Cheap and folding mobile phones, an impossible combination?

Folding mobiles currently represent the innovative vanguard in the smartphone market. If you want to be up to date, you must buy one of these mobiles. But prepare your wallet to spend a lot of money on them. That is why there are not a few who want to wait for the prices of these to drop, or better yet, let’s start to see cheap folding mobile phones in other ranges.

Today a folding mobile is synonymous with a lot of money, an investment that in the best of cases exceeds a thousand euros, and that in many others is close to two thousand. Therefore, it does not seem that we are going to have a joy in this aspect in the short term.

Cheap and folding mobile phones

Little by little cheaper … but not everything we want

It is clear that like everything in technology, what today seems unattainable to many will eventually be more or less affordable for everyone. But this has a price, pun intended, and that is patience. That a technology such as that of mobile phones with a folding screen is democratized and affordable for everyone is something that is a matter of time, but from which we can now even hope that it will be on the market. And we are not talking about them being cheaper, because that is already happening, there is no more to see the Samsung Fold or Flip, which have seen their price cut in this last generation in an important way, but that this technology reaches mobile phones of other ranges, that would be the true revolution and the key for these to stop being a luxury product.

batería plegables samsung

There are two reasons that will surely slow down the arrival of cheaper folding mobiles, to the mid-range for example, in the near future. On the one hand, the obvious is the cost of the technology , which is still very high, since its components are not only more expensive in origin, especially the screen, than in a traditional mobile. But these mobiles are also now the spearhead of innovation from different manufacturers . And that is always synonymous with expensive. Right now all the folding mobiles out there are flagships. The closest thing to a folding mid-range that we have known has been the Motorola Razr, due to its specifications, but its price has been equally high. So first these mobiles will have to dominate the high-end, to be able to jump to the average with more adjusted prices.

motorola razr 5g

So how long will we have to wait?

Well, we do not have a crystal ball with which to know the evolution of the market, in addition, each technology is different. We have seen very expensive 5G mobiles, at least 600 or 800 euros a year, and the next for less than half, but it does not seem that the folding mobile is going to evolve so much in such a short time. If we take into account that Apple plans to launch its folding mobile in 2023, it is difficult to think that before that we will see cheaper folding mobile phones, for example 500 or 600 euros, we are not talking about lower prices.

galaxy-z-fold3-5g

So for most of us, folding phones will be unattainable for a long time , unless we find a good discount along the way. It is not likely that before three or four years we will have mid-range folding phones at the price of a Redmi Note 10 Pro for example. So be patient, I hope we are wrong.