As Samsung Electronics held its Galaxy Unpacked event on the 22nd (local time) in London and unveiled three new foldable phones, the budget foldable Galaxy Z Flip8 FE was left out of the lineup. FE is a product with lowered specs and price compared with the flagship model. Last year, the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE launched as the first budget foldable phone, but a follow-up did not appear a year later.
According to Samsung Electronics on the 24th, three new foldable phones were unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked: Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8, and Galaxy Z Flip8.
Samsung Electronics introduced the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE at the Galaxy Unpacked event in July last year, but no budget foldable model was unveiled this year. The Galaxy S series was unveiled at the first-half Unpacked and then the FE model was released separately around Sep., but for foldables, both the base model and the FE were unveiled together at the second-half Unpacked.
This has led to speculation that Samsung Electronics will not release the Galaxy Z Flip8 FE. Because sales of the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE released last year were weak, expectations had been raised even before the Galaxy Unpacked event that the company would not introduce a foldable FE model this year. That said, the possibility of a later standalone release, like the S series FE model, cannot be completely ruled out. A Samsung Electronics official said, "We cannot confirm product launch plans."
The Galaxy Z Flip7 FE was the first budget model among foldable phones. Samsung Electronics said it launched the product "to deliver the foldable experience to more users and popularize foldable phones." It adopted the form factor (size and shape) of the previous-generation Galaxy Z Flip6 and lowered the price by reducing performance. While the base Z Flip7 model came with 12GB of memory and an Exynos 2500 application processor (AP), the Z Flip7 FE had 8GB of memory and an Exynos 2400 AP. The price was 1,485,000 won for the Z Flip7 and 1,199,000 won for the Z Flip7 FE, making the FE model 286,000 won cheaper at launch.
However, demand was not strong, contrary to expectations. According to Hana Securities, as of Aug. 2025, shortly after the launch of the Galaxy Z7 series, global sales for the Z7 series were 770,000 units for the Fold, 330,000 for the Flip, and 130,000 for the Flip FE. Demand concentrated on the Fold, and even within the Flip line, demand focused on the base model. Although the Flip FE is the most affordable among foldables, it is priced around the flagship S25 level, and evaluations said its price-to-performance ratio was lacking.
Currently, Samsung Electronics is selling the Z Flip7 FE (256GB storage) on its official Amazon store for $619.99 (about 910,000 won), a 38% discount from the list price of $999.99 (about 1.47 million won). Even considering the release of the new Z8, the Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 models are being sold without discounts.
Also, the headline feature of the Galaxy Z8 series is Gemini Intelligence, introduced on smartphones for the first time in collaboration with Google, but there could be a mismatch with the identity of an "8GB-memory budget foldable that can't properly run AI." To run On-device AI smoothly, at least 12GB of memory is needed, making it difficult to operate on a budget FE model with 8GB of memory. If 12GB of memory is added to the FE model, differentiation from the base model becomes blurry, and higher RAM prices due to memory supply shortages weigh on pricing. Even with the same cost increases, the rate of price hikes tends to be larger for budget models than for base models.
A flip phone with a folding display is also structurally limited in how much the FE model's price can be lowered compared with the S series. To fold a smartphone's screen, additional components are needed, such as a flexible display, a complex hinge, ultra-thin glass (UTG), and durability-enhancing materials, and high-precision engineering is required for a thin and light design, which limits how much the price can be reduced in terms of cost structure.
In the industry, there is also speculation that the Galaxy Z Flip8 could be Samsung Electronics' last clamshell foldable. IT outlet SamMobile, citing sources, reported, "There is a possibility that the Z Flip8 will be the last model in the Flip series." IT outlet TechRadar reported, "The Flip series was once Samsung Electronics' most popular foldable, but demand is shifting to the Fold," adding, "The Flip's advantage is that you can buy a foldable for a relatively low price, but rising memory prices are making it harder to preserve that advantage."
Choi Jae-boong of Sungkyunkwan University said, "Foldables are high-priced phones, and the age group of consumers who buy foldables tends to be higher, so consumers are inclined to choose premium versions rather than the cheaper FE model," adding, "As memory prices rise, it appears difficult to realize a low-priced budget model."