Samsung revealed the Galaxy Fold in early 2019, but it didn’t launch until just a few weeks ago. It turns out foldable phones are hard to get right, and the Fold wasn’t exactly inexpensive even when it did launch. Samsung wanted almost $2,000 for this first-of-its-kind smartphone. A new report from South Korea suggests the Galaxy Fold 2 may be here soon, and it could be much cheaper than the first-gen device.
The Galaxy Fold was the first consumer-ready foldable phone to market, even after the months-long delay. Samsung initially wanted to launch the phone in spring 2019, but the first handful of review units began failing after just a few days. Samsung recalled all the samples and set to work revamping the Fold to make the hinge and screen more robust and able to keep particulates from creeping inside.
Samsung released the Galaxy Fold last month for the same $1,980 price it announced in February. It hasn’t made much of an effort to sell the phones — most units are sold at retail by AT&T and Best Buy. It’s not hard to see why with that exorbitant price tag.
The Korean Herald claims that Samsung will take a much different approach with the Galaxy Fold 2. The site predicts a price of 1,000,000 KRW, with works out to just $837. That would make it slightly less expensive than recent non-foldable phones like the Note 10. The Herald also believes Samsung could unveil the Fold 2 at Mobile World Congress in early 2020.
The hinge on the Galaxy Fold is a complex piece of engineering, and Samsung had to redesign it to make the phone more durable.
The first Galaxy Fold had some of the same specs as the Note 10, including a Snapdragon 855 and 12GB of RAM. That alone isn’t enough to make a phone obscenely expensive, though. OnePlus manages to offer similar specs for much less. It was the Fold’s 7.3-inch folding internal display that boosted the price into the stratosphere. It’s hard to see how Samsung could cut the price of the sequel by more than half while still offering a large foldable screen.
Samsung may also be looking at stiffer foldable competition in 2020. While the Galaxy Fold attracted mostly skeptical feedback from buyers, the recently announced Moto Razr foldable has people more excited. That phone will launch in early 2020, but it’ll cost around $1,500.
Now read:
- Galaxy Fold Fails Early on Livestream Torture Test
- Samsung Wants Galaxy Fold Owners to Be Unrealistically Gentle With It
- Huawei’s Folding Phone Delayed Until Late This Year
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