Leaked Galaxy Z Fold 5, Flip 5 release date for India leads to possible U.S. release date

Samsung will be holding its next Unpacked event on July 26th and (in the voice of the late Howard Cosell) we expect to see a plethora of new products announced by the manufacturer. Okay, you can return to your own inner voice now. Among these devices will be the Galaxy Watch 6, the premium Galaxy Watch 6 Classic, the Galaxy Tab S9, Galaxy Tab S9+, and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (with a 14.6-inch Super AMOLED display).

But the stars of the Unlocked event will be that lovable foldable duo, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The former opens and closes like a book around the vertical axis while the latter is a clamshell foldable that opens and closes around a horizontal axis. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 isn't expected to show many changes over last year's model but the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will feature a much larger 3.4-inch folder-shaped cover screen compared to the 1.9-inch external display found on the Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Google has reportedly been working with Samsung to optimize its apps like Messages, YouTube, Maps, and others to work with the Galaxy Z Flip 5's larger external screen. The goal is to make these apps so functional on the smaller display that users won't have to flip open the device to use Google Maps, for example.

With the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 set to be unveiled on July 26th (starting at 7 am EDT, 4 am PDT), when might we see the two foldables released? According to 91mobiles, a company that is close to Samsung has told them that pre-orders for the 2023 foldables will take place starting July 26th, the same day that the Unpacked event will take place. And this source says that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 will be released on August 14th in India.

That means that consumers in the country will have to wait 19 days between watching the unveiling of the foldables and getting to hold one of the devices in their hands. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 will feature a 6.2-inch external display, both with a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone will sport 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage. We could see the phone carry a 50MP primary camera  alongside a 12MP ultra-wide camera and a 12MP telephoto camera. The selfie snapper on the Cover Screen weighs in at 10MP while the front-facing camera on the internal screen is expected to be backed by a 4MP sensor.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features the aforementioned 3.4-inch Cover Display and when opened, the clamshell reveals a 6.7-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. The basic configuration includes 8GB of RAM paired with 256GB of storage. The front panel will include a 12MP primary camera and a 12MP ultra-wide camera while the internal display will feature a 12MP selfie snapper.

Both phones will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen for Galaxy chipset. That is the same SoC used to power Sammy's Galaxy S23 flagship series.

While 91mobiles source revealed to it the release date for the 2023 Samsung Galaxy Z foldables in India, last year's models were released in the U.S. on August 26th, 2022 which was before the September release of the same models in India. That could indicate a release date for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 in the U.S. before August 14th. In addition, there were 16 days between last year's Unpacked event and the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 in the U.S. last year.

Adding 16 days to the this year's July 26th unveiling gives us a possible U.S. release date for the new foldable models of August 11th of this year. So while it's not official, use a pencil to lightly circle August 11th on your calendar as a possible U.S. release date for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5. Of course, we won't know if our experiment was right until Samsung tells us the exact release date!