With 2020 pretty much done and dusted, rumours about future plans for Samsung’s mobile line-up continue. We’ve previously heard that the Galaxy S might get an update early in 2021, but a new rumour suggests that the premium Galaxy Z Fold 3 might launch in June 2021.
Previous Fold models have seen mixed launch dates. The original was unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2019 in February, but after changes didn’t really come to market until autumn 2019. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 was announced in August 2020 going on sale soon thereafter.
A June date, suggested by Ajou News, might sound far fetched – but Mobile World Congress 2021 is scheduled to start on 28 June 2021, having been pushed back later in the year. That would give Samsung the chance to announce its new device and showcase it at the global mobile event – assuming progress is made back towards normality, of course.
Moving on from the timings, there’s the suggestion that the new Fold might support the S Pen. This has been rumoured before, running up to the launch of the Fold 2, but it was widely accepted that the folding display would not accommodate the sort of pressures that the S Pen might exert on the display.
That would suggest that substantial progress would have to have been made to strengthen the surface of the flexible display used on Samsung’s folding devices. It’s suggested that second-gen UTG – ultra thin glass – can deliver the S Pen experience while allowing the folding experience required.
Furthermore, it’s suggested that the future Galaxy S21 will also work with the S Pen, which might mean that the Note family of devices has seen its last launch. As it is, there’s very little difference between the Galaxy S and the Galaxy Note devices, technically, so it’s only the S Pen that sets these two families apart.
Whether we’ll see an under display camera remains to be seen too. The source suggests that Samsung wants to implement this future tech, but goes on to say that is a deterioration in image equality comes are as result, then it won’t be included in the Galaxy Z Fold 3.
There’s little to corroborate these claims, but we’re still early in the rumour cycle for 2021 devices, so we’d expect the picture to become a lot cleared in the coming months.