Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 could have no keys

No more keys on Galaxy Z Fold 3: the "bomb" comes with a new dynamic interface that Samsung would already be ready to make up for the lack.

A smartphone without even a key, an idea that many smartphone manufacturers (not just Android) caress for some time but that so far has not materialized. It could soon materialize at the hands of Samsung within the line of foldable smartphones in which in recent times has ended the fruit of years of research and development.

It is a scenario not far away to eliminate the keys completely from the next generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, expected by the end of 2021. This is suggested by a patent filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) titled Galaxy Z Fold Squeeze Gesture. Samsung thinks that some users might have difficulty using the physical buttons on the sides of the frame when the phone is folded, hence the idea of replacing them with gestures. They would come with a revamped UI that the company would have already developed just taking into account the different conformation of the foldables and of course the absence of the physical keys.

The UI of Samsung Z Fold 3

The UI adapted to the absence of the keys and with the new gestures to replace them would already have a name, Split UI. Just as you'd expect, Samsung would have done a painstaking job in taking care of every detail: the Split UI would be able to dynamically adapt to the configuration of the fold, whether open or closed.

For example, when the device is closed, a touch on the side could turn on or off the phone and a slide with the fingertip would allow you to adjust the volume as you would with the classic rocker, only without buttons and with a slide instead of one or more presses.

And if you ask yourself the reason that pushes more and more companies to consider a total removal of the keys from smartphones, foldable or not, well, it is not just one.

First of all, there are practical reasons: the thinning they are aiming for in the future would be almost impossible to achieve with physical keys.

Then there would be the issue of water resistance, complicated by keys and inputs such as the jack or USB, and finally an economic one, because it will always be more convenient a software solution - replicable across the entire range - than the production of several physical keys for as many models.

Personalities usually well-informed about what happens inside the corridors of Samsung, such as Ice Universe, already at the current state believe very likely a debut of the Split UI with the next generation of folding Samsung, Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.

What we know about Galaxy Z Fold 3

Other rumors, published by LetsGo Digital, suggest that among the new features of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 will be an upgrade to Ultra Thin Glass (the foldable's glass), which in this way could introduce support for the S Pen.

It is then rumored that the display area above the opening and closing hinge may better hide the consequences of openers and closers (in the current model, with the phone open, the screen is not exactly smooth but you can see the hinge) and that a certification for liquid resistance may debut.