Samsung so far has been reigning absolute in the market of foldable smartphones. The company is about to enter the third generation of two distinct foldable smartphone series (sort of, since we just had one Galaxy Z Flip and a 5G variant). According to fresh reports, Samsung will unveil its new foldable smartphones on August 11. Now, a new rumor suggests that besides the conventional Galaxy Z Flip3 the company will also present a Galaxy Fold3 Lite variant.
If the report is accurate, then we’ll have three distinct foldable smartphones on August 11 – Galaxy Z Fold3, Z Flip3, and Z Flip3 Lite. We should digest this with a pinch or two of salt. After all, rumors suggesting Lite variants of existing Samsung foldable smartphones are here since always. Still, the company is yet to unveil a Lite (read more affordable) variant of an existing foldable smartphone. The new report comes straight from KoreaHerald.
Gizchina News of the week
If we recall in December 2020, some rumors came suggesting that Samsung would unveil four foldable smartphones in 2021. The publication from ET News suggested that Samsung has plans to unveil two Galaxy Z Flip smartphones with different performance and features in 2021. However, earlier this year, we saw a report suggesting that Samsung has canceled the plans of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 Lite launch. The display analyst, Ross Young, further signed these rumors saying that Samsung had to cancel the Lite model due to the ongoing chipset shortage. However, as of now, there is nothing really accurate regarding the affordable flip-folding smartphone.
Of course, we tend to believe “more” in rumors that appear close to the release of a smartphone. Still, we need to wait a couple of days to see if more consistent proof of Galaxy Z Flip 3 Lite’s existence will emerge. The device could be Samsung’s first take on a “mid-range foldable smartphone segment”. The company could use a lesser chip to make the device more affordable, and maybe downgraded cameras.
Galaxy Z Flip3 alleged specifications
The original Z Flip3 is said to come with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The outer display will be a 1.9-inch Super AMOLED panel. Under the hood, it will pack a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of Storage. On the software front, the device runs Android 11 with One UI 3.1 straight out of the box. In terms of optics, the device has a 12MP + 12MP dual-camera setup. For selfies, it packs a 10MP snapper. The regular Z Flip will cost around $1,249 which is already a “good” price for a foldable smartphone.
