The Z Flip is marketed as a girly, Valentine's Day phone, do you agree with Samsung?

As if to confirm the new Z-series marketing focus rumors, Samsung just released a whole "design story" writeup dedicated to the Flip's life as a fashion accessory. "The Galaxy Z lineup introduces a new identity to the foldable mobile category. One that adds a fashionable touch to users’ lives," claims Tae-joong Kim, Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Mobile Communications Business, "by combining a pocket-friendly form with striking style."

Cue candy colors, the Flex Mode option to take selfies easier, or use the Z Flip as a makeup accessory. We get Samsung's point, yet can't help but wonder how many twentysomething female customers it thinks will be enticed by a $1400 phone as a fashion accessory. After all, there's already Apple's iPhone for that, just look around and calculate the ratio of iOS vs Android phones that women carry.

Samsung is in a pickle here, and one of its own making. When phones with foldable displays like the Galaxy Z Flip were in the form of an initial concept, their main added value was perceived as the ability to carry a big screen in a compact package. It took Samsung seven years to go from the first flexible display experiments to phones from the Fold- or Z-series, and in the meantime "rigid" handset displays grew from 4" to 6"+ on average.

The Galaxy Z Flip display size is a 6.7" when unfurled, and we doubt it will be easy to find many users who care enough that it folds into a 3" phone size. On one hand, it's very thick in a folded state and, on the other, the "new normal" phones like Samsung's own S20+ and S20 Ultra come in a 6.7-6.9 inches screen size anyway.

Imagine having to open your Flip tens of times a day with one hand just to check on a notification, and you can see why Samsung is trying to market it as something else than simply a big phone that can turn into a small one. That's not even counting the fact that the Galaxy Z Flip's folding screen makes more sense for jeans or shirt pockets where most men's phones reside, rather than purses or handbags which can and do carry gargantuan screen sizes anyway. Does Samsung think they should only get the Razr?

This is one way to analyze Samsung's heavy marketing push to position the Galaxy Z Flip as a fashion accessory, rather than a rational calculation for the pros and cons of foldable handsets in the era of phone screens encroaching on the 7" diagonal, what do you think?