The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 landed as a real head-turner. It’s the slimmest foldable phone Samsung has made so far. This new device put Samsung right into a tougher fight with foldable rivals, especially brands like HONOR and OPPO. So, how did Samsung manage to make its foldable so much thinner? The company recently pulled back the curtain to share its secrets.
Samsung laid out the details in a recent blog post, explaining the design magic. The thinner profile of the Fold7 comes from three main areas. They made the hinge much slimmer, designed a thinner screen, and used a completely new camera part. These changes helped cut the Fold7’s thickness by almost half compared to the very first Galaxy Fold. It’s a huge leap forward in compact design.
The hinge got a serious makeover. Samsung says the Fold7’s hinge is 27% thinner and 43% lighter than the one on the Fold6. They achieved this by using smaller, lighter parts for the rotation and support. Plus, the phone’s side plate opens wider now. This means when you unfold it, the screen lies flatter, and you see less of a crease. It’s a smart way to improve the user experience.
Even with this smaller size, Samsung promises the new hinge is even stronger. It improves durability for “thousands of uses.” For reference, the Fold6 was built to handle more than 200,000 open-and-close cycles. You might have heard some early stories about Galaxy Z Fold7 demo phones not opening all the way. But these seem to be isolated incidents, not a widespread problem for most devices.
When it comes to the display, Samsung found ways to shave off thickness there too. They made the screen panel structure more efficient and used brand-new materials. They also redesigned the panel layer itself for a slimmer look. It’s worth noting something Samsung mentioned before: to get the Fold7 so thin, they removed the digitizer layer from the screen. This means the Fold7 no longer works with the S Pen, which is a trade-off some users might feel.
The camera system also played a part in the thinness. The Fold7 boasts a new 200 MP wide-angle rear camera. Samsung redesigned this entire camera module. They used a new thin actuator, which is the tiny component that moves the lens. This, along with a full structural redesign, helped make the phone less bulky.
All these engineering tricks combined allowed Samsung to create one of the slimmest foldable phones available. It highlights a new battleground in the foldable market. Now, companies are fighting over tiny differences, literally fractions of a millimeter, in how thin their devices can be. It’s an exciting time to watch these innovations unfold.
(Source: Samsung Newsroom)