The Z Fold makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to survive

Phone Arena

3 days ago

Galaxy
Z
Fold 7
The Galaxy Z Fold is fighting for survival
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foldable phone
The future of foldable phones — they have to feel like 'normal' ones
foldable phones
I also assume that another hidden reason was that Samsung needed the room inside the phone for the Wacom digitizers that makes the S Pen use possible.
Will you miss the S Pen? Samsung asked, the market responded
With last year's
Z Fold 5 before that, sales were allegedly, reportedly, that's-what-they-say — not satisfactory or near projections. So, Samsung had to shuffle and accept a few cold, hard truths.
Ever heard of the
? It was released in October 2024 in limited markets — South Korea and China. And it can be viewed as the prototype of the
Z
Fold 7 that was launched yesterday. Thinner body, bigger screens… no S Pen.
It Multiple times.
Back then, I theorized that Samsung was gauging interest and checking if sacrificing the S Pen would be viewed as a negative. One may argue that setting up production lines takes many months, so my theory that the
Z Fold 6 SE was a test run for the
Z
Fold 7 is bogus, since the plan was in motion long before October 2024.
OK, fine. Alternative take — the
Galaxy
Z Fold 6 SE may have been a soft preamble, a coded message to the fans. Reading something like 'OK, guys, we heard you, look — we know how to make one of the thin ones, it's coming, hang on'.
In my head canon, both theories are somewhat right. I can't be persuaded that Samsung didn't have some sort of contingency in case the
Z Fold 6 SE flopped terribly.
The S Pen never had a place on the Z Fold anyway
Hold on, pitchforks down. I am an avid
But.
Why am I not using a
Z Fold 6 with an S Pen? The big display is an obvious choice for the stylus, right? Huge canvas, more room for notes or drawing.
But also, no place to put said stylus. You probably know that ever since S Pen support was added with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the only way to get one to attach to the phone was by buying a dedicated S Pen case.
A bulky, plastic, hard-to-pocket case with a slot for the S Pen. Samsung tried solutions, it made the entire stylus design thinner, so that the case could be somewhat thinner. Users still had issues with it. Either the heft that the case adds, or the S Pen dropping out of the case and getting misplaced. And we are back to the start of the article — it felt like a compromise.
And compromises is not what you want to be paying $1,800 (plus the price of the S Pen case) for.
Rumors are that Samsung is working on developing alternate tech — an active S Pen that doesn't need a digitizer inside the Z Fold to work so accurately. Either the tech has been scrapped or it's simply not there yet.
And, let's be honest with ourselves. There are very few S Pen users out there that actually use the stylus regularly, daily, a lot. Most of us use it once in a blue moon and 'It's nice'. It's nice to mark up your calendar. It's nice to lay your signature on a PDF without having to print and scan the document. It's nice to take notes by hand because it's so natural.
But the market has shifted. People don't want a feature that's 'nice' — they want a
foldable phone that's excellent.
The good news is that the
Galaxy
Z
Fold 7 is giving us strong indications that it may be just that. The bad news is that it had to sacrifice the S Pen along the way. Oh, and it's $200 more expensive *runs away*.
I also assume that another hidden reason was that Samsung needed the room inside the phone for the Wacom digitizers that makes the S Pen use possible.With last year's Galaxy Z Fold 6 , and even thebefore that, sales were allegedly, reportedly, that's-what-they-say — not satisfactory or near projections. So, Samsung had to shuffle and accept a few cold, hard truths.Ever heard of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition ? It was released in October 2024 in limited markets — South Korea and China. And it can be viewed as the prototype of thethat was launched yesterday. Thinner body, bigger screens… no S Pen.It sold out Back then, I theorized that Samsung was gauging interest and checking if sacrificing the S Pen would be viewed as a negative. One may argue that setting up production lines takes many months, so my theory that theSE was a test run for theis bogus, since the plan was in motion long before October 2024.OK, fine. Alternative take — theSE may have been a soft preamble, a coded message to the fans. Reading something like 'OK, guys, we heard you, look — we know how to make one of the