We’ve been hearing rumors about a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim for a while, alongside speculation that it could be extremely thin — hence the name. But a new rumor suggests this may not be the case.
A report from Korean site The Elec claims that the Z Fold 6 Slim will be thinner, but it’ll measure around 11.5mm when folded. For reference the Galaxy Z Fold 6 measures 12.1mm when closed, and means we’re looking at a difference of just over half a millimeter — 0.02 inches. Which is basically nothing.
It makes us wonder just what Samsung is doing to make the Z Fold 6 Slim worthy of its name. Especially since, as the Elec notes, this would make the phone thicker than a number of foldables from rival Chinese companies — many of which are between 9 and 10mm thick.
Word is that one of the ways Samsung will shave off some thickness is by removing S Pen functionality — and the digitizer layer in the display that powers it. The digitizer in the Z Fold 6 is said to be around 0.3mm thick, so removing that would shave off half the expected thickness from the Z Fold 6 Slim.
The Elec also reports that Samsung could be applying thinner internal materials to help shave off the remaining 0.3mm. But since these parts are going to be expensive, it means we probably won’t be seeing any major price reduction compared to the flagship Z Fold 6. Not that we expected this, after news that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE had been canceled.
It’s also worth noting that since the Z Fold 6 Slim is said to be larger with the interior display reaching around 8-inches, it could give Samsung a little more space to squeeze components in. But clearly that isn’t enough to make any meaningful change to the phone’s thickness.
The crazy thing about this story is that a lot of rumors claim the Z Fold 6 Slim may get a limited release — only going on sale in a handful of Asian countries like China and South Korea. Considering Chinese foldables are already offering thinner designs than what Samsung will reportedly offer, it doesn’t paint a very positive picture for the company.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Slim right now. But rumor has it that the phone could launch around October time — albeit in limited quantities and in a handful of regions.
