Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Flip 4 are bringing back our favorite fingerprint scanner

What you need to know

• BusinessKorea is reporting that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 will come with side-mounted fingerprint scanners.
• Samsung reportedly tested a dual-screen unlocking method but was not happy with the user experience.
• The report says that the Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 will likely use in-display fingerprint scanners, instead.

If the latest rumors are correct, Samsung won't be switching to an in-display fingerprint scanner for the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 just yet. Rather, the company decided the best user experience can still be had by including a fingerprint scanner in the power button, just as you'll find on the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3.

The report from BusinessKorea says that Samsung engineers have been working on a dual-screen in-display fingerprint option, where a fingerprint sensor is placed on the center of the bottom of the outer display for use when either phone is folded.

For the Fold 4, a second in-display sensor would be inside of the larger inner display and would be placed on the left side of the screen near the bottom. The Z Flip 4 would have a second fingerprint sensor on the bottom inside screen as you might expect from something like a Galaxy S22 Ultra.

We lauded the side-mounted fingerprint scanners for both the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 and was one of the many reasons we named them the two best foldable phones. Side-mounted fingerprint scanners are accessible in the same location no matter if the device is folded or not, which is one of the reasons Samsung seems to have chosen to keep the concept.

The report says that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 will more than likely feature an in-display fingerprint solution, but it's not clear if Samsung will go by the previously described dual-screen solution or come up with something else entirely.