Attention spans in the smartphone world don’t tend to last long. As soon as the latest flashy device has been released, the internet moves on to the next glowing rectangle, forgetting that some of the best phones are only a few months old but treating them like they are ancient history. We could be set to see that all again next week, as the release date for the latest Samsung Galaxy phone has seemingly been confirmed.
It has been less than a month since the announcement of the Galaxy S24 FE, a cheaper version of the S24 launched back in January. It’s also only been three short months since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 6, its latest flagship foldable phone, but it’s that phone that looks to be getting a surprise makeover in the coming days.
There have been ongoing rumours that Samsung is planning to release a special edition of the Z Fold 6 just a few months after the original handset came out and that release could be mere days away. Tech leaker Ice Universe posted a video to his X followers on Wednesday showing a short video of an envelope being pushed under a door:
When someone opens the envelope, they pull out what appears to be a foldable Samsung phone that has the screen on, saying ‘You’re invited’.
The video then cuts to that message fullscreen, with the date ‘24.10.21’ at the bottom. This appears to suggest a new phone announcement will happen on 21 October 2024. Given the phone in the envelope is a foldable, Ice Universe confirms this will be for the rumoured Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition. Korean publication Financial News has said it believes the phone will be released on the 25 October, so there could be just four days between an announcement and the Android device going on sale.
Express.co.uk reported on this surprise new Z Fold last month, but the catch for many Samsung fans is the phone may not be available globally. In fact, it’s unlikely that the Special Edition will come to the UK.
The phone reportedly will be slimmer than the regular Z Fold 6, which was shown up by the much thinner Honor Magic V3 recently. The new Samsung phone could also have a redesigned camera module, and we hope the crease is less prominent than on the original model. The displays are said to also be getting slighter larger, both inside and out.
The date format in the video is a clue to availability of the Z Fold 6 Special Edition. ‘24.10.21’ is the year/month/day date format used in South Korea, Samsung’s home country. If this was a global launch, Samsung might have used the American or British date format, but the use of its native format suggests this exciting phone could – for now at least – be exclusive to South Korea. It could also come to the Chinese market, where Samsung is struggling to be as competitive as it would like.
We’ll have to wait until Monday 21 October to see if the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition breaks cover, as well as find out how much it’ll cost and who can buy it. The regular Z Fold 6 costs an eye watering £1,799, so it’s very likely this new model will cost even more.
