Samsung Electronics is reportedly planning to exclude the digitizer from its upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7 foldable smartphone. The digitizer is a component used to implement pen input functionality. This move is interpreted as an effort to make the foldable phone slimmer, as thinness is becoming a major trend in the smartphone market.
According to industry sources on February 13, Samsung plans to apply an 8-inch main display without a digitizer to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (tentative name), which is scheduled to be released in July this year. The digitizer has been included in the Galaxy Fold series since the Fold 3, which began supporting pen input, up to the currently available Fold 6.
Multiple industry officials said, "It has been decided that the digitizer will not be applied to the Fold 7," adding, "To reduce the thickness, it will be released in a similar form to the 'Fold SE' by removing the digitizer."
The Fold SE is a slim foldable phone released in October last year. It is characterized by its thickness of 10.6mm, which is 1.5mm thinner than the Fold 6 released in the same year, by removing the digitizer. The thickness of the digitizer for the Fold 6 was 0.3mm. If the digitizer, which is mounted on both sides of the main display, is removed, 0.6mm can be reduced.
Samsung's decision is in line with its focus on making smartphones thinner this year. The Galaxy S25 series will include a slim model called 'Edge', and for foldable phones, the company plans to make the basic model thinner rather than introducing a separate slim model like last year.
It is known that Samsung's goal is to make the Fold 7 less than 10mm thick. The specific target value will be finalized this month and mass production will begin in May.
The display screen of the Fold 7 will be larger. The main display is known to be 8 inches, and the external display is 6.5 inches. This is larger than the Fold 6, which had 7.6 inches and 6.3 inches, respectively, and the same size as the Fold SE. As the display size increases, it is easier to secure space for components, which is advantageous for reducing the thickness of the smartphone.
Although the digitizer is removed, Samsung is known to implement pen input functionality in other ways. It is highly likely that the input technology will be placed on the pen side, not the display.
The digitizer is a component that forms an electric field on the display panel to implement pen input. The pen input method using this is called electromagnetic resonance (EMR). Since the component is placed on the display, the smartphone becomes thicker, but the pen is thin.
As a new technology, the active electrostatic (AES) method, which puts a device that generates electricity in the pen, is being considered. The pen becomes thicker because it needs to contain a battery and an electric device, but the thickness of the smartphone can be relatively reduced.
Samsung does not embed the S Pen for foldable phones and sells it separately. It is expected that it will be replaced with a pen with a new technology applied.
It has been confirmed that the OLED display will adopt Samsung Display's M13 material set, as in the previous work. M13 has been applied to Samsung smartphones since the Galaxy S24 series last year, and will be applied to the Z7 series following the Z6 and S25.
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