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Samsung’s newest book-style foldable telephone, the Galaxy Z Fold 5, has made headlines for its thinner design, which features a hinge that lets the telephone fold fully flat. However its key accent, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 S Pen Fold Version, has shed some weight, too.

Throughout a press roundtable I attended in Seoul, South Korea, Samsung stated that the stylus’ radius dropped from 7.4mm to 4.35mm, which is sort of the identical measurement because the Galaxy S23 Extremely’s S Pen. That is 41% thinner than final yr’s S Pen Fold Version. Samsung stated it achieved this by means of an inside push to find out “whether or not or when” it might embed its S Pen right into a Galaxy Fold telephone. 

Nonetheless, Samsung stated it is exploring whether or not it might create a fair skinnier stylus than the brand new S Pen Fold Version for a variety of causes, most notably to discover a option to match the accent in a slot throughout the foldable itself. 

“We’ll additionally look into it, however not simply from a expertise perspective, however from a consumer expertise perspective,” Received-Joon Choi, head of Samsung R&D Workplace Cellular Expertise Enterprise stated Thursday on the press roundtable. “As a result of once you’re writing, you have to really feel as should you’re writing with a pen. If it [the S Pen] will get too skinny, that feeling is probably not fascinating.”

Though Samsung’s assist for the S Pen dates again to 2011 with the unique Galaxy Word, Choi stated, designing a stylus for a foldable telephone poses a special set of challenges together with scouring for brand new tip supplies that do not injury the foldable’s versatile show in addition to avoiding magnet interference from the telephone. 

Choi additionally highlighted how creating the S Pen presents distinctive concerns in contrast with designing a foldable telephone. For a foldable telephone to take off into the mainstream, Samsung believes portability is considered one of three stipulations it should meet. However with the S Pen, portability might come at the price of usability, since Samsung’s stylus was designed to supply the expertise of writing with an actual pen.

S Pen would not have a house (but)

When the Galaxy Z Fold 3 debuted with stylus assist in 2021, it elevated the notion of the Fold lineup from being an experimental idea to a telephone geared toward productiveness. Nevertheless, it nonetheless drew pushback as a result of the Z Fold 3 requires an S Pen to take full benefit of the $1800 telephone. But it surely wasn’t included within the field. You had to purchase it individually. One other disadvantage was that the Z Fold 3 had no option to retailer the S Pen: You had to purchase a particular case from Samsung to deal with it.

Quick ahead to 2023, and the S Pen nonetheless would not have a house. Whereas the brand new Galaxy Z Fold 5 is thinner than earlier Fold fashions, there’s nonetheless no built-in option to retailer the S Pen just like the Galaxy S23 Extremely has. Samsung’s present resolution is the $100 Galaxy Z Fold 5 Slim S Pen Case, which lets you latch the stylus on the again half. 

One of many obstacles Choi highlighted within the roundtable was the necessity to appease individuals’s conflicting wishes about the way forward for the Z Fold design. One camp desires a fair thinner book-style foldable telephone, he stated, however such a design would require Samsung to create a fair leaner S Pen to embed. Then there are individuals who need the following Z Fold to be thicker, which can enable it to combine the S Pen. A thicker foldable would make the telephone much less transportable, nevertheless, which is considered one of Samsung’s core design philosophies for the class. There’s additionally a bunch of folks that need a thinner telephone in addition to the choice to embed the S Pen into the system.

“What kind issue and experiences are we going to ship to our clients to fulfill varied wants? What’s the proper stability? These are the areas we have to determine rigorously which option to go.” Choi stated.