While today’s rumor isn’t a leak of the next generation phone’s specs. However, we did get some information about the Z Fold 5’s possible camera parameters and Samsung’s new sales strategy. According to a report from South Korea’s The Elec, Samsung is drastically slashing its shipping targets for the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5. That means the company plans to sell fewer foldable phones in 2023 than it has this year and before.
Specifically, Samsung appears to have set an overall shipping target of 10 million units for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, with only 2 million units for the former. Samsung is understood to be placing a bigger bet on its flip phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and has set shipments of that phone at 8 million units.
In contrast, this year Samsung is said to have set a target of 15 million units for the upcoming Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4.
Samsung’s lowered target for its 2023 foldable phones is no different from other manufacturers, due to nothing more than rising raw material prices, the protracted war between Russia and Ukraine, and slow economic growth. Of course, it’s still too early to predict actual production and shipping targets for these phones, as they are still nearly a year away from launch, and if things get better by then, Samsung could raise its targets as the launch approaches.
TheElec also shared some specs for the Galaxy Z Fold 5. According to the outlet, the phone will have three cameras on the back, including Samsung’s 50-megapixel GN3 sensor, and the phone could also have a 12-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is also expected to have three rear cameras, including a 50-megapixel primary camera, a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens, and a 12-megapixel 3x telephoto lens, and perhaps Samsung will keep the same setup on the Z Fold 5.
On top of that, the outlet says that both the Fold 5 and the Flip 5 should run on top of the Snapdragon 8 generation SoC, a processor that is expected to debut at the end of this year. There’s no doubt about it, as Samsung always uses Qualcomm’s flagship SoCs for its foldable phones, and that should be the case next year as well. By then, we might see the Snapdragon 8 Plus second-generation chip.
