The unveiling of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 8 is just a few weeks away, and rumors about what it will look like and its features are ramping up. Today brings fresh news about a crease-free folding panel and a hinge that promises a lighter phone from a tipster named Lanzuk.
Some things change
The Galaxy Z Flip 7
In a post translated from Korean, there is news that a new hinge design will bring down the weight to 180 grams, from 188 grams for the Galaxy Z Flip 7. Other noted changes are a slightly extended horizontal length (which we’re interpreting as thickness) and a “crease-free design structure.”
That latter is something that’s been hard to achieve for most phone manufacturers and is a sticking point in adoption of the foldable/flippable form factor for some. Whether the Z Flip 8 can be as pleasingly crease-free as the Oppo Find N6 remains to be seen.
As for thinness, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 is 85.5 x 75.2 x 13.7mm, and previous rumors have put the Galaxy Z Flip 8 as roughly 0.5mm thinner.
Lanzuk notes that there will be a slight price increase, which is the word about pretty much every phone out there as RAM prices reach new highs.
While some things remain the same
Things that are expected to remain the same include the camera and the battery, but perhaps most importantly, the charging speed. As we noted a few weeks ago, the 25W charging speed is headed toward being outdated.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 won’t fix the worst element of the Z Flip 7
Samsung may be giving major hardware upgrades a year off
Whether these rumors will bear out remains to be seen, but we should get our first look at the Galaxy Z Flip 8 alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the purported Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide sometime in July.
