- Images of the Samsung Galaxy Wide Fold and Galaxy Z Fold 8 have been dug up in One UI 9 code
- The Z Fold 8 looks essentially identical to its predecessor, while the Wide Fold looks very different
- While the Wide Fold looks visually the most interesting, it could also be quite niche
Samsung is probably going to launch two book-style foldable phones this year, with the expected Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 likely to be joined by the Samsung Galaxy Wide Fold, and we’ve just had a somewhat official look at both of them.
You see, Samsung has included images of both devices in its One UI 9 software, and while these images aren’t currently intended to be user-facing, Android Authority has managed to dig them up.
As you can see in the images below, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 (codenamed Q8) looks very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, with a triple-lens camera on the back and a slightly narrow cover screen. Visually, there’s really nothing of note here, so this could be a boring upgrade.
But the Samsung Galaxy Wide Fold (codenamed H8) is far more interesting, with just a dual-lens camera but a much wider cover screen, looking like it could almost match a small tablet even when folded shut.
This design broadly lines up with previous leaks, so it’s not overly surprising in that sense, but it is the closest thing yet to an official look at the Galaxy Wide Fold, and it’s drastically different from any foldable phone that Samsung has launched so far.
Yes, there’s the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold, which has a wide foldable screen, but that has three sections, and the cover screen is still quite narrow and phone-like, so it’s a fundamentally different proposition to the device shown here.
A questionable design
Whether the Samsung Galaxy Wide Fold will be a hit with a design like this, though, very much remains to be seen. After all, foldables are still a bit niche, and this design would mean it can’t quite match a phone’s form factor even when folded. Personally, I’m not sold on it, but I do approve of brands experimenting with new designs.
And with the foldable iPhone Ultra reportedly launching this year too, we could be on the cusp of foldable phones becoming more mainstream, at which point there might be more appetite for a phone like this.
As far as the Samsung Galaxy Wide Fold goes, we should learn exactly what it has to offer in July, as that’s when it’s likely to land, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8, and perhaps the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 FE.
