There was a time when flip phones were cool until smartphones arrived on to the scene. Samsung though believes the flip phones of yore can still be cool and can, in fact, be provided some smartphone treatment as well.
The result has been the W2017 – a high-end flip phone that Samsung had launched only in China towards end-2016. And now rumor has it that a refreshed version of the same could be launched in Korea soon. An official of the local Korean telecom carrier first broke the news but could not commit to any specific launch schedule.
Identified by only its model name, the W2017 does make for a compelling offer given the twin 4.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED screens that it comes with. The rest of the specs that the device sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset working in tandem with a 4 GB RAM along with 64 gigs of storage. Then there also is microSD card support to allow for more storage.
The device also comes with a front 5-megapixel camera along with a 12-megapixel cam at the rear. The rear camera features f/1.9 aperture and allowed for recording videos in 4K format. Powering the entire device is a 2,300mAh battery.
These apart, the W2017 also boasts of some top-end features such as wireless charging and fingerprint sensor. It also offers an Always On Display and has support for Samsung Pay and Samsung Knox. The device has also won clearance from the New Jersey-based Wireless Power Consortium for wireless charging.
Experts also opine the W2017 variant due to be launched in Korea could be a special edition version of the above handset. There is no information though if Samsung has plans to go global with the flip phone. It has just been weeks that Samsung had launched the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus. A flip phone sporting high-end specs will no doubt be a nice addition to its flagship range.
The South Korean conglomerate meanwhile is also tipped to launch a successor to the Galaxy Folder 1 with the new Galaxy Folder 2. The Galaxy Folder 1 was launched in July 2015.
