The first credible Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 price rumor is here, and… you’re not going to like it
It may not literally open like a book (as devices from the Galaxy Z Fold family do), but the Galaxy Z Flip 5 has figuratively been like an open book for quite some time now, leaking like a broken faucet well in advance of its “late July” official announcement.
We’ve known almost everything there is to know about the impending sequel to the world’s most popular foldable phone, from its exact screen to its unchanged cameras, unchanged battery capacity and charging capabilities, unchanged memory and storage options, further refined design, and upgraded processing power.
Still, that all left one important question unanswered. Probably the most important of them all, especially at a time of economic uncertainty around the world. That’s right, we’re talking about retail pricing. No one was brave enough to try to predict how much the Z Flip 5 would cost, either based on inside information or the typical combination of recent history and sensible guesswork. Until today, that is…
Big price hike on the horizon
Unfortunately, there’s no way to spin or view this very optimistically, with a €1,299 Galaxy Z Flip 5 likely to sound extravagant to virtually all European ears.
Whether you’re familiar with last year’s Z Flip 4 or not, as well as the “normal” pricing structure of your “typical” Android-based Samsung flagship, this will probably feel either a little steep… or extremely steep.
The Z Flip 5 (rendered on the right) could be significantly costlier than the Z Flip 4 (pictured on the left).
While Galaxy Z Flip 4 prices on the old continent vary slightly from country to country, €1,299 would definitely represent an increase of at least €150 over all European markets. That seems kind of hard to justify with a fairly short list of upgrades and major changes headlined by a larger cover screen and the same old 128GB internal storage space paired with an 8GB RAM count for the handset’s entry-level configuration.
For what it’s worth, it’s unclear exactly where this number is coming from, so although we’re dealing with a fairly reputable publication, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 pricing prediction could ultimately prove inaccurate.
If it does pan out, it could obviously mean that the Z Flip 5 will cost more than its predecessor in the US as well, but it’s impossible to say what kind of hike we can expect there.
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 normally starts at $999.99 stateside, so if Samsung decides to enforce a global increase of 15 or 20 percent, that could go all the way up to $1,150 or $1,200 for the most affordable Galaxy Z Flip 5 model.
What does this mean for the Galaxy Z Fold 5?
It’s clearly too early to jump to conclusions or create convoluted scenarios involving both next-gen Samsung foldables, but if the Z Flip 5 does end up costing more than the Z Flip 4, we can definitely expect the same to be true for the Z Fold 5 and Z Fold 4.
That sounds like a big potential problem for the world’s largest handset vendor, which also happens to comfortably lead a foldable segment… that’s however started to contract instead of continuing to grow.
The Z Fold 5 could come with a familiar design and even higher price point than its predecessor.
Exorbitant prices are one of the main causes of this unexpected decline, and if the $1,800 Z Fold 4 felt a little rich for your blood, we don’t even want to think how you’d receive a Galaxy Z Fold 5 at, say, $2,000 with a… familiar design and largely unchanged specs and capabilities.
Let’s hope Samsung has different intentions for its next big foldable thing, which if you ask us (and reportedly the company’s own well), actually needs a price cut compared to its forerunner rather than a price increase to stand a chance to hold off Apple’s iPhone 15 family until the Galaxy S24 lineup comes out.