Cher Horowitz had one, Serena van der Woodsen had one, Lizzie McGuire had one, and now, in 2023, Sydney Sweeney has one. I am speaking about flip telephones, which by way of the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s had been the must-have tech standing image for teen women in every single place.
This story is a part of Samsung Occasion, CNET’s assortment of stories, suggestions and recommendation round Samsung’s hottest merchandise.
I ought to know, I used to be one among them. Once I rocked as much as college, it was with my trusty Motorola Razr — an icon of its time that was famously endorsed by one other icon of that point: Paris Hilton.
Simply as Motorola tapped Hilton in 2001, Samsung is now leaning closely on Sweeney, star of the beloved-by-Gen Z HBO present Euphoria and a part of the forged of The White Lotus’ first season, to attempt to persuade the kids of in the present day that they want a flip telephone of their lives. Particularly, it needs to promote them the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, which it unveiled in Seoul, South Korea, together with the heftier Galaxy Z Fold 5 telephone, Galaxy Tab S9 and Galaxy Watch 6 throughout final week’s Unpacked occasion.
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New and notable options of the Z Flip 5 embody a bigger cowl display on the entrance of the telephone and a brand new hinge that permits it to take a seat totally flat when open and shut utterly with no hole. It goes on sale Aug. 11, and you’ll preorder the telephone beginning at $1,000 (£1,049, AU$1,649). CNET’s Lisa Eadicicco has been utilizing one and says it is a “step in the best path” for Samsung.
Sweeney appeared on the occasion, each in a video and in particular person with a slicked-back ponytail and brief grey costume, participating in a reside demo the place she snapped a selfie with Ok-Pop idol Wonyoung. It is the cross-cultural model collaboration of desires, and a savvy transfer by Samsung if it needs to enchantment to teen women globally. And it seems that it does.
In its advert for the Z Flip 5, Sweeney says the telephone is a “game-changer” for when she’s filming movies on her personal and talks about how her favourite half is the choice to personalize it to suit her personal type. With retro pastel graphics, the advert is designed to be catnip to younger girls. However Samsung nonetheless has a struggle on its palms if it needs to persuade this viewers that the Z Flip 5 needs to be their subsequent improve.
The destiny of flip telephones
Sadly for the flip telephone, it is a design that fell out of favor with teen women (and everybody else) with the rise of the smartphone. For the previous 15 years, the ever-present slimline slab is the one type of telephone that is been price having — maybe till now. Over the previous few years, makers of Android telephones have been creating their very own foldable telephones, together with new generations of the Razr and the newly launched Google Pixel Fold, packing versatile shows that may be flipped out to extend the display measurement. Nonetheless, foldable telephones accounted for only one.2% of telephone shipments final yr, in line with IDC, with Samsung dominating that class.
Nearly all of these telephones are related in measurement to a normal smartphone, and double in display measurement when unfolded. However the Z Flip is half the scale of a normal telephone, and expands to the scale of most smartphones in fold-out mode, making it excellent for individuals who like the thought of carrying a smaller machine — a teenage lady, maybe?
The “classic” clamshell design of the flip telephone has the potential to pique the curiosity of Gen Z customers, most of whom are largely loyal iPhone customers, in line with a Monetary Instances report from February. There’s additionally some anecdotal proof to counsel that some teenagers are already ditching their smartphones in favor of “dumb” old-school flip telephones, in line with CNN and different media stories. The Z Flip 5 gives the very best of each worlds — the nostalgic feel and look of yesterday’s tech, with the cutting-edge options of in the present day’s.
Collectively, Sweeney and Wonyoung have enchantment throughout many various Samsung markets.
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It is notable, mentioned CCS Perception chief analyst Ben Wooden, that Samsung’s advertising and promoting campaigns for the telephone closely characteristic girls and feminine influencers. (Its different merchandise are all largely promoted by members of male Ok-Pop band BTS.) Android telephone customers have traditionally skewed barely male, in line with CCS analysis, with producers struggling to draw as many feminine customers. However the Z Flip 5 may present some actual competitors to the iPhone on this regard, and the inclusion of Sweeney ought to “assist drive curiosity within the product,” mentioned Wooden.
“Having an attractively designed machine that gives a extra compact various to an iPhone could also be extra interesting to feminine clients, and anecdotal suggestions thus far appears to counsel the Flip type issue does resonate properly with girls,” he mentioned.
Watch this: Galaxy Z Flip 5: First Impressions From Seoul, Korea
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Flippin’ dear
One potential roadblock for the Z Flip 5 on its method to profitable the hearts and minds of teenagers in every single place is value. Foldable telephones have struggled on the entire to realize mainstream traction at the very least partly on account of their $1,000-plus value tags. The Z Flip 5 is available in at just below this, at $999, making it extra reasonably priced than most. (For distinction, Samsung’s different foldable telephone, the Z Fold 5, begins at $1,800.)
It may very well be in Samsung’s favor that the enhancements it is made to this yr’s Z Flip provide higher worth for cash, mentioned Anisha Bhatia, senior analyst at GlobalData.
“Samsung is following its Galaxy S23 technique by giving customers ‘extra’ for a similar value on this time of inflationary stress,” she mentioned. “The Flip 5 prices the identical as its predecessor at $999 however doubles the bottom storage to 256 GB.”
Make no mistake: That is nonetheless a hefty quantity to half with whether or not you are a teen or a mum or dad of 1. However no high-end telephone today comes low-cost, and the Z Flip 5 gives lots for the cash, whereas standing out in a crowded market with its distinctive design.
If any telephone can tempt Euphoria and Ok-Pop followers to embrace Android and foldable display know-how, it would not be stunning if the Z Flip 5 is the one to do it.