Yesterday, it was revealed that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Z Fold series’ price might be rising in Europe with the upcoming Z Fold 5. Now we have evidence that the same might be true for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 via Samsung itself.
WinFuture’s Roland Quandt first spotted this possible price increase in the terms and conditions of a competition that Samsung Romania is running for the handset. On page three of the document, Samsung lists that 10 of the 256GB units will cost 65,990 RON including sales tax. Divide that by 10 and you get 6,599 RON — or around $1,500.
To be clear, we’re not expecting the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 to get a near $450 increase on the $1,059 price of the Z Flip 4.
Not only would that be commercial suicide, but the U.S. and Romania are two very different markets, and as our sister site TechRadar notes, the 256GB model arrived in Romania for 5,699 RON — or around $1,300. So it was already more expensive in Eastern Europe than in the U.S.
So it appears that the Z Flip 5 will be getting a 900 RON increase on the previous generation, which comes to about $200. That means that the Z Flip 5 could cost anything between $1,099 and $1,250 in the States — depending on how Samsung wants to do the conversion. It could also leave things the same, if it views the American market as especially important, of course.
If a price hike does hit the Galaxy Z Flip 5, that would be pretty disappointing, as the story of Samsung's cheaper foldable has been one of price cuts up until now. The first-generation Galaxy Z Flip arrived at $1,380, before dropping to $999 with the Z Flip 3.
There are good reasons why this model may cost more, though. Not only are production costs generally heading northwards, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is tipped to be quite an upgrade on its predecessors, with the usual increases to processing power backed up with a much-improved camera sensor and a larger external screen to make it more usable when closed.
Whether this justifies the possible added cost remains to be seen. We’ll find out soon enough, with Samsung expected to debut its latest foldables alongside the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Tab S9 at an Unpacked event on 26 July.
