Ice Universe, an anonymous Twitter account with a good track record of leaking details about unannounced smartphones, says Samsung’s upcoming Z Flip 5 will have a 3.4-inch cover screen with a resolution of 720 x 748. This isn’t the first time Ice has predicted that 3.4-inch secondary display, but it’s the first time we’ve seen a specific resolution listed. It’s a big increase over the 1.9-inch 260 x 512 cover display on the Z Flip 4.
The leak comes a few short days after OnLeaks and MediaPeanut published a series of unofficial renders of the upcoming handset based on leaked specs, while also claiming the phone will have a 3.4-inch cover display. Meanwhile, OnLeaks expects the size of the internal display to remain unchanged at 6.7 inches. Late last year, supply chain analyst Ross Young also reported that the Z Flip 5 would have a secondary display in excess of 3 inches.
Cover display size looks set to be the next big battleground for foldable flip phones. Samsung’s rival Motorola is also planning a similar increase for at least one variant of its upcoming Razr, which it’s said will have a 3.5-inch cover display (up from 2.7-inches and a 573 x 800 resolution on the last Razr). Meanwhile, Oppo’s recent Find N2 Flip has a 3.26-inch cover display with a resolution of 382 x 720.
It can be a little misleading to try and compare these sizes directly, because many of these cover displays have radically different aspect ratios that skew how big they feel in practice. But regardless of which display technically has the highest number of pixels, the overall trend is towards bigger secondary screens, which should theoretically make them useful for more than just quickly checking the time and first line of a notification. As a fun point of comparison, the original iPhone had a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 screen.
