There aren’t many rumors surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 yet, but I’m already cautiously hyped for it. And the reason for that is titanium.
Yes, I already mentioned that I quite like titanium in the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S24 Ultra, after initially considering it 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 headphones, I love foldable 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.
More needs to be done to make foldable phones truly mainstream devices, but they are still great technological rectangles that can do double duty as feature-rich smartphones and compact tablets. For me, they are excellent devices for note-taking, gaming, and reading digital books and magazines.
However, I never committed to putting my SIM card in a Galaxy Fold, despite the evolution of Samsung’s foldable flagship phone. The reason for this is annoying: they are too heavy and bulky.
Sure, phones are big these days, but I don’t like the idea of carrying a bulky phone in my pocket and having people wonder if I’m a little too happy to see them.
Wrapping the next-generation Galaxy Z Fold in titanium could be a solution to this problem. Not only is titanium noticeably lighter than aluminum, but it’s also stronger, meaning the paranoia of dropping a foldable phone into its demise could be reduced.
So that would make for a phone that’s easier to use with one hand when folded, and lighter to hold when unfolded as an ereader.
I hope that titanium can be used in combination with possible improvements in hinge mechanisms, batteries and foldable screens to create a foldable Galaxy phone that is significantly 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 lot slimmer and lighter than before might be enough to make me fully opt for a foldable phone. And that brings at least some excitement to a mind tired of the slowdown in smartphone innovation.
Collapse AI
Okay, look, I’m not that basic.
Titanium isn’t the only thing about 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 the next generation of Samsung foldables.
I’m 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 solid creative potential, even if I think it could be slicker.
But I think these features can really shine on a foldable phone. When you have more screen real estate, you have more room to Circle to Search to your heart’s content and more room to delve into editing the weeds with Generative Edit. I also think features like AI note-taking and summary generation are better used on a phone where split-screen operation is more feasible than on standard phones.
Generative AI may have taken some people by storm – look at you ‘tech bros’ – but I’m not yet fully convinced by the technology, which seems to be a source of potential counterfeiting. However, I am slowly discovering the ability to help people get things done in a smart way. And I think the possibilities for pairing with a powerful, slick, and lightweight new Galaxy Z Fold could further open my weary eyes to a positive AI future.