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Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip Lite is 'not happening', but the Z Flip 3 5G should be affordable enough

Published: Jun 28, 2021, 7:51 AM

Samsung reportedly has a lot of hardware scheduled for a joint early August announcement and staggered commercial release by the end of the same month, but the list of major products expected to miss the company's next Unpacked event also includes some pretty big names.

We're talking about the next installment(s) in the (once) hugely successful Galaxy Note series, which may or may not see daylight at some point in 2022, as well as the highly anticipated Galaxy S21 FE, widely rumored to have been delayed until Q4 2021, and last but not least, the Galaxy Z Flip Lite.

Altogether cancelled or merely delayed?

That, our friends, is the million-dollar question, and alas, trusted analyst Ross Young seems to believe the Z Flip Lite that first popped up in the rumor mill last fall is never going to happen.

Of course, "never" is an extremely strong word for the tech industry as a whole and the smartphone market in particular, so you shouldn't be surprised if Samsung does end up releasing a watered-down variant of its purportedly high-end Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G sometime next year.

These are almost certainly the only foldables Samsung plans to release this year

More importantly (and more encouragingly), Young is today adding fuel to a fire started all the way back in November 2020, claiming that the aforementioned 5G-enabled Z Flip 3 model will likely be priced "where Flip Lite would have been."

According to a more recent report, you're looking at spending as little as $959 starting in late August on a handset pretty much guaranteed to add 120Hz refresh rate technology to the OG Z Flip's 6.7-inch foldable main display while expanding the secondary screen from 1.1 to 1.9 inches.

Incredibly enough, the inexpensive Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G is also expected to pack a state-of-the-art Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, making it virtually impossible for a Z Flip Lite model to strike a good balance between power and affordability of its own.

After all, foldable devices are still fairly tricky (and costly) to manufacture in large numbers, which means the profit margin on an ultra-affordable Galaxy Z Flip Lite probably wouldn't have justified Samsung's effort. But foldables are likely to expand to more price segments... eventually, which is why a 2022 Z Flip 3 Lite (or Z Flip 3 FE) is clearly not to be ruled out as a possibility.

Could the Galaxy S21 FE 5G suffer the same fate?

Initially rumored as one of the headliners of Samsung's August 2021 Unpacked event, the sequel to last year's very popular Galaxy S20 FE 5G is now reportedly slated for a Q4 debut... in the US and Europe only.

But the premature death of the Z Flip Lite makes us fear the S21 FE may arrive even later than late this year given that the two's production problems are allegedly caused by the same highly publicized chip shortage.

All the S21 FE colors and angles have already been leaked

This is clearly an extremely serious situation threatening to impact the normal release schedule of companies as diverse as Samsung, Google, and Apple, but at least for the time being, we remain optimistic about the perspectives of the Galaxy S21 FE 5G.

Considering the incredible success registered by this bad boy's predecessor both stateside and worldwide despite some pretty major and resilient touchscreen issues, we strongly believe the S21 FE could have what it takes to become one of the overall best phones money can buy in 2021. If that's the case, the device will simply be too important for Samsung not to pull out all the stops to get it out in stores by Christmas.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.