The short answer to that question is “yes”.
Samsung debuted its new flagship Galaxy S20 series smartphones on Tuesday February 11th. Alongside those offerings was its second foldable display smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. The Z Flip, unfolded, looks like a standard smartphone, with a 6.7” display, but folds in half, to about the size of a deck of cards. It has a smaller secondary display on front, for notifications. Launching on Valentine’s Day, Friday February 14, the Z Flip will have a retail price of $1,380.
At $1,380 the Z Flip costs less than Motorola’s RAZR ($1,499.99 retail). The RAZR’s shortcomings are becoming apparent, and include complaints about creaking hinges and a display that becomes lumpy with use. Motorola has done itself no favors by responding that these issues are “normal”.
Meanwhile, Samsung has introduced its own folder, with a similar form-factor as the RAZR, but with a much more durable display, coated with the world’s first foldable glass, which should prove much more scratch resistant than the RAZR’s display (or that of the Samsung Fold). The Galaxy Z Flip is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855+ chipset (though it doesn’t have 5G) while the RAZR uses the Snapdragon 710 processor (and also doesn’t have 5G). The Z Flip also has better cameras, a larger battery and more RAM and storage.
The “foldables” category of smartphones is set to grow rapidly, topping 100 million by 2025. While 2019 saw the first shots fired in what will become a highly competitive segment, first blood was drawn today. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip soundly beats the Motorola RAZR in terms of display, features, price and durability. The Z Flip will stop the RAZR dead in its tracks.