With its extremely lightweight and tough properties, titanium is quickly gaining popularity as an exterior component for flagship smartphones. In the past seven months, both the iPhone 15 Pro and Galaxy S24 Ultra have adopted the metal for their respective frames, and Samsung's first titanium-based foldable is expected to arrive later this year.

That's according to reliable leaker @Tech_reve, who leaves little to the imagination in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The tipster writes: "Z Fold 6 with titanium."

Of course, "equipped" does not necessarily mean the same as a full titanium frame - in fact, Honor's Magic V2 foldable has a titanium hinge. However, previous reports suggest that this will be a full shell, giving the foldable more durability and hopefully reducing the weight slightly. Titanium is known as a light metal, but the Galaxy Z Fold 5 already has an aluminum shell. The iPhone 15 Pro was also 19 g lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro by switching from stainless steel to titanium, while the S23 Ultra to S24 Ultra achieved a less impressive weight reduction of 2 g by switching from aluminum

But the S24 Ultra is not a "one-piece" device.

However, the more ruggedness is welcome. In fact, it was once rumored that this upgrade could be included in the Galaxy Z Fold Ultra, but that may have fizzled out.

Samsung's most expensive phones currently start at an MSRP of $1,799, so anything that adds dollars to it should be treated with caution if the foldable goes mainstream.

What else is expected from the Z Fold 6? An upgrade to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 seems certain, and there is talk of a wider aspect ratio for the cover screen, closer to that of the Pixel Fold.

Given that Samsung's previous generation Foldable got the S24's news AI capabilities via a software patch, the Z Fold 6 will almost certainly follow suit. However, don't expect a built-in S Pen or hardware camera upgrades.

The Z Fold 6 is expected to launch this summer, and some say it will be released a bit earlier than in recent years.

The July 10 Unpacked date is rumored thanks to the impending Olympics and Samsung's sponsorship; along with the Z Fold 6, the Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Watch 7, and Galaxy Ring are expected to appear.