Outside of China, Huawei is far from what it used to be. However, in China, the company remains the most popular phone brand, battling it out with Apple for the top spot on the podium. Meanwhile, Samsung barely has any market share in Huawei's home market, and the two companies rarely make contact. Despite this, Huawei's next move for the foldable segment might bring it closer to its old rival, Samsung.
A new rumor suggests that Huawei wants to release a new foldable flip phone similar to the Pocket S, except this one would be cheaper. Presumably, it would be called the Pocket P (via @Tech_Reve), and Huawei might release it in 2024 for $735 or less.
Interestingly, Samsung could have similar plans for its future foldable phone series.
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The Flip and Fan Edition lineups could soon meet
With Huawei planning to develop a more affordable foldable flip phone, Samsung “seems likely to follow this movement,” according to the X (formerly Twitter) tipster.
As yet, there are no leaked specifications to explore, but the idea of a more budget-oriented foldable Galaxy phone is not entirely new. Besides, with Samsung planning to sell 20 million foldable phones in 2024, it is conceivable that the company might want to expand its foldable phone series with the addition of a cheaper model.
Whether this alleged cheaper foldable device will be a part of the growing Fan Edition family of devices is to be determined. Samsung expanded its FE series not long ago with the release of the Galaxy S23 FE, two new Fan Edition tablets, and its first FE-branded pair of wireless earbuds. Adding a cheaper foldable Flip phone to the FE family would certainly make things even more interesting.
Editor's Note: The Galaxy Z Flip series already walks a fine line between manufacturing costs and retail price without sacrificing too much of the user experience. Although a cheaper Galaxy flip phone could be possible, one must wonder what Samsung would be willing to sacrifice for a lower price.
The company's build quality standards, for example, are higher than ever (and the competition's), and I doubt Samsung would benefit by making a foldable flip phone that's easy to break or lacks water resistance.
Likewise, there's no room to compromise in areas such as battery life and performance, and besides, the Galaxy Z Flip series already lacks DeX and doesn't come with the best cameras around. With that in mind, it's hard to imagine a cheaper Galaxy Z Flip hitting the market without compromising too much, but Samsung may surprise us in the best of ways.
