The Chinese regulator’s website, TENAA, has today revealed more information about the new Samsung Galaxy Folder 2 smartphone. This is a clamshell device and a follow up to the original Samsung Galaxy Folder phone, featuring improved specifications almost across the board. Clamshell devices have two great advantages that they protect the main display when the device is folded up, and for those customers who are less dexterous, the physical action of opening the handset to answer a call or unlock the screen, and closing it to hang up or lock the display, can be very advantageous. However, for many markets around the world, there are relatively few clamshell smartphones with the exception of the the Chinese and Asian markets. The genre has not sold so well in Western markets, but the Samsung Galaxy Folder 2 has already made an appearance at the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), so an American release is possible.
The Galaxy Folder 2 is based around a 3.8-inch, 480 by 800 pixel display panel. Unlike some other flip phones, the Folder 2 does not have a secondary display on the outside of the chassis to show caller identification or similar. Under the skin, Samsung has given the Galaxy Folder 2 a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 chipset, which features a quad core 1.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 application processor. The Snapdragon 425 is a lower mid-range chipset, including the Adreno 308 GPU, which is capable of driving a 720p HD resolution display. The Folder 2 comes with 2 GB of RAM plus 16 GB of internal storage, which can be boosted by a microSD up to a 200 GB capacity. There’s a 8-megapixel main camera on the back, plus a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling and selfies. It is already understood the device sports a 2,000 mAh battery thanks to the handset appearing at the FCC’s website a few weeks ago.
As for color options; the Galaxy Folder 2 will be available in just gold at launch, with no word on whether other colors will be available or when the device will be officially announced and released. Likewise, it is still unclear how much the device will cost when it’s released, but if it’s priced similarly to the original Samsung Galaxy Folder it will likely cost around $250.
