Galaxy Z Fold 4 And Flip 4 Leak Dashes Hopes For Cheaper Foldables
If Samsung is to be asked, foldables are the future of mobile. Of course, the company also has the most to lose if the market doesn't go in that direction, which is why it's heavily invested in making its foldable phones more mainstream. One important part of that strategy is to make the phones more accessible to as many people as possible, which means providing more affordable models. That plan does seem to be in the works, according to some analysts, with the Galaxy A series of foldables reportedly coming soon (via Notebook Check). In the meantime, however, consumers have to contend with pricey foldable models for yet another year — and, in fact, the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip could end up being a wee bit more expensive than their predecessors.
There are two main hurdles that foldable phones need to overcome before they can really be considered mainstream, and the two are intricately tied to each other. Durability is a major concern for interested buyers — and while improvements are being made to the form factor's durability, these improvements also tend to raise the production costs and, consequently, the retail price.
That price is the second biggest hurdle since foldable phones are significantly more expensive than their non-folding counterparts. Even the cheaper Galaxy Z Flip is only relatively cheaper than the Fold and still costs as much as a high-end premium handset. While Samsung is expected to push prices down every year, that might not be happening for 2022.
European price leak indicates higher costs
According to tech blog GizPaw, the starting price of the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in Europe will be around €1,864 or as low as €1,849 ($1,890) for the base 256GB model. Even with the lower figure, however, that's still a €50 increase from last year's launch price of €1,799 ($1,840). The 512GB model might even have a €100 increase, so one can only imagine how much the rumored 1TB option would cost.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn't stray too far, though, thankfully with a smaller price increase. The foldable clamshell is leaked to start at €1,079 ($1,103), a €30 increase from last year's €1,049 ($1,072) rate. As with the Galaxy Z Fold, the price increase doubles as the storage capacity does. The highest 512GB capacity, which is new to this line, is marked at €1,279 ($1,307).
There are various factors affecting prices, including the cost of components themselves, economic inflation, and many more. Many of these factors might go over most people's heads, and they will only be able to compare the final price with what they're getting in return. Judging by leaks, that won't be much compared to last year's foldable pair, so some might find fewer compelling factors to actually buy this year's models. Despite that outlook, Samsung seems to be very optimistic that it will be able to sell 15 million Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4, up from the reported 10 million it sold for last year's generation.