Samsung launches W2016, a Galaxy S6 trapped inside a flip phone body

The Samsung W2016 is a Galaxy S6 trapped inside a flip phone body. Or is it the other way?

Spotted earlier this week in China’s TENAA listings, the W2016 has received a quiet official launch. But that’s about the only quiet thing about this flip phone, which features a decadent Galaxy S6-inspired design and an equally outrageous spec sheet.

Some may call the W2016 excessive. But for Samsung, and presumably certain demographic groups in Asia, this dual-screened device makes total sense. Just like the Galaxy S6, the W2016 comes with a sculpted aluminum frame, a curved metal back, and metallic accents. Even the speaker perforations and USB slot on its bottom evoke Samsung’s early 2015 flagship.

Coming in gold or silver, the device is rather heavy, at 204 grams. It’s also 15.1 mm thick when closed, but that’s the price you need to pay for style, not to mention the two 3.9-inch 1280 x 768 AMOLED displays and T9 numeric keypad.

Specs include an Exynos 7420 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The rear camera is 16MP, while the front one is 5MP. The device runs the Chinese version of Samsung’s TouchWiz, based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. There’s also wireless charging, a 2000 mAh battery, and dual-SIM LTE.

For all intents and purposes, the W2016 is a genuine, if very unusual, Android flagship.

We don’t have info on the price of the Samsung W2016, or its eventual availability outside of China. For some reason, flip (smart)phones are still a thing in East Asia, but we would be surprised if Samsung sold the W2016 elsewhere.