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Samsung's cheapest foldable could be called Galaxy Fold Special Edition
Update, May 13, 2020 (1:36AM ET): Just yesterday we got wind of a new upcoming Galaxy Fold model with the cheapest price tag among all foldable phones out there. Now, according to industry insider Ross Young, this phone is expected to be called the Galaxy Fold Special Edition.
Young says that the new phone is an attempt by Samsung to get rid of its original Galaxy Fold inventory before the launch of the Fold 2. It will apparently go on sale in July and will have a limited run of around 55,000 units worldwide.
In terms of design, Young claims it should look just like the Galaxy Fold.
To clear out Galaxy Fold 1 inventory before the Galaxy Fold 2 is launched, Samsung will announce the Galaxy Fold Special Edition in July at a price around $1099. Quantities will be limited to ~55K worldwide. It should look just like the Galaxy Fold 1. Great price!— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) May 13, 2020
You can check out more purported Galaxy Fold Special Edition specs in the original article below.
Original article, May 12, 2020 (12:39PM ET): Saying that the Samsung Galaxy Fold had a rocky start is probably the understatement of the decade. However, Samsung’s first foldable device is quite revolutionary — if you can afford it. Thankfully, it seems there could be a Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite on the way to help the less-wealthy consumers try out a foldable.
According to reliable leaker Max Weinbach, the Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite could be a hodgepodge mixture of parts from the past two years. It would cut some corners to keep the device from getting too expensive, but interestingly would also be better than the original Galaxy Fold in a few ways.
Check out the rumored specs table of the Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite below. Remember, these are rumored specs, so don’t take them as fact:
Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite rumored specs
| Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite (Rumored) | |
|---|---|
Display | No UTG on interior Smaller display on outside (compared to Galaxy Fold) |
Processor | Snapdragon 865 |
Storage | 256GB |
Connectivity | No 5G / LTE only |
Construction | Aluminum and glass |
Colors | Mirror Black and Mirror Purple |
Price | $1,099 |
Availability | Worldwide |
The two most interesting aspects of these rumored specs for the Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite are the lack of UTG (ultra-thin glass) on the display and the inclusion of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor.
Let’s start with the UTG aspect. One of the biggest blunders of the original launch of the Galaxy Fold was how easily one could break the plastic display. Samsung scrambled to put a UTG layer on it to make it more durable, and that same tech worked well in the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. To not have that in the Galaxy Fold Lite would, theoretically, make the foldable phone just as easily breakable as the original Fold.
As far as the Snapdragon 865 processor goes, it’s an interesting choice to include this for two reasons. The first is that the Galaxy Fold and the Galaxy Z Flip both have (on paper) weaker processors than the Samsung Galaxy Fold Lite is rumored to have. The second is that the Snapdragon 865 is, at its core, 5G-capable, meaning that Samsung would actually be manually preventing the Galaxy Fold Lite from connecting to 5G networks. In other words, it would be less work for Samsung to just let the Fold Lite use 5G. Of course, that would make the device seem more premium, so that’s likely why Samsung would do that.
Either way, the $1,099 asking price for a phone like this is really good. That would make it the cheapest foldable from a major manufacturer yet and a solid option for people thinking about buying other Sammy flagships, such as the Galaxy S20 or upcoming Galaxy Note 20.