You might want to sit out the Galaxy Fold 2 as its successor will likely be cheaper and sturdier
Foldable smartphones are anything but cheap. Decked out flagships like the Huawei Mate Xs could go well over $2,000 and even ones with scaled back specs like the Motorola Razr are in the neighborhood of $1,500. That could change with the Galaxy Fold 3, or whatever Samsung decides to name the upcoming Galaxy Fold 2‘s successor.
Per a new report, the Galaxy Fold 2 will have the same thin flexible glass called Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) as the Galaxy Z Flip. Apparently, the company had briefly thought about sticking with Galaxy Fold’s plastic layer to avoid the added weight and curtail cost. Ultimately, the company supposedly decided to use UTG for the Galaxy Fold 2 and the same plastic panel that was seen on the first generation Galaxy Fold for two cheaper models.
UTG is not all that superior to a plastic layer
Although a UTG display is said to be more resilient than one which has a polyamide plastic layer, it’s actually just a hair sturdier, if Zack Nelson of the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything is to be believed. For the uninitiated, Nelson pokes and prods devices to determine how durable they are.
So, basically, consumers are paying in excess of $1,000 for foldable phones and they still leave a lot to be desired on the durability front. And, overall, the demand for foldables is not all that high, something which we can attribute to their jaw dropping prices. On top of that, companies, or at least Huawei, are not even making a profit on these devices as the cost is just too high and they are barely breaking even.
Starting next year, that could change. Last year, Corning, which makes the Gorilla Glass, said that a bendable variant would be ready in a couple of years. Apparently, Samsung has inked a deal with the company and will use its bendable glass for its 2021 flagship bendable phone. Since Corning supplies its products to many vendors, it would apparently be able to keep the price of its bendable glass low.
So, not only can we expect the Galaxy Fold 3 to be pretty durable, it will likely be considerably cheaper than the original Fold.
The first generation Galaxy Fold was launched for $1,980. Per rumors, it’s successor could be $100 cheaper, despite having superior specs such as an under-display camera, which doesn’t sound so far fetched now that a Chinese company has cracked the code on embedded selfie cameras. However, an $1,880 device would still be pretty expensive for most consumers.
So, if you are not deep-pocketed, or simply don’t want to splurge on a foldable phone, you should probably hold off for a year.