Samsung promised to roll out more affordable foldable phones this year. The first step in that direction involves a phone you may be familiar with.
The phone maker started this week by cutting the price of the Galaxy Z Flip 5G by $ 250, bringing the cost of Samsung’s flip phone down to $ 1,199. That is the lowest price that Samsung has ever charged for a foldable device.
Most importantly, it is also the same price that Samsung charges for the new Galaxy S21 Ultra, the main device in the new Galaxy S21 series. Not that you should ever confuse a $ 1,200 handset with a budget device, but the Galaxy Z Flip 5G’s price cut is clearly a step towards Samsung in making its foldable devices more affordable.
To that end, as part of an ongoing promotion, you can save up to $ 1,000 on your Galaxy Z Flip 5G when you trade in your current phone. Normally, Samsung offers a trade-in of $ 450 on discounts.
Galaxy Z Flip 5G: What You Need to Know
The Galaxy Z Flip debuted a year ago and it was the first foldable Samsung to arrive fully polished. The handset took the flip phone design of yesteryear and added a folding 6.7-inch screen enhanced by the addition of a layer of ultra-thin glass. That gave the Z Flip a durable feel that had eluded previous Flip models.
The Z Flip also had a strong hinge that allowed you to open the phone in different positions, allowing for a feature called Flex Mode.
When you open your Z Flip at a 90 degree angle, you can split the screen in certain apps to control different functions – for example, a viewing area for YouTube, supplemented with an area where you can control playback and add comments. The feature proved so successful that Samsung adapted Flex mode for the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
In announcing the new $ 1,199 price of the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Samsung also praised some of the special features it has built into its foldable flip phone. These include multitasking, which allows you to run two apps simultaneously on the Z Flip’s main screen, and the ability to use the phone’s 1.1-inch outdoor display as a viewfinder for selfies.
Plus, by double-tapping the Z Flip’s home button, you can enable one-handed mode, which shrinks the view on the screen so you can reach it with one hand.
Galaxy Z Flip 5G: should you buy it?
The Galaxy Z Flip 5G is certainly a more tempting option these days than it was at $ 1,449. But there are a few things to consider before mashing up that “Buy” button.
For starters, price cuts like these generally indicate that a company hopes to dispose of inventory before new products hit the market. And we’ve heard rumors that Samsung has a Galaxy Z Flip sequel in the works. While there isn’t an immediate timeframe for that phone to be released, there are also rumors about the Galaxy Z Fold 3, a new version of Samsung’s foldable phone that could be released as early as May, if not the second half of this year. .
Samsung has made no secret of wanting to make more foldable products. Samsung Electronics president TM Roh said in late 2020 that the company saw “growing momentum” from its folding operations and pledged to maintain this in the new year.
“We’re going to expand our portfolio of foldable items to make this groundbreaking category more accessible to everyone,” Roh said at the time.
Whether a cheaper Galaxy Z Flip is enough for more affordable foldable items or whether Samsung has even cheaper devices in the pipeline remains to be seen. Other reports claim that Samsung’s efforts include rollable and slidable phones in addition to foldable phones, so it’s likely we haven’t heard the latest from the phone manufacturer in this area.