The Galaxy Fold’s price isn’t coming down anytime soon

Perhaps even more stunning than the Galaxy Fold’s flexible screen was its inflexible price tag − and it’s set to remain that inaccessible for the foreseeable future.

While the innovative design of the Samsung Galaxy Fold turned many heads towards it, many of those same heads were turned away again when the price was announced: £1900 ($1980).

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But if you’re a canny shopper who had been hoping to snag it for a cheap bargain a few months down the line, even these best laid plans would appear to have gone awry because Samsung has told Korean carriers that it will not adjust the price of the ruinously expensive handset (after receiving a requested cut of around $335/£290).

This news, reported by Korean journal JoongAng Ilbo, seems to confirm that foldables remain reserved only for the richest, and aren’t yet ready to hit the mainstream.

But then, that’s hardly surprising given recent examples of the species. The price of the Motorola Razr, from a brand usually renowned for its thrift-friendly phones, was an eye-watering $1500 (~£1155), while the Huawei Mate X blew both of its rivals out of the water with a truly ludicrous $2400 (~£185) price tag, fit for an oligarch.

The putative price plunge may have been proposed in the first place because Samsung is gearing up to release two important new devices on February 11: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip (another foldable), and the Samsung Galaxy S20 (a more ‘traditional’ flagship smartphone).

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The former is set to be priced at $1400 (~£1076), which is still very expensive but considerably less so than its predecessor. It will also adopt a notable new form factor, resembling a flip phone rather than the Fold’s book-like design and so therefore it will be more compact. Could this new design combined with the lower price be a recipe for smash-hit success?