Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition display specs. | Image credit – Evan Blass @ evleaks/X
Faced with the more elegant foldables from the competition, Samsung reportedly thought that it didn’t manage to add enough value to differentiate the SE from the competition. It was then set on making it tougher and more durable, but when it added the needed water-resistance and ingress protection designs, the phone became thicker than Samsung would’ve liked.
Ultimately, however, Samsung decided that it is worth releasing it under the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition moniker, and see where the chips may fall, especially if it stressed on its durability in the marketing materials.
UFG refers to UTG with uneven thickness, thinner in the seam where it folds, thicker elsewhere to enable a thicker chemical strengthening step resulting in improved scratch resistance, better durability, etc.
UTG stands for ultrathin glass, and that is what Samsung is using on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The ultra flexible glass (UFG) cover of its Special Edition sibling, however, will be thicker all around for added toughness, and only thinner at the crease, whose visibility has been more pronounced on Samsung’s foldables than on the current crop of Chinese foldable phones.