Samsung: brace yourselves for an attack of the Galaxy Folds
Speaking at the company's annual AI forum the other day, Samsung's mobile division head basically confirmed the second coming of the Galaxy Fold. The last rumor about the Galaxy Fold 2 that we heard pegged it for an April release, or about a month after the Galaxy S11's tentative appearance on the shelves in March.
This will be a bit more than six months after the original Galaxy Fold release, but not because Samsung is planning on bi-annual bendable phone model refreshes, just because the OG Fold was launched later than initially planned.
The codename is reportedly "Bloom," signifying plans for general expansion of the foldable phones' market share, as opposed to OG Fold's "Winner" moniker, which was meant to bring people around the bendy phone camp in the first place.
As for the specs, we can reasonably expect a Snapdragon 865 chipset with Qualcomm's X55 multiband 5G modem tacked on, 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage. The screen size situation is murkier, though - initial reports pegged the desired diagonal to be 6.7", about the same as the new Motorola RAZR 2019 that will be announced next week.
The codename is reportedly "Bloom," signifying plans for general expansion of the foldable phones' market share, as opposed to OG Fold's "Winner" moniker, which was meant to bring people around the bendy phone camp in the first place.
Samsung is fairly certain that 2020 will be the year of the foldable, and not only because of its Fold 2 handset, but also because both Motorola and Xiaomi are expected to have bendy handset on the market then. In fact, here's the exact quote of Samsung's DJ Koh:
We will significantly increase the sales of foldable smartphones next year... We are confident that consumers will see more foldable smartphones in 2020
With a sales goal of 6 million foldable smartphones next year, Samsung is expected to be a leader in the field, and no wonder, given its near-monopoly on flexible OLED display supplies.
Galaxy Fold 2 specs and screen size
As for the specs, we can reasonably expect a Snapdragon 865 chipset with Qualcomm's X55 multiband 5G modem tacked on, 12GB of RAM and 512GB storage. The screen size situation is murkier, though - initial reports pegged the desired diagonal to be 6.7", about the same as the new Motorola RAZR 2019 that will be announced next week.
Some inside Samsung are now pushing for 8.1 inches, arguing (rightfully) that this is the whole point of foldable phones - to give you much more extra canvas to work on when unfurled than regular phones.
We sincerely hope that Samsung will go for the latter, larger diagonal, as, if the RAZR is indeed with a sub-7" diagonal, the logic of it becomes somewhat moot, save for the mix of nostalgia and innovative form factor that may bring it quite a few sales indeed.
Galaxy Fold 2 release date
The OG Fold was supposed to arrive in April but came in September, five months after the original release date, and typically by this time Samsung should already be hard at work on its successor if it wants to release it in the spring.
Reporting on what Samsung's chief divulged when Pressed to announce the exact timeframe of its announcement or even to detail the Fold 2, the publication only says that "regarding the next-generation foldable smartphone, Koh said the company will make an announcement on the launch schedule when the timing is right."
The logical announced part of the equation hasn't changed, it seems, and we might indeed witness the clamshell type foldable that Samsung teased during its developer conference last week, materialize in the spring.
As for the price that the Fold 2 will command, it's anyone's guess, but given the increased competition from Motorola, Huawei, Xiaomi and the like, it might very well be lower than the OG Fold, matching what Motorola would charge. The RAZR 2019 is heavily rumored to be the most affordable foldable phone when it launches on Verizon later this month.
While we wouldn't call $1500 exactly cheap, compared to nearly $2000 for the Galaxy Fold, or $2500 for the Mate X 5G, the RAZR may seem like a bargain. Some new top-shelf phones like the Note 10+ 5G or iPhone versions with 512GB storage are already encroaching on that price tag anyway, so a fella may as well choose to be an early adopter of the future.
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