Powerful Samsung Flip Phone Spotted

Samsung isn’t done turning back the clock: Surprisingly powerful flip phone spotted

Samsