Skip to main content

Samsung’s original Galaxy Fold adds some of the Z Fold 2’s smartest features for free

Samsung’s original Galaxy Fold adds some of the Z Fold 2’s smartest features for free

/

A new way to take selfies, App Pairs, and more

Share this story

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

One of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2’s coolest new features was the ability to use the phone’s front display as a viewfinder for the back cameras, which could be really useful for things lining up higher-quality selfies. If you’ve wanted that handy way to take better selfies but have been holding on to the original Galaxy Fold, you’re in luck: Samsung is bringing that selfie functionality and a number of other features from the Z Fold 2 to the first Fold through a new software update.

Samsung tells The Verge the update is available globally as of Monday, though Samsung’s blog notes that the launch date and the features included with the update “may vary by carrier or market,” so it may not be available for your Fold just yet. The update will start rolling out in the US next week, according to an update to the announcement blog made after the original publication of this story.

Samsung will let you use the front screen as a viewfinder for the Fold’s back cameras.
Samsung will let you use the front screen as a viewfinder for the Fold’s back cameras.
Image: Samsung

With the new Fold update, Samsung’s foldable phone isn’t just getting a new way to take selfies. The update also brings Capture View Mode, which lets you frame a photo with one half of the Fold’s main screen and review up to five of the latest photos or videos you’ve taken on the other half. And Pro Video mode will now let you capture video in a 21:9 aspect ratio and at 24 fps.

The original Fold also gets a few features from the Z Fold 2 intended to improve productivity. App Pair, for example, lets you set a shortcut to launch up to three apps at once in your preferred split-screen layout. That means that if you like to have Twitter open on one half of your screen and YouTube on the other, you can make a shortcut to launch those apps together and set up the way you like them. You now can arrange split-screen windows horizontally, too,

Update October 27th, 1:38PM ET: Added context from Samsung about availability of the update.