Leaked Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 design is a step in the wrong direction

The foldable smartphone category undeniably the most exciting segment of the market these day, using in new form factors that promise to change the way we use our devices. While Samsung wasn’t the first to the party, the Galaxy Fold was certainly one of the most versatile and unique foldable smartphones to hit the market in 2019. A little more than a year after the device originally went on sale, we’re getting a clearer picture as to what the second iteration of the phone will look like.

Thanks to a new patent application from Samsung, new rendering os the phone have surfaced. At first glance, the Galaxy Fold 2 doesn’t;t look much different from its predecessor, though the patent application implies that the hinge has been updated with functionality similar to that of the Galaxy Z Flip.  While the original Galaxy Fold wasn’t necessarily a great looking device with its awkwardly-sized display that only covered a portion of the phone’s front cover, the Fold 2 leak shows a dramatic change and not in a good way.

Based on the new render of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2, the device will sport a strip display on the front of the phone, along the right edge. While the original Fold’s display wasn’t the most practical due to its size, the strip display on the Fold 2 will likely only be used for notifications and selfies, similar to the exterior display of the Galaxy Z Flip.

What’s our take?

There are still quite a few people who are skeptical about foldable-display smartphones. We have no clue how many Galaxy Folds Samsung was able to sell, but the fact that they are coming back with a second device implies that there is enough demand to keep improving on the design and pushing the technology forward.

As for the design of the Galaxy Fold 2, we’re not convinced that Samsung is making the changes necessary to make foldable phones more useful for their users. The upgraded finger should make the device more reliable, leading to fewer broken displays, but forcing consumer to unfold the phone every single time they want to use it by making the front display even smaller isn’t a move we were expecting.

We’re hoping that the designs shown in Samsung’s patent applications will be tweaked a bit more before Samsung executives sign off on the final changes for the phone.

Source: Samsung Patent,  Pigtou (Galaxy Fold 2 renders)