Even though the modern era of touchscreen smartphones have all but killed off the good old flip phones, Samsung and LG keep releasing the occasional Android-based clamshell smartphone from time to time. Now whether that’s because the companies think there’s still a large enough market for such devices or because they want to keep experimenting with their smartphone form-factors is anybody’s guess, but the one thing that simply has to be said about the two South Korean companies is that they haven’t been afraid to take risks and go against the flow with the design language and form-factor of their various smartphones.
While the LG G5 happens to be the first smartphone ever from a tier one manufacturer to come with a modular form-factor, Samsung has been even more proactive in challenging the industry status quo with devices like the original Galaxy Note phablet that was released back in 2011 and the Galaxy Note Edge, which came along in 2014. With a history of challenging conventional market dynamics with seemingly quirky devices, Samsung is now believed to be working on its next-generation smart flip phone that will feature a display panel of 3.8-inches. The device was recently imported into India for testing purposes, thereby getting listed on Zauba, which is a website that tabulates import and export data in India. The device comes with model number SM-G1600 and is expected to be an update over the last-generation Galaxy Folder (model: SM-G150), which happens to be a mid-range smartphone that was launched last year by Samsung in select markets.
While further details regarding this new device is yet to come by at the moment, we’ll probably have a bit more info the closer we get to the event itself. There’s no word whatsoever on if it will ever be launched globally, but some websites are speculating that it might be unveiled in China as early as the middle of next month. While Samsung’s previous attempts at recreating the magic of the flip phone era with devices like the Galaxy Golden and Galaxy Folder has seen mixed results, the company is apparently marching forward nonetheless in preparation of its next-gen Galaxy flip-phone, if the latest developments are anything to go by.
