One of the sweetest eye candy pieces that caught everyone's attention during Apple's iPhone Duo presentation was the transition animation between folded and unfolded modes.
Nothing like that exists on Samsung's own Galaxy foldables, but a fan-made proof of concept shows that it is technically possible for Samsung to create something similar. At the very least, the hardware seems capable.
The third-party developer, going by the Reddit handle moomanjohnny, shared a short video demonstration of the same beautiful animation effect running on the Galaxy Z Fold 8.
It looks impressive, to say the least, especially given that the developer published this less than 24 hours after Apple's presentation. But there is a catch.
It's a proof of concept, not a real launcher
In short, the animation shared on Reddit is not part of an Android launcher that could transform your favorite Samsung foldable.
Instead, the app combines a couple of relatively simple elements to create an illusion: A shader, two screenshots (one for each home screen), and the sensors Samsung built into the hinge.
So, what you're seeing isn't the real One UI home screen covered by a blurry animation. It's a screenshot of a home screen with a neat visual effect on top, triggered by the hinge's sensors. The creator explains:
This isn't the real SystemUI. Samsung doesn't provide the necessary access for us to build this as a third-party app. This is a proof-of-concept, not a real launcher.
If we boil this down to the core elements, the most exciting and realistic takeaway is that Samsung's hinge has the right sensors to make such a smooth transition animation possible, in theory. And that's the key word here: in theory.
In reality, third-party developers may never be able to pull this off while missing the necessary access. And it's anyone's guess whether Samsung will leverage the high accuracy of its hinge sensors to develop similar animations for One UI.
That isn't to say this proof-of-concept isn't impressive. It looks the part, and the fact that someone could pull this off in just a few hours is even more impressive.
However, we should also try to conform to reality instead of hoping for what seems nearly impossible right now. Judging by the OP's own words, this clever animation isn't going to become a real launcher anytime soon — maybe never.
At the very least, it is a fantastic demonstration of what Apple's animations could look like on a Galaxy Z Fold 8. And it gives us a bit of hope that Samsung may eventually maximize the potential of its own hardware with a more polished UI.
The hinge is good enough to make it possible, but that's just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
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