Aside from the initial durability questions about the original Galaxy Fold, Samsung is now producing excellent foldable phones The biggest problem with foldable phones, however, is that they are still too expensive, which is preventing their widespread adoption into the mainstream

Thankfully, the technology for folding cell phone screens into compact designs is becoming more reliable all the time and less expensive to manufacture According to a new article on the Samsung-focused blog SamMobile, Samsung may soon announce an affordable spin version of its foldable phone

SamMobile reports hearing that Samsung has "a new device in the pipeline, and it may be a foldable smartphone," based on the model number associated with the mystery phone the model number, SM-F415, is based on the Galaxy Fold and matches the number assigned to the Galaxy Z series

The report does not have much else to share about the SM-F415 other than the fact that it will come with 64GB or 128GB of internal storage and will be offered in black, green, and blue [Since most high-end phones these days (and even mid-range devices made) come standard with at least 128GB of storage, offering 64GB at the base level would fuel the theory that this could be a cheaper alternative to Samsung's expensive foldables

Indeed, if Samsung wants to offer an affordable foldable phone, there is plenty of expensive hardware inside the Galaxy Z Flip that the company could cut to pursue a lower price All Galaxy Z models released so far have been powered by the Snapdragon 8 series chipset, the fastest and most powerful chipset Qualcomm makes However, there are also the less expensive 6 and 7 series, which are not to be outdone Some of them even support 5G connectivity

Samsung could also reuse camera technology from the mid-range Galaxy A series, rather than porting the very complex and sophisticated imaging technology currently offered in the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy S20 lines

With minimal RAM and storage, perhaps using plastic-like materials instead of metal or glass, and incorporating a low-resolution screen, Samsung could make such a device with a foldable screen, think from the Galaxy Z Flip's $1,380 it is imagined that Samsung could sell such a device with a foldable screen in the $1,000 range or thereabouts This would be cheap enough to attract mainstream interest, but at the same time, it could also sweep the Motorola Razr 2 off its feet

The original Razr was priced at $1,500, but it offered underwhelming hardware and questionable build quality, at odds with its very high price However, if Samsung were to make a phone with similar specs, coupled with industry-leading foldable technology, it would achieve the ideal balance of price, performance, and design for the masses

At the very least, we hope so; devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 2 are certainly exciting, but unless they come at a price people are willing to pay, they will not accelerate the rise of foldables Let's hope Samsung intends to pull it off with this unnamed device