Samsung’s summer Galaxy Unpacked event will see the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Z Fold 7 launch. Yet, many will look beyond the flagship foldables at the potential for a Galaxy Z smartphone targeting the wider consumer market. Why is a Flip Fan Edition FE essential for Samsung’s strategy, and when will this Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE arrive?
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 Fan Edition Potential
The foldables market remains one where the cost is a high barrier to entry. While most of the focus on foldables is in the “large phone to small tablet” form factor, you also have the “regular phone folding in half.” It’s the latter that Samsung has been working hard to bring the price down.
The South Korean company offered stripped-back versions of many flagship models and key peripherals as Fan Editions. These FE variants typically offer much of the same functionality while making concessions to reduce the price. For example, the processor may not be an overclocked Samsung edition, instead relying on an off-the-shelf chipset; where the premium model has glass, the FE model may use polycarbonate; the high-end camera components on a flagship model may move back to last year’s specs for that year’s FE model.
It’s a simple value proposition: you’re getting most features at a lower price.
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE’s Place In The Foldables Market
This makes the idea of a folding Fan Edition an interesting proposition. Samsung holds the lion’s share of the foldable market with the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip, but the competition is catching up. Oppo continues to release foldables, offering more handsets as global models. Honor has seen three generations of the Magic V, and you can’t ignore Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold acting as a signpost from Mountain View.
This summer’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 launch should be regarded as the marquee launch for consumer foldables. Yet there’s one foldable that many expect Samsung to launch that will significantly impact market share… a Fan Edition foldable.
Samsung has long been expected to launch a Galaxy Z Flip 7 Fan Edition this year. It would follow the ethos of the FE range by using much of the technology from the now current Galaxy Z Flip 6. However, I would expect extra concessions to be made that would bring the price down (such as less glass, lower camera specs and smaller storage capacity). With a lower price point and the allure of foldable technology, the presumptively named Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE would open up a new market for Samsung.
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE’s Release Date
The question now is when to launch the handset. While the summer Galaxy Unpacked may seem the obvious date, Samsung has left the launch of a Fan Edition until later in the product cycle. After all, you want to sell the more expensive and more advanced foldable to an eager audience before pushing further down the portfolio and into a wider consumer market that is more price-conscious.
So don’t expect to see the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE this summer. Last year saw the Galaxy S24 FE released in October. I could comfortably see a Flip FE added to the S25 FE this year, jut in time for the festive rush.