This year’s Samsung Unpacked Event has fans around the world excited over their new products. At least once a year, the tech company gathers analysts, reporters, and industry folks for an event aptly named “Samsung Unpacked,” where the mobile carrier “unpacks” or shows off all its latest flagship devices.
Before the event, several rumors and teasers surfaced around Samsung’s devices, mostly about its folding smartphone, the Galaxy Z Flip. The recently conducted 2020 Unpacked event, held in San Francisco, verifies which of those leaks were true for the new smartphone as well as for Samsung’s other devices.
Samsung hosted a one-hour live stream of the event on its website detailing every feature that the Galaxy Z Flip offers, including the Galaxy S20, and Galaxy Buds Plus.
Rebecca Hirst, Samsung’s head of UK Mobile Product Marketing, introduced the company’s second-generation folding smartphone dubbed the Galaxy Z Flip. With a ton of leaks and after an entire commercial that aired during the Academy Awards last Sunday, Samsung’s flip phone-style mobile device is official.
Hirst, who nicknamed the phone as “Zed flip,” said that the flip phone would be a game-changer in the smartphone industry with its premium design and a wide array of features. Its ultra-thin foldable glass protects the phone from scratches and is durable enough to fold and unfold over 200,000 times.
“Every time you fold it, you’re not just bending glass, you’re bending the laws of Physics.”
Rebecca Hirst
When folded, the phone can fit into a palm making it more comfortable for the user. The exterior with a mirror finish contains a small screen that displays notifications for texts, calls, and alarms and battery life indicators. Users can also take a quick selfie without opening the phone.
Meanwhile, when unfolded, the screen can function both as a regular smartphone with its 6.7-inch display or as what Samsung called “Flex mode,” which is a halfway unfolded, laptop-style mode. A free stop hinge allows the phone to stay open at different angles splitting the screen into two parts, a viewing area at the top, and an interaction area at the bottom.
Flex mode allows for hands-free video calls, commenting while watching videos, or even taking a night hyper-lapse video.
Samsung’s first-generation of folding phones experienced issues regarding dust and other fine particles entering the device’s hinge and causing damage to the screen. To solve the problem, Samsung installed a layer of fiber in tiny gaps protecting the hideaway hinge, which essentially is the backbone of the phone.
New #GalaxyZFlip features a first-of-its-kind foldable glass display that unlocks entirely new ways to capture, share and experience content. Check out the video for an up-close look https://t.co/Cq0OabIsTO pic.twitter.com/IqhZ8RkTfP
— Samsung Electronics (@Samsung) February 12, 2020
Hirst also said that as an additional bonus, Samsung is giving Galaxy Z Flip users access YouTube Premium for free. The Galaxy Z Flip starts shipping by February 14 with a price tag of $1,380 (1.6 million won), $120 (141,535 won) less than the Motorola Razr.
