If you were one of the people hoping Samsung might lower the price of its upcoming foldable phones, then you are not going to want to hear this. According to a new leak Samsung may actually be raising the prices of the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Which is pretty upsetting, considering recent rumors suggested the opposite.
Greek site TechManiacs claims to have uncovered the European prices for both the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra. The Tab S9 Ultra is expected to cost €1,399, as was previously expected, while the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will reportedly start at €1,999 — €100 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 4.
According to the report, the cheapest Galaxy Z Fold 5 variant will come with 256GB of storage — just like the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Meanwhile a 1TB model will reportedly cost €2,299, though the site claims it couldn’t find out the price of the 512GB model. Which we assume is still coming.
What about Galaxy Z Fold 5 price in US?
The question is whether a rumored European price hike will also coincide with higher prices in the U.S. And, if so, how much more are we expected to pay? The Galaxy Z Fold 4 started at $1,799, and it seems logical that €100 could well become $100 on this side of the Atlantic.
Then again, a price increase in one region doesn’t always mean it’ll happen everywhere. The U.K. has seen the price of Samsung flagships go up over the past couple of years, while the U.S. pricing has stayed static. There is a chance a similar situation could happen here.
It’s not clear how any price increase might affect the Galaxy Z Flip 5, which is totally absent from TechManiacs’ report. However, we highly doubt that Samsung would increase the price of the new Flip given that it is trying to take foldables mainstream.
If Samsung does hike prices, then it would give an advantage to other fledgling foldables entering the market. The Google Pixel Fold starts at $1,799, which is the same as the Z Fold 4, and it made such a good impression in our testing that it rose to the top of our best foldable phones list.
Z Fold 5 price hike? Here's what we think
It feels like Samsung would be nuts to increase the price on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. Yes, inflation is coming down, but the cost of living is still quite high. And Samsung's own employees have called the Z Fold 5 boring based on the amount of upgrades.
So far we've heard that the Z Fold 5 will offer a lighter design and a new hinge waterdrop-style hinge mechanism that could minimize the crease while eliminating the gap between the two halves when closed. You can also expect camera upgrades along with a fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip. We’re not likely to find out the Z Fold 5 price for sure until July 26, when Samsung will hold its second Galaxy Unpacked of the year.
While there’s still a chance prices won’t be going up in the U.S., be prepared to have to pay more for a fifth generation Samsung foldable. In the meantime, you can catch up on all the latest rumors and news in our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 hubs.
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