Samsung's Cheaper Galaxy Flip 7 FE Foldable Phone Shows Up In New Leak

CNET

4 hours ago

New renders of the rumored Galaxy Z Flip7 FE phone, a cheaper alternative to last year's Z Flip 6, have hit the internet via notable leaker Evan Blass. The images were shared Monday on smartphone news site Phone Arena.
The FE stands for Founders Edition and is Samsung's way of offering comparable devices with slightly weakened specs for more affordable prices. Past FE phones include the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and the Galaxy Tab S10 FE and FE Plus.
The renders show off a device that looks very similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 6, appearing in white and black colorways. Phone Arena reports that the Flip 6 FE will have similar hardware as last year's Flip 6 but may swap out the Snapdragon chip for a Samsung-made Exynos processor.
Blass also sharedf renders of the flagship Galaxy Z Flip 7 which, if accurate, will drop the camera cutaway and feature the screen running edge-to-edge, with cutouts for the cameras, much like the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025.
Foldable phones, once $2,000 devices, have slowly started creeping downwards in price as designs have improved and more players have entered the space. Despite more foldable phones entering the market, it's still a smaller piece of the overall larger smartphone pie.
Trendforce predicted last year that 17.8 million foldables would ship in 2024, making up only 1.5% of overall smartphone shipments. Foldable phone shipments actually decreased 1%, making it the segment's first-ever Q3 decline, according to Counterpoint Research. That decline was attributed to weak performance from the Samsung's Z Flip 6, which was a mild improvement over 2023's model.
While Samsung is the foldable market global leader at 56% share, the Z Flip and Fold 6 saw shipments fall 21%. With more exciting handsets coming out of China, where Samsung has a smaller presence, consumers might be holding out for either cheaper prices or more exciting designs. Already, rumors claim that Apple might be readying its own foldable device, which may expand the market as well as pull share from Samsung.
There are other concerns with foldables, apart from the higher price point. According to a 2023 Kantar report, 55% of early foldable buyers later switched back to a regular slab phone. Lower battery life and software uncertainty is what drove people away, according to the report. A 2024 YouGov report said 56% of young adults said durability was a major concern when considering a foldable.
Some foldable phones are seeing more affordable price points, notably, the new Motorola Razr 2025, which has a starting price of $700. If the rumored Z Flip 7 FE can match or undercut Motorola, that could entice some consumers.