There hasn’t been a glut of rumors around the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, but I’m already tentatively hyped for it. And the reason for that is titanium.
Yes, I’ve already talked up how I think titanium is pretty great in the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra, having initially thought of it as a mild marketing gimmick. But the more I think about what’s next for smartphones the more it feels like titanium will be a big deal in foldable phones.
Despite using an iPhone 15 Pro Max as my main phone, I do love folding phones. The OnePlus Open is very slick and deserves a place on our best foldable phones list, but I’ve long been a Galaxy Fold user for the most part.
There’s more to be done to make folding phones proper mainstream devices, yet they are still great rectangles of tech able to pull double duties as feature-packed smartphones and compact tablets. For me, they are superb devices for note-taking, gaming, and reading digital books and magazines.
However, I’ve never committed to slotting my SIM card into a Galaxy Fold, despite the evolution of Samsung’s flagship foldable phone. The reason for that is a tedious one: they are too heavy and bulky.
Sure, phones are big these days, but I don’t like the idea of carrying a girthy phone in my pocket and having people wonder if I’m a little too pleased to see them.
Swaddling the next-generation Galaxy Z Fold in titanium could be one solution to this… problem. Not only is titanium notably lighter than aluminum, but it’s stronger too, meaning the paranoia of dropping a foldable phone to its doom could be lessened.
So that would make for a phone that feels easier to use one-handed when folded and lighter to hold when using it unfolded as an ereader.
My hope is that titanium could be used in tandem with potential advancements in hinge mechanisms, batteries, and folding screens to make a foldable Galaxy phone that’s notably thinner than its predecessors. So far the rumors don’t indicate that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 could be much slimmer than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, but I live in hope.
Making a Galaxy Z Fold phone that’s a good bit slimmer and lighter than what’s come before could be enough to have me fully commit to a foldable phone. And that at least curries some excitement from a mind tired of the slowdown in smartphone innovation.
Folding in AI
Ok, look I’m not that basic.
Titanium isn't the only thing from the Galaxy S24 Ultra that has me interested in the Galaxy Z Fold 6. It’s also the potential adoption of generative AI tools in Samsung’s next-gen foldable.
I’ve been impressed with how AI-powered features like Circle to Search work on the Galaxy S24 family. And the Generative Edit camera and photo tool has some solid creative potential, even though I feel it could be slicker.
But I think on a foldable phone those features could really come to the fore. Having more screen space means you have more scope to Circle to Search to your heart’s content and more room to get into the editing weeds with Generative Edit. I also think features like AI-powered note-taking and summary generation can be put to better use on a phone where split-screen operation is more viable than on standard phones.
Generative AI may have taken certain people by storm – looking at you ‘tech bros’ – but I’ve not been fully convinced by the tech, which seems to be a font of potential fakery. However, I’m slowly coming around to its ability to help people get things done in a smart way. And I think its scope for combination with a powerful, slick, and light new Galaxy Z Fold could further open up my jaded eyes to a positive AI future.
