Galaxy Z Flip 2 could have three cameras but a larger cover display

DxOMark's verdict on the Galaxy Z Flip phone is out and its message is pretty clear. It's good enough but not what you'd expect from a $1,400 phone. Of course, Samsung never really splurged on the foldable phone's cameras and left it rather ill-equipped to compete with other high-end flagships. The next Galaxy Z Flip might rise up to the challenged by adding another camera and a Samsung patent may reveal how it plans to solve its problem of fitting all of those on a small phone.

The Galaxy Z Flip is admittedly a tough balancing act. It has to be small enough to sell the design but still pack enough hardware to make it worth the $1,400 price tag. At the same time, it has to be considerably lower than the $2,000 Galaxy Fold despite having a flexible screen as well. The current Galaxy Z Flip may have compromised on the cameras and the second external "cover display" to achieve that but there might be a simple solution available for the second-gen foldable.

A patent reported by LetsGoDigital actually depicts how a foldable clamshell would look like with three cameras. One shows the exact same setup as the current Galaxy Z Flip with both the camera bump and the cover display on the same row. But because the camera array is larger now, the space for the cover display is even smaller.

More interesting, however, is the idea to put the triple cameras in a column running vertically down the left side of the phone's back. This leaves more room for an even longer cover display which means more room for things to be displayed as well.

It is just a patent, of course, but it could prove to be the basis of the next Galaxy Z Flip. That said, having more than two cameras doesn't immediately mean it will top the photography benchmark charts. It will still depend on the sensor Samsung is willing to use without also bumping the price up too much.