Samsung Galaxy Note 20 event surprise — this phone will be missing

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The Galaxy Fold 2 reportedly won't appear at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked launch next month

Samsung Galaxy Fold 2
(Image credit: Ice Universe)

The Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 may not be be ready in time for next month's big Samsung Unpacked launch event on August 5. That means the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 could be launching on its own.

Leaker Max Weinbachposted the news on Twitter, as well as other details of what he believes the reasoning is and what Samsung's future plans will be. Weinbach said we won't see the Fold 2 at the Galaxy Unpacked event because its software is nowhere near ready yet.

This is unfortunate since the Galaxy Fold 2 would end up missing out on a moment when Samsung has a lot of attention on its new products. Weinbach does however say that Samsung might tease the Fold 2 during the event in preparation for its eventual appearance, which could be in September.

In addition, there's no evidence of the Galaxy Fold 2 undergoing testing at the Galaxy Store (Samsung's mobile device-focussed store) or other phone carriers. That's the final stage of a phone's journey before a company decides whether or not it will stock the new phone. It's likely that these tests are happening, but the lack of results seem to show they have yet to be finished. 

As for its actual debut, that's likely going to be a September reveal followed by a retail release in October according to Weinbach. We've heard something similar to this rumor before, saying that Samsung is planning on launching the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy S20 Fan Edition in September and October respectively. 

While Samsung showed it could make a high-quality foldable phone earlier this year with the launch of the Galaxy Z Flip, fans are eager to see if it can improve on last year's Galaxy Fold. While the original Fold had an smart design and software smartly designed around the new form factor, in practice it was impractical.

The Fold 2 will build on the first model's foundations, keeping the book-like folding design with a larger cover display, according to the rumors. The main screen could be getting bigger and a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as swapping from a notch to a punch-hole to house the selfie camera. On the back, there will be a quad-camera array similar to the Galaxy S20 Plus, featuring a main, ultrawide, and telephoto sensor combination with a time-of-flight sensor for enhanced portrait mode and other image effects.

The Galaxy Z Flip will also be getting a new upgrade in the form of the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, which should still launch along with the Galaxy Note 20 at Unpacked. The Z Flip 5G will be getting smaller but welcome new upgrades like a more powerful processor, new color options and, as the name suggests, 5G connectivity.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.