This week’s Unpacked might have been Samsung’s most successful launch in ages. Both the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 offer some pretty substantial improvements over their direct predecessors, with slimmer builds and larger displays — exactly what fans have been asking for. And while neither device is perfect, they each go a long way in quelling discussions around Samsung’s recent output.
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, on the other hand, is a bit of a head-scratcher. Samsung didn’t spend too much time on this device during their hour-long presentation this week — if you took a bathroom break around the show’s midway point, you almost certainly missed its quick introduction. With a $900 MSRP, I think it’s pretty obvious why. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, like many of the company’s FE-branded smartphones, isn’t a particularly good deal at full price, and I’d recommend that anyone considering Samsung’s budget-focused foldable should take a look at all of the options at hand before pulling the trigger.
At first glance, this looks every bit in line with the rest of Samsung’s FE-branded lineup. It reuses last year’s design, including that smaller 3.4-inch cover screen, and pairs it with the Exynos 2400, a slower, older processor that should help in bringing down the price. So far, so good. But we’ve been hearing about the potential for a cheaper Galaxy Z Flip for ages now, but I’m not sure this device is the total package anyone was expecting.
Really, it all boils down to that price point. At $900 — without trade-in offers or carrier deals, and yes, we’ll get there — the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is, on its face, a terrible bargain. It’s only $200 cheaper than the regular Flip 7, and frankly, I think you lose well beyond $200 worth of value in opting for the budget model. No 4.1-inch cover panel, no 6.9-inch main display, less RAM, a smaller battery packed in a bulkier chassis, and an older 4nm chipset that won’t quite compete with the Exynos 2500 in the regular Flip 7.
That’s a long list of sacrifices, and that’s before you account for the differences in storage space. If you compare the upgraded 256GB Flip 7 FE to the 256GB Flip 7, you’re actually only saving $140. If it feels a little like Samsung avoided pricing its higher storage model at the $1,000 price point to avoid a particularly unflattering comparison between the two, well, I’d hazard a guess that you’re right.
And, of course, none of this is helped by this week’s Prime Day sales, which saw the outgoing Galaxy Z Flip 6 — effectively an identical phone to that of the Flip 7 FE, albeit with just six years of software support left rather than seven — priced at $800 unlocked. Those sales have likely ended as you’re reading this, but it still made for some especially awkward timing as Samsung showed its “cheaper” flip phone off for the very first time at Unpacked.
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is a bad deal right now, but it probably won’t be forever
All that said, this is pretty par for the course with the FE-series. While the original Galaxy S20 FE was a surprisingly great deal, its successors have all felt like devices built for carrier stores, not to wow enthusiasts online. I think that’s true with the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE too, which could explain why it barely earned a message on-stage. No one watching the Unpacked stream live is going to buy this device, so why take up valuable time trying to market it to them?
Rather, this phone almost certainly exists for carrier promotions and other seasonal sales. The next time Prime Day rolls around — presumably in October — it’ll be this device that’s marked down to $800, not last year’s Flip 6. You can just envision the Black Friday ads too: “Add a line and get Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE with Galaxy AI, on us.” Insert the sound of jingle bells and visuals of a guy putting Christmas lights on his house, and you get the picture.
There will be deals that make this phone worth it, in other words, just like the rest of the FE-series before it. But it’s easy to get caught up in the swell of a launch event, talking yourself into some pretty bad choices. If you have your eye on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, I highly recommend you keep an eye out for discounts.
Or, hey, Motorola’s latest Razr remains a surprisingly excellent foldable for just $700 — in fact, of this year’s Razr lineup, it’s the one I’d recommend to most buyers. Any Moto phone comes with a pretty big sacrifice, but if you can endure pretty terrible software support, the actual hardware is excellent. And, bonus, the Razr’s front cover display remains a whole lot more useful than what Samsung offers, even with One UI 8. Samsung might not understand the “budget” part of building a “budget foldable,” but at least one company does.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are now available for pre-order at Samsung’s website. In addition to saving up to $1,000 in trade-in value, you can score a storage upgrade for free on both devices, and $50 in additional credit for using 9to5Google‘s links.
Samsung’s new foldables, alongside the budget-ish Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, and the Galaxy Watch 8 and 8 Classic, start shipping on July 25th.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments