It’s that time again: Samsung’s second Unpacked event of the year. The Korean electronics giant is changing things up, bumping the event earlier to July 26 and hosting launch festivities on its home turf in Seoul.
Kicking off at 7 a.m. ET, the Unpacked is expected to, well, be packed with product announcements. Specifically, the latest versions of its two flagship foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. The company is also rumored to be announcing the Galaxy Watch 6 in several models and refreshed Galaxy Tab S9 tablets.
Just like past years, Samsung’s already opened its U.S. Reserve through July 25 with a special offer for customers. Anyone who orders on Samsung.com or the Shop Samsung app will get $50 Samsung credit.
As always, some not-minor leaks have slipped out of the Samsung HQ onto the internet so let’s see what’s cooking, shall we?
Galaxy Z Fold 5
Samsung is on its fifth generation of phone-tablet foldables. As the pioneer of the form factor, Samsung’s dominated foldables globally mostly because some of the best ones aren’t available outside of China or Asia.
For the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the device is rumored to retain similar dimensions to the Z Fold 4, but this time with a new “teardrop” hinge design that might allow for a less visible crease in the foldable display.
Other than that a few minor cosmetic changes such as the flash moving outside of the camera bump, the upgrades are expected to mostly be internal: the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and possibly some kind of dust resistance to add to the IP rating.
Current rumors suggest the Z Fold 5 will have a 50-megapixel main rear camera, accompanied by a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and 10-megapixel 3x optical telephoto. The camera on the front is rumored to be 12 megapixels.
What do we want? Longer battery life, lighter design, and more affordable pricing than the Z Fold 4’s $1,800 price tag would be ideal. With competition from Google’s Pixel Fold and OnePlus reportedly preparing a foldable of its own this year, Samsung’s gotta make the Z Fold 5 attractive.
Galaxy Z Flip 5
Facing even stiffer competition is the successor to the Galaxy Z Flip 4, the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Motorola’s Razer+ has been turning heads with its spacious cover screen and Samsung looks be preparing a larger cover display for the Z Flip, too. Per leaker Ice Universe, the Z Flip 5 has a 3.4-inch “folder-shaped” cover screen and repositioned cameras.
Like the Z Fold 5, the Z Flip 5 should come with the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of starting storage. The IP rating is expected to gain dust resistance to quality for IP58.
Beyond that, the tea leaves are cloudy. Some rumors claim the cameras won’t be upgraded from the Z Flip 4 and others say better software optimized for the foldable screen will be announced. We’ll have to wait until Unpacked to know.
Galaxy Watch 6
A somewhat detailed leak, complete with renders done in partnership between well-connected leaker @OnLeaks and MySmartPrice, reveals Samsung is planning two models for the Galaxy Watch 6. One “Classic” and one “Pro” version.
The site believes Samsung will bring back the rotating bezel on the Galaxy Watch 6 Classic. The signature rotatable ring control was removed from the Galaxy Watch 5 and replaced with on-display controls.
Sensors should be similar (if not identical) to the ones in the Galaxy Watch 5 series. A larger 1.47-inch round display and bigger battery could be selling points.
Galaxy Tab S9
Lastly, new Android tablets, because Google is pushing Android tablets hard again this year thanks to the Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold.
In addition to posting what appears to be official product images of all of the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, WinFuture’s Roland Quant has images of three Galaxy Tab S9 models: the Tab S9, Tab S9+, and Tab S9 Ultra.
No confirmed specs for the Android tablets, but you can pop over to the tech spec junkies over at GSM Arena to get an idea of what to expect from the three models.
