- Samsung has been working for more than a year to bring foldable handsets to market that revolutionize the idea of how people use their smartphones.
- Following the less-than-ideal launch in 2019 of the original Galaxy Fold, new rumors have emerged suggesting a more affordable successor to the Galaxy Fold could be coming soon, along with additional foldable models.
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Not even a global pandemic can apparently dim Samsung’s fascination with foldability as a smartphone form factor — nor the South Korean tech giant’s ambition to make such foldable phones, if not a mainstream product, at least a more familiar sight in the world.
We’d already heard, for example, that the successor to the Galaxy Fold will include a base model with 256GB of internal storage at a lower price point than any of the original Fold models. That should, at least theoretically, make these phones with novel designs unfamiliar to most consumers perhaps a more attractive buy. Meanwhile, a tipster is reporting that Samsung may actually be planning to release three new foldable smartphones, two of which would feature plastic panels like last year’s OG Galaxy Fold while the third would come with the Galaxy Z Flip’s ultra-thin foldable glass.
On Sunday night, XDA-Developers’ Max Weinbach took to Twitter to share the rumor that Samsung may also be prepping a “Galaxy Fold e” (or perhaps alternatively named the Galaxy Fold Lite) for around $1,100.
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.
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) May 11, 2020
Also if Samsung does release the Fold Lite/E, it would be a killer. Think about that price for what it is. Entry level foldable would be insane.
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) May 11, 2020
This is intriguing, because while upcoming foldable handsets can have the most interesting and feature-rich designs, a focus on affordability may be the killer missing link here. As SamMobile has previously noted, the original Galaxy Fold not only presented consumers with something they’d never experienced before in a smartphone — it came with a $1,980 price tag attached to it, making the phone the most expensive Samsung had ever released.
Moreover, the Galaxy Fold with 512GB of storage was the only option, which meant that the only way to join the Fold family was to spend twice as much as what you’d otherwise shell out for the Galaxy S10, S10+ or S10e. That simply wasn’t a realistic alternative for most smartphone buyers.
Weinbach, for his part, stresses that what he’s heard should be taken with a grain of salt for now and is definitely an unconfirmed rumor at this point. It does, however, fit the spirit of where we’ve all heard Samsung appears to be heading next in regards to its foldable smartphone efforts. In terms of what’s still to come, we don’t have firm, official dates yet to share regarding the next foldables in Samsung’s handset lineup. But we do expect more later this year, and we’ll be sure to share more information when we have it.
