We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about Samsung releasing a cheaper foldable phone in order to better compete in the every-growing foldable phone market. But cheap could mean any number of things, and the question we’ve had is “how much will this phone actually cost?”. We may now have an answer.
The report comes from Sisa Journal, and claims that the foldable will cut costs by using lower-end tech than flagship Galaxy foldables — namely the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6. And the phone itself could cost under $800.
That’s still a lot of money for a phone. This isn’t cheap in the same way the Samsung Galaxy A55 is cheap. It’s cheap in the way the Samsung Galaxy S24 is cheaper than a Galaxy S24 Ultra. The report doesn't give the phone a name but it could be called the Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE.
So what kind of hardware will we get? Sisa Journal says that the new foldable will have "lower application processor, display and battery specifications" compared to flagship devices. Perhaps Samsung will use the just-announced Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip, which is tailor-made for more affodrdable Android phones.
Sisa Journal also claims that we can expect a camera that is similar to existing Galaxy foldables. That includes a similar design structure and hardware as the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5, as the publication claims it's a "dual camera module."
It’s unclear what kind of design Samsung will be going for, but a cheaper version of the Z Fold 6 would certainly be more appealing than an $800 take on the Z Flip 6. After all, the current flip foldable is only $999, and $800 isn’t a particularly big price cut in comparison. Especially compared to the likes of the $699 Motorola Razr.
But knocking half the price off a Z Fold model is going to require some pretty drastic cutbacks. Of course, we won’t know for sure until Samsung actually announces this new cheaper foldable, which will presumably happen this summer at the next Galaxy Unpacked event.
In the meantime, keep up to date on the latest news and rumors in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 hubs.
More from Tom's Guide
- I don't care what Samsung says, the Galaxy A55 should be sold in the US — here's why
- Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 chip to bring AI features to more affordable Android phones
- The Galaxy Z Fold 6 Ultra now looks dead — and this is the replacement
