 2020. Pre-order will begin at selected countries from the 1st of September 2020. It comes in Mystic Black and Mystic Bronze.

The Galaxy Fold 2 with 256GB of storage is priced at USD 1999 (about RM8,281) in the US, EUR 1,949 (about RM9,652) in Germany and GBP 1,799 (about RM10,019) in the UK. In China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the device is offered with 512GB of storage.

Unfortunately, there’s no official pricing and availability details for the Malaysian market.

There’s also a limited Thom Browne Edition that costs USD 3,299 (about RM13,666) which will go on sale starting 25th September. It comes bundled with Galaxy Buds Live and Galaxy Watch 3 in Thom Browne colours.

Hardware Specs

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 now features a larger cover screen that uses a 6.2″ HD+ Super AMOLED display that pushes a resolution of 2260×816 pixels. This allows the Fold to provide a full screen smartphone experience when it’s folded, which is a major upgrade over its predecessor. As a comparison, the original Fold came with a tiny 4.6″ HD+ display that pushes a 1680×720 pixels resolution.

On the inside, you get a larger 7.6″ Infinity-O Dynamic AMOLED 2X display that pushes a QXGA resolution of 2208×1768 pixel. Like the latest Galaxy flagship devices, the screen pushes a high 120Hz refresh rate, which is a first for a foldable device. This time, the Fold’s internal screen uses Ultra Thin Glass which is said to provide a more premium and refined feel for the display.

Under the hood, it runs on a Snapdragon 865+ processor with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Onboard it uses UFS 3.1 storage that comes in either 256GB or 512GB capacity. The Fold 2 is also a 5G device and it also has support for 802.11ax WiFi 6 and Ultra Wide Band.

The biggest highlight is its new hinge design which uses CAM mechanism which now allows it to stay open at various angles. This is similar to the Galaxy Z Flip and they have added sweeper technology to keep dust and particles from getting in.

The flexible hinge provides greater flexibility to capture and view content. You can stand it up to take a selfie, view videos on the cover display or being able to review previously taken photos while getting ready to take the next shot in the camera app.

In terms of cameras, the rear gets a triple-camera setup with a 12MP f/1.8 main camera with dual-pixel auto focus and OIS, and an 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle shooter. There’s also a 12MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with dual-OIS and it offers 2x optical zoom.

If you need to take a selfie, both the outer and inner display come with a 10MP punch-hole camera. Unlike other flagship Samsung phones, the Fold 2 can only record up to 4K instead of 8K.

Powering the device is a 4,500mAh battery that consists of two separate cells. It supports 25W wired charging as well as fast wireless charging. Just like its predecessor, the Fold 2 has stereo speakers and support for Samsung Pay. You don’t get any water resistance and it still lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. For instant unlocking, the Fold 2 uses a side-mounted fingerprint sensor and it still supports face unlock.

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