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Even though the critically acclaimed Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 have only just been released a few weeks ago, it seems that Samsung's best foldable phone of the year is yet to be released.

Initially rumored to be called the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Ultra back in February and renamed the Z Fold 6 Slim a few months ago, the undoubtedly state-of-the-art book-style phone is now expected to be officially released as early as September (late), with the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition sounding like a much more appropriate name.

One of the reasons why this name sounds better to us than the Z Fold 6 Slim label is that the “special edition” device will likely bring more significant improvements than just a thinner form factor compared to the “regular” Z Fold 6.

A "special" foldable needs a special camera

Do you feel it's a bit... absurd to pay $1,900 (and up) for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and receive a decidedly humbler camera system than what the $1,200 Galaxy S24 Ultra has to offer? Fret not, as you will probably be able to buy the Z Fold Special Edition with a top-of-the-line 200MP rear-facing snapper in tow soon... in South Korea and China.

That's right, Samsung's most advanced foldable phone to date is expected to (by Evan Blass) feature the same primary imaging sensor as the company's current most advanced non-foldable phone.

At this point, we're not sure about the other Galaxy Z Fold special edition cameras, but upgrading from the Z Fold 6's 50MP primary camera to a whopping 2 megapixels sounds like it could have a huge impact on the actual photography skills of future phones.

Unfortunately, this almost guaranteed improvement (as it is revealed by probably the most reputable mobile tech leaker out there) makes us even more pessimistic regarding the recommended price of the Z Fold Special Edition, aka Z Fold 6 Slim. Meanwhile, the odds of ever being able to buy the device in the US or Europe remain slim to non-existent.
The Z Fold Special Edition will be BIG and thinner than previously predicted

Do you know those reports that claimed Samsung was going for an overall product thickness of around 11mm here, struggling to trim more than a millimeter off the Z Fold 6's waist? By the looks of another fresh (ev)leak on X, the company has managed to knock the profile of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition down to just 10.6mm after all.

That's a nice 1.5mm slimmer than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 (in folded form), with the unfolded thickness also reduced from 5.6 to a measly 4.9mm. How do those measurements compare to the competition? Pretty favorably if you consider the OnePlus Open, for instance, although the Honor Magic V3 remains an unrivaled supermodel in today's packed foldable landscape.

On the other hand, the Z Fold Special Edition may surpass the Magic V3 (and the OnePlus Open) in terms of screen size, apparently jumping all the way from the Fold 6's 7.6-inch and 6.3-inch panels to 8 inches and 6.5 inches.

That's a lot of screen real estate, and it's likely to require a lot of battery power to keep it going long enough between charges. There's no word yet on the battery capacity of this phone.