Next Galaxy foldable may be called the Z Flip

The next Samsung Electronics foldable that will likely be named the Galaxy Z Flip. [LETSGODIGITAL]

The next foldable phone from Samsung Electronics will be called the Galaxy Z Flip, according to local and international media.

The reports say that the name may be connected to Generation Z, which refers to people born in the mid 1990s through the early 2010s.

The first Galaxy Fold folds along a vertical line. The screen of the new handset folds along the horizontal axis. It is being called the clamshell model, after the flip phone’s popularity in the early days of mobile telephony.

Samsung didn’t confirm the name of the new handset as of Wednesday, saying only that it will be introduced at an event to be held in San Francisco on Feb. 11.

The company said that it has not yet formally released any information about the phone.

According to reports from tech media outlets, including the Netherlands-based LetsGoDigital, the real name of the new foldable model “will most likely be the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip with model number SM-F700F.”

According to other media reports, the Galaxy Z Flip will have three cameras, as opposed to the six on the Galaxy Fold.

It will only support 4G LTE in order to keep the phone slim, as a foldable phone supporting 5G becomes inevitably thicker due to components.

Based on the reports, Samsung’s new phone will come with a 3300-milliamp-hour battery and is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 instead of the latest Snapdragon 865. The Snapdragon 855 chipset is found in the Galaxy S10 and Note10 models.

The reports say that the phone is likely to use ultra-thin glass instead of polymer plastic, which it used in the earlier model. The new display is more scratch resistant.

The Galaxy Z Flip will be produced at the factory in Vietnam, according to the JoongAng Ilbo.

The phone is projected to cost around $1,000 and be cheaper with subsidies from the carriers. The phone will be much cheaper than the 2,398,000-won ($2,100) 5G-supporting Galaxy Fold released last year.

The foldable market is becoming much more competitive. Microsoft’s foldable Surface Duo and Motorola’s foldable Razr are scheduled to be released later this year.

Huawei said it sold 100,000 units of Mate X foldable smartphone in a month since the release in November.

BY JIN MIN-JI, KIM YOUNG-MIN [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]