Next Samsung Galaxy Fold could be a surprisingly cheap phone
But it may only have one screen
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Samsungis the main force in foldable phones right now, but even with theSamsung Galaxy Z Flipit hasn’t managed to make them particularly affordable yet. That could soon change though, as the company is rumored to be working on a Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite or Galaxy Fold e that would further push the price down.
According toMax Weinbach(a leaker with a good track record) the company is rumored to be working on a Samsung Galaxy Fold e that would cost $1,100 (roughly £890 / AU$1,690).
For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is $1,380 / £1,300 (around AU$2,050) and the originalSamsung Galaxy Foldlaunched for $1,980 / £1,900 / AU$2,900. So while still not being a truly affordable phone, the Fold e would certainly be cheap compared to most other foldables.
There’s a rumor, and keep in mind this is a rumor, Samsung will be releasing a Galaxy Fold e for $1100. They are also working releasing 3 folds. Two with plastic, one with UTG. Could explain the Winner2 vs Champ codenames.May 11, 2020
And it might be cheaper still, asMauri QHD(a tech leaker who doesn’t have much of a track record yet) replied to Weinbach saying they’d heard it would launch as the Fold Lite and cost just $900 (roughly £730 / AU$1,380), making it even cheaper than standard flagships like theSamsung Galaxy S20.
They added that it would apparently have either a tiny secondary screen or none at all, and while we’d certainly take claims from this source with a pinch of salt, Weinbach agrees on the screen front, saying in another tweet that it looks like the original Fold, but with no front screen and fewer cameras.
Weinbach also added that Samsung apparently has three new Folds in the works, two of which have plastic screens and one UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass, which is more expensive). Beyond the Fold e (which presumably uses plastic), we’d assume the UTG one is theSamsung Galaxy Fold 2.
It’s not clear what the third model would be – perhaps it could be the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 2 – but we’d expect that to use UTG as well, and Weinbach specifically said ‘Fold’ rather than ‘foldable’, suggesting that all three phones are part of the Galaxy Fold range.
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Still, whatever it is, it sounds like Samsung has a lot of foldables in the works, and could be pushing the lower-end price down to around or below the level of typical flagships. We may only be a couple of years away from a foldable finding its way onto our list of thebest cheap phones.
James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.
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