thin ones, it's coming, hang on'.In my head canon, both theories are somewhat right. I can't be persuaded that Samsung didn't have some sort of contingency in case theSE flopped terribly.Hold on, pitchforks down. I am an avid Galaxy S24 Ultra user and not one to advocate for the removal of the S Pen. On the contrary — I do use the stylus and enjoy it as a feature.But.Why am I not using awith an S Pen? The big display is an obvious choice for the stylus, right? Huge canvas, more room for notes or drawing.But also, no place to put said stylus. You probably know that ever since S Pen support was added with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, the only way to get one to attach to the phone was by buying a dedicated S Pen case.A bulky, plastic, hard-to-pocket case with a slot for the S Pen. Samsung tried solutions, it made the entire stylus design thinner, so that the case could be somewhat thinner. Users still had issues with it. Either the heft that the case adds, or the S Pen dropping out of the case and getting misplaced. And we are back to the start of the article — it felt like a compromise.And compromises is not what you want to be paying $1,800 (plus the price of the S Pen case) for.Rumors are that Samsung is working on developing alternate tech — an active S Pen that doesn't need a digitizer inside the Z Fold to work so accurately. Either the tech has been scrapped or it's simply not there yet.And, let's be honest with ourselves. There are very few S Pen users out there that actually use the stylus regularly, daily, a lot. Most of us use it once in a blue moon and 'It's nice'. It's nice to mark up your calendar. It's nice to lay your signature on a PDF without having to print and scan the document. It's nice to take notes by hand because it's so natural.But the market has shifted. People don't want a feature that's 'nice' — they want athat's excellent.The good news is that theis giving us strong indications that it may be just that. The bad news is that it had to sacrifice the S Pen along the way. Oh, and it's $200 more expensive *runs away*.
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Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 7 yesterday and hooray — the rumors were true. We get a nice, thin phone that feels almost 'normal' when folded, barely thicker than a Galaxy S25 Ultra . And an external screen that you can actually dual-thumb type on due to it being wider.All good news, all things the community has been begging for. But, silently, in the background, something sinister is waiting to ruin your day. Thedoes not support an S Pen.I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.The question may be 'Why?' but the answer is pretty obviousIt's been a good 6 years since the original Galaxy Fold launched. Wow, time flies.In that time, multiple other manufacturers tried their hand in the foldable space — Vivo, Oppo, Honor, OnePlus, even Google. And they began shaping the future of that particular type of smartphone. That's right, Samsung may have been first to the party, but failed to stay in the seat of trendsetter.See, foldable phones had major downsides to them. Yes, they were expensive, but that wasn't the end of it. If you wanted a, you'd have to also live with some compromises. A thick, heavy brick weighing down your pocket. An external display that's good for quick notification checks, but too tiny for prolonged use. And a downgraded camera experience.One by one, those compromises were being dealt with by the competition. All the while, Samsung was covering its ears, singing la la la.Honor went on a mission to make the thinnest possible, while Vivo and Huawei were pushing to improve the cameras they can fit on those thin waffles. The community responded positively. It was clear — we want to be able to use a folded phone without the downsides. The cover screen has to be wide, and the overall build has to feel easy to handle (or hard to drop).Meanwhile, Samsung was sticking to its guns. I did have the chance to ask 'Why' the cover screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 was still narrow, and the response I got was that Samsung wanted a very clear difference in experience between the two screens. The external one was for one-hand use — think taking it out of your pocket to reply to a text, while holding groceries in your other hand. The internal was the big canvas for deep dives and prolonged usages.OK, fair enough. But let's be honest, the cover screen was so tall and the phone body so thick, that one-handed use never felt completely convenient. Especially if you had an official case with super-raised lip around that screen.