Pass the ... flip phone

2020 already is shaping up as the year of the morphing display.

Galaxy Z Flip.

2020 already is shaping up as the year of the morphing display. Screens on phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Fold, Royole Flexpai and Huawei Mate X are foldable, LG has a roll-up television, and now we are seeing flippable phones by Motorola and Samsung.

Motorola was renowned for its clamshell phones two decades ago. It sold a reported 130 million handsets of one particular model, the Razr V3. The screen and keypad were connected by a hinge.

The 2020 version is one big foldable screen with a hinge on the back. You can still end calls by closing the clamshell. But it costs a motser, $2699.

Samsung is hotly tipped to announce its flippable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip, next week in San Francisco.

Nothing is known about it, at least officially. Unofficially, we know a lot, as it is common practice in tech marketing to selectively leak details of upcoming devices to promote an official release.

New Motorola Razr

Berlin tech site WinFuture has published fine details of the Z Flip, with photos and specifications.

Like the Motorola Razr, the Z Flip has a hinge at the rear that lets the screen fold horizontally. It has a large 6.7-inch screen, much bigger than the Razr’s screen.

While more display real estate is great, the larger size will make the Z Flip a little harder to hold and therefore flip with one hand. Even the new Razr is slightly harder to flip than the old clamshells.

According to WinFuture’s specs, the screen is higher resolution than the Razr, 2636 x 1080 pixels, and supports high dynamic range 10+ (HDR10+).

There’s two 12 megapixel cameras on the back, and a 10MP front-facing snapper. It runs Google’s Android 10 operating systems.

The Z Flip is understood to be “influencer ready” with “hipster features”, whatever that means.

Local pricing is not set, but in Europe it is expected to sell for about €1500 ($2458).