Even though Samsung managed to do it without actually revealing its name, it seems the smartphone giant just couldn’t help itself from teasing its next foldable phone during the Oscars.
In case you missed it, you can check out a recording of the commercial for yourself below. The commercial all but guarantees that we’ll see Samsung officially announce the Galaxy Z Flip (or whatever Samsung ends up calling it) at its Galaxy Unpacked event on February 11th in San Francisco.
While the ad didn’t reveal much about the phone we hadn’t already gleaned from previous leaks and a supposed early hands-on video, there were a couple of new tidbits of note.
The first is that the ad gave us a better look that the Galaxy Z Flip’s small exterior screen, which appears relatively high-res despite its small dimensions. The commercial also showed that the screen isn’t just limited to black-and-white and can also be used to answer calls in addition to checking notifications.
Samsung’s Oscar commercial also suggests that the Z Flip is intended to be used both fully open and while its screen is bent at a 90-degree angle (when it’s presumably resting on a flat surface), which could lead to some interesting use cases.
The ad also showed off that like the original Galaxy Fold, the Galaxy Z Flip still has a bit of gap between its folding screen when close, unlike the Motorola Razr which manages to hide any noticeable openings thanks to Moto using a slightly different hinge. That said, considering there have already been a number of complaints about the Moto Razr’s hinge creaking and making noises when being opened and closed, Samsung retaining a small gap and basically reusing the hinge from the Galaxy Fold isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Finally, while this might simply be a bit of over-analyzation, based on the final few seconds of the ad, it almost seems like Samsung might call this phone the Galaxy V Flip instead of the Galaxy Z Flip as previous leaks and rumors have suggested.
Sadly, the commercial didn’t shed any light on whether the phone will have the rumored flexible glass screen instead of a bendy plastic display like we’ve seen on the Galaxy Fold and Moto Razr. That would be a huge step forward for foldable gadgets when it comes to general durability.
Either way, for more info regarding the expected specs of Samsung’s next foldable phone, check out our previous post here. And for official details and hands-on impressions of the Z Flip (V Flip?), check back with Gizmodo tomorrow at 1PM ET when we’ll be on the ground at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event.