Samsung Reportedly Launching $2K ‘Foldable Phone’ With 4.2-Inch Display In China

Samsung has just announced that it is updating its China-exclusive W series of super expensive smartphones before this year ends. The device is expected to cost more than Apple’s iPhone X flagship phone.

On Wednesday, Patently Apple reported that Samsung is launching a “foldable phone” in China at the end of this month. As it turns out, this so-called “foldable smartphone” is not the highly anticipated Samsung device with foldable display. Instead, it is just an upgraded version of Samsung’s high-end folder phone series for the Chinese market.

The next-gen flip phone is dubbed as the “W2018,” and it is reportedly arriving with a costly price tag just like its predecessors. It is being reported that the new folder phone is priced at 3 million Korean Won or US$2,746, but Samsung said that this isn’t the final price yet. Hence, there’s still a possibility for the device to retail at a more expensive price. To compare, Apple is selling its iPhone X starting at US$1,457 in China.

Despite the hefty price, the W2018 only comes with a 4.2-inch full HD display. If it’s any consolation, the device has two display panels that are positioned in a back-to-back manner on the upper part of the phone. Both panels are 4.2-inch in length. The folder phone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 6GB of RAM. It is also reportedly sporting a 12-megapixel back camera and a 6-megapixel front shooter. The Android 7.1.1 Nougat-running handset is also debuting with Samsung’s AI voice assistant, Bixby, onboard.

Given that the new handset is going to be part of the W series, there’s no chance for it to launch in the U.S. and other markets for that matter. Samsung clarified this in a statement that said, “As the W line has been a China-exclusive, we do not have any plans to release the W2018 in other countries.”

The W2018 is the successor to the Samsung W2017 that also featured 4.2-inch dual OLED display screens. The older model also came with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 430 processor, 64GB of internal memory, a 2,300mAh battery, a 12-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front shooter. It also featured wireless charging, fingerprint scanning Samsung Pay, Samsung Knox and a water- and dust-resistant body, as per The Investor.

Meanwhile, Samsung is said to be gearing up for the launch of its highly anticipated foldable phone in 2018. This foldable phone is nothing like the W2018, which is basically a clamshell phone. It’s actually a device with a more advanced display panel, which can be folded inward like paper. A concept image for Samsung‘s foldable smartphone, dubbed as “Galaxy X,” shows that it’s a touchscreen handset that can be folded out into a large tablet, as pointed out by Business Korea.