Samsung's Galaxy Fold 2 could arrive as soon as April 2020

Samsung's first folding smartphone was announced in February 2019 alongside the Galaxy S10 range, but durability problems sent the Galaxy Fold back to drawing board.

However, even before its revised version in September was announced, the grapevine began reporting on a second folding phone from the South Korean electronics giant.

We've already heard reports of the yet-to-be named Galaxy Fold 2 coming with a smaller screen size than the current Fold with a clamshell-like design resembling flip phones. Now, it seems Samsung has decided on another change to the Fold 2's display, according to a fresh report from Korean publication ETNews.

It's possible that Samsung might replace the current transparent plastic polyimide (PI) protective layer on the current Fold's display with scratch-resistant ultra-thin glass (UTG) on the second-generation folding phone.

Cost cutting

However, UTG doesn't come cheap. The same ETNews report suggests that the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 will be cheaper, coming in at about $1,500 (around £1,165 / AU$2,197), which is significantly lower than the current Fold's eye-watering $1,980 / £1,800 price tag. If this is true, then Samsung may decide to stick with the PI layer to cut production costs.

Another possible way to bring down the price of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 would be to offer a model with lesser storage. Currently, the Fold comes in just one 512GB version but, according to SamMobile, Samsung might offer a 256GB option with the Fold 2.

We're definitely hoping Samsung does lower the price of the Fold 2 (or whatever its final moniker might be), making it more accessible to the masses. And while the redesigned Galaxy Fold still has its issues, there's a good chance Samsung would have learnt from the experience and the launch of its next folding phone will go a lot more smoothly.

According to Korean financial publication The Bell, Samsung is expected to announce the Fold 2 (currently codenamed 'Bloom') in April 2020.