Samsung's folding Galaxy Z Flip looks shiny and expensive in first leaked video

Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip folding phone has seen fewer leaks than its Galaxy S20 series counterpart, but we still know a fair amount about the vertically-oriented folding device.

For starters, it's set to fold from top to bottom, as opposed to Samsung's Galaxy Fold, which folds horizontally. It's also considerably more compact than the Fold, turning from a short clamshell into what we know as a regular-sized (but still-tall 22:9 aspect ratio) smartphone.

Now leaker Ben Geskin has published a video he obtained by someone who appears to be testing the Galaxy Z Flip in a controlled environment. It's clearly an engineering sample, with the phone, once opened and unlocked, showing a Samsung security consent form. There are also unique watermarks on the side of the phone to identify the holder. Either this person put their job at risk, or the video was stolen and distributed without their knowledge (either way, the phone's original owner is likely without a job).

According to Ishan Agarwal, this particular model's color is Mirror Purple, borne out by the reflective coating that shows reflections (and likely fingerprints after a short amount of time).

In this video, you can also see the small 1-inch ticker OLED, which shows the time and date and, presumably, incoming notifications and even, according to previous leaks, functions as a viewfinder for the selfie camera.

Once opened you can see the phone's tall inner display, which is expected to be covered by the first iteration of a folding glass that should make it more difficult to damage with everyday use.

What are the specs?

Because of the phone's long development lead time, we're expecting specs in-line with most 2019 phones, not ones upcoming in 2020. This includes a Snapdragon 855+ SoC and 8GB of RAM as opposed to the upcoming Galaxy S20 series' Snapdragon 865 and 12GB of RAM.

When will the Galaxy Z Flip be released?

While we're not sure when the Galaxy Z Flip will be released to the public, it's possible that it will come out alongside the Galaxy S20 series on March 6.

How much will the Galaxy Z Flip cost?

Nothing definitive has been revealed at this point about the Galaxy Z Flip's price, but it's rumored to be in the neighborhood of $1,500 USD when it's released, coming in a bit lower than the original Galaxy Fold's $1980 price tag.