All eyes may be on the
Galaxy S11 (S20) series for
Samsung’s February 11 Unpacked event, but what the company means by tipping “
innovative devices that will shape the next decade of mobile experiences,” won’t be just the S-line phones about to be unveiled then.
It will also be announcing its first
clamshell phone with bendable display, the purported
Fold 2 that Korean media
tips today will be called something else while the real Fold 2 will be arriving in August as a true successor of the OG Fold, together with an eventual Note 11 (Note 20).
The Fold 2 will be with all the bells and whistles that one would expect from a 2020 flagship, but the spring chicken flip phone, whatever it gets named, won’t have 5G or things like
wireless charging, claim the insiders, to keep costs down.
Samsung’s bendy screen clamshell won’t be the Fold 2, but it may be the cheapest foldable phone
By how much? Well, just as we
heard being claimed in another Korean report not long ago, today’s leak tips a price of about $857 in local currency, which is a Benjamin shy of half-the-RAZR-price.
Motorola asks $1500 for its clamshell foldable with mid-range specs and Samsung will be significantly undercutting this, it seems, establishing a spring/fall release pattern for its foldable phones going forward.
Apparently, the spring chickens will be gunning for the mass market and quicker proliferating of the foldable phone concept, while the Fold-branded ones in the second half of the year will be aiming at early adopters of the latest and greatest the mobile industry has to offer going forward.
Besides the lack of 5G, wireless charging, or other modern accouterments, Samsung’s spring clamshell won’t be using the
rumored ultrathin glass cover, but the good ol’ polyimide film that the OG Fold uses, but with increased durability, again to keep costs in check .
It will, however, feature dual rear cameras, and a 6.7″ display that folds in half for a one very, very compact to carry phone that will also be the cheapest bendy handset you can buy in the spring. Take that, RAZR and any other Chinese maker that may have been eyeing foldable glory!
This may end up being the Samsung clamshell foldable, cheapest of the Bendy Bunch
