Galaxy Z Flip FE hardware rumors hint at how Samsung will keep costs down

Samsung may be at a turning point in its approach to foldable smartphones. Up until this year, the company had kept things reasonably straightforward, iterating upon each prior generation for its Flip and Fold form factors. But all of a sudden, Samsung mixes things up with the introduction of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition, which ends up being a bit of a surprise hit — even as the company may be lowering its targets for foldables overall. Maybe the biggest shift in Samsung’s foldable strategy could concern the introduction of yet another new model, as rumors have circled around the possibility of a Galaxy Z Flip FE. Now we’re hearing a little more about how that hardware could come together.

The idea of what constitutes one of Samsung’s Galaxy FE models is kind of a moving target. Coming from “Fan Edition,” the label is supposed to highlight devices that include lots of customer-favorite features while also coming in at price points that are usually more competitive than the primary flagships.

Still, we’ve never had a foldable FE smartphone before, and that’s left us with lots of questions about all the component choices Samsung’s likely to make. Earlier rumors raised the theory that Samsung might use the very same display panel for both the regular Galaxy Z Flip 7 and the Flip FE, with the differences arising through the choice of processor and camera.

This week, however, display analyst Ross Young returns to X with the claim that the Flip FE will instead reach back a generation and use the same screen found on this year’s Flip 6. Young, it’s worth noting, has been the source behind almost all of the Flip FE hardware rumors we’ve heard to date.

Frankly, a move like that sounds like it makes a lot of sense, and represents an obvious way that Samsung could try to keep the Flip FE’s price point as competitive as possible — and considering that we’re talking about foldables here, that’s all the more important. Of course, even if this theory is correct, that still leaves us with plenty of unknowns about how the rest of this hardware will come together, including the choice of processor.

Samsung’s next Unpacked event is expected for late January, but we’ll probably find ourselves waiting until quite a bit later into 2025 before we learn anything official about the company’s new foldables.