New Samsung Z Flip 5 leak highlights a gloriously big cover screen

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Render of Galaxy Z Flip 5 showing large cover screen flowing around the cameras.
Hot foldable summer, y’all. | Image: MySmartPrice
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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 leaks and rumors have all pointed to a larger cover screen on the upcoming phone, and a new alleged render published by MySmartPrice continues the trend. The image shows the Z Flip 5 with a gloriously big cover screen, which is exactly what we want. And by we, I mean me personally. I want this.

The Galaxy Z Flip 4’s outer screen measures just 1.9 inches. It’s fine for checking the weather and reading notifications, but the small size limits the kinds of actions you can take with it, like typing out responses to texts. It’s also not ideal for framing up selfies with the outer cameras — one of the benefits of a flip-style phone — because the preview image is literally the size of a postage stamp. I checked.

That seems poised to change with the Z Flip 5, and just in time: the Motorola Razr Plus is here, and it comes with a comparatively giant 3.6-inch screen. In my brief hands-on time previewing the device, I used the screen to run Google Maps, type out texts, and even browse websites. It’s infinitely more capable than a small screen.

It’s not all about hardware, though. There are a lot of tricky software problems to solve for with a big cover screen. Do you let people run just any old app on it, even if it breaks the app’s functionality? How do you handle the handoff between the large and small screen? What do you do about the camera lenses? Samsung seems to be taking a different approach to Motorola on the latter, at the very least, by molding the screen to avoid the cameras rather than flowing it all the way around them. It’ll be very interesting to see how their approaches to these other software challenges differ, too.

We’ll find out what shape Samsung’s next foldables will take soon enough — the next Unpacked event is due to take place in Seoul sometime in July. In the meantime, hot foldable summer is well underway.