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Why Samsung Is Stuck Selling a $2,000 Folding Phone in a Pandemic
This definitely isn’t the right time for a pricey luxury device
Last week, Samsung announced the imminent release date for the Galaxy Z Fold 2, a $2,000 foldable phone. If that’s not rich enough for your tastes, the company also announced a designer Thom Browne edition of the device that comes with a Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Buds for an eye-watering $3,300.
It’s almost as if Samsung didn’t hear that tens of millions of people in the United States alone have lost their jobs in the worst pandemic to hit the planet in generations.
But the seemingly tone-deaf timing of Samsung’s very expensive phone release is not entirely Samsung’s fault. While new smartphones come out every year, the design and manufacturing process takes a lot longer. When Google bought Motorola’s consumer tech branch in 2011, for example, it took two years before the first Google-designed Motorola phones were released. While most manufacturers don’t discuss how long it takes to design and produce a smartphone…
