Folding smartphones aren't expensive anymore! Why the 110,000 yen vertical folding smartphone "Galaxy Z Flip3 5G" is attracting attention

Samsung's vertically foldable smartphone "Galaxy Z Flip3 5G" released overseas is attracting attention. The price in the US is 999 dollars (about 110,000 yen), which is less than 1,000 dollars, and 1,254,000 won (about 118,000 yen) in Korea, which is just over 100,000 yen. The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G has an almost square design of 86.4 x 72.2 x 15.9mm at its thinnest when closed, but opens to reveal a large 6.7-inch display. Despite its compact body, it has a large display.

Since the specs are not the same, a direct comparison cannot be made, but if you look at the prices of iPhones that are popular with Japanese people, the “iPhone 12 Pro” starts at 117,480 yen and the “iPhone 12” starts at 94,800 yen. The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G is priced at about the same level and shatters the notion that "folding smartphones are expensive" or "special". Besides, if you keep using a 120,000 yen smartphone for 2 years, you can buy it for 5,000 yen every month. The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G is trying to make a folding smartphone a product that you can buy with the same feeling as a normal smartphone.

The size of smartphones is getting bigger every year. When the first iPhone was released in 2011, it was said that even the 3.5-inch display was large and easy to see and touch. However, nowadays smartphones with display sizes of 6 inches or more have become mainstream. There may be a certain number of consumers who want a compact smartphone that can be held with one hand, but now that watching videos has become commonplace and sharing photos on social media has become commonplace, many people are looking for a large screen smartphone. It's a natural flow.

However, the display size of today's smartphones is approaching the limit that can be held with one hand. It is difficult to increase the size of the display any further with a flat rectangular plate, and adding a cover would make the display even larger.

About 20 years ago, Garake faced a similar problem. It was difficult to increase the display size with a straight shape with a display in the upper half and 10 keys in the lower half. Japanese manufacturers have taken the lead in developing foldable mobile phones, and have succeeded in increasing the size of the display and making it possible to fold the main body into a compact size and carry it around. In the early 2000s, there was even a time when folding mobile phones made by Japanese manufacturers became popular overseas.

Now, about 20 years later, the folding method is back with the ability to fold smartphones. Samsung and Motorola have released vertically folding smartphones, and it is said that Chinese manufacturers are also developing them. However, the products so far have been expensive, and the KDDI model of the "Galaxy Z Flip 5G" released by Samsung last year was 185,835 yen. There must not have been many people who could afford a smartphone that cost less than 200,000 yen.

Samsung is also trying to expand sales of the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G in earnest by not only lowering the price but also preparing a wide variety of colors. The Galaxy Z Flip3 5G comes in seven colors: cream, green, lavender, phantom black, gray, pink, and white. Of these, gray, pink, and white are limited to the Samsung online store.

In addition, a model that collaborated with the fashion brand "Thom Browne" from New York, which Samsung's folding smartphones have collaborated with so far, will also be released.

In Korea, a model that collaborated with PXG, a golf wear company, also appeared, and after the announcement, the number of reservations reached the upper limit instantly. In the future, the brand collaboration of Galaxy Z Flip3 5G may progress further.

In addition to increasing the variations of the main unit, various types of covers that can be attached to the main unit will be sold. Previously, folding smartphones were difficult to attach covers to, so Samsung was not very aggressive in developing covers. However, the Galaxy Z Flip3 5G advocates not only choosing the body color, but also enjoying it with a variety of covers. There will be covers made in collaboration with brands, as well as third-party products.

Foldable smartphones that have come out so far are like a flower of lofty heights, and there may not have been many people interested in them. Galaxy Z Flip3 5G, which has become a "folding smartphone that anyone can buy", is a concern about the release date and price in Japan.