Earlier today, Samsung unveiled a slightly upgraded version of the Galaxy Z Fold 6. It is called the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, and it would be a meaningful upgrade for Galaxy Z Fold 5 users. It brings an improved camera, bigger screens, faster performance, and long-term software support.

Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition vs Z Fold 5

The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is lighter, thinner, and wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The new foldable phone weighs 236g, 17g lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It is also just 10.6mm thin, making it 2.8mm thinner. Moreover, the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition has bigger cover and internal screens, making it feel more like a regular smartphone when folded.

Samsung says the Z Fold Special Edition has an enhanced Armor Aluminum body. It also has an IP48 rating for dust and water resistance, making it more durable than the IPX8-rated Galaxy Z Fold 5.

The Galaxy Z Fold has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch internal foldable screen. Both its screens can go as bright as 2,600 nits, which is much brighter than the 6.2-inch cover screen and 7.6-inch foldable screen on the Z Fold 5. So, both screens are more brighter and wider, making them more usable than the ones on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It lacks S Pen compatibility, though, which is a downgrade if you are someone who needs a stylus.

Samsung has equipped the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB internal storage. This combination is much more powerful than the Galaxy Z Fold 5's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy, 12GB RAM, and 256GB storage.

The new phone comes pre-installed with Android 14 (One UI 6.1.1) and will receive seven major Android OS updates. This means the Z Fold Special Edition will be updated until 2030 (Android 21), a lot longer than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which will only be updated until 2026 (Android 17). The Z Fold Special Edition will also likely receive more Galaxy AI features in the future.

The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is the first foldable phone from Samsung to feature a 200MP camera, offering richer details compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 5's 50MP primary camera. The rest of the cameras on both phones remain the same: 12MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto (3x optical zoom), 10MP outer selfie camera, and a 4MP inner selfie camera. Despite the same camera hardware, the rest of the cameras can offer improved image and video quality, thanks to the Z Fold Special Edition's new processor and improved processing.

Both phones have a side-mounted fingerprint reader, stereo speakers, GPS, 5G, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and a USB 3.2 Type-C port. The Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is Samsung's first foldable phone to feature Wi-Fi 7 for faster connectivity.

Both foldable smartphones from Samsung are powered by a 4,400mAh battery, but the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is claimed to last longer than its predecessor due to power efficiency improvements. Both phones have 25W fast wired charging, 15W fast wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging.

Is Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition a good upgrade?

So, with a lighter, thinner, and wider body, the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition is more handy and usable than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It is also more durable, featuring an IP48 rating. The Z Fold Special Edition also has bigger and brighter screens, faster performance, improved camera, much longer software update support, and longer battery life. Hence, if you can get your hands on the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, it would be a good upgrade over your Galaxy Z Fold 5.

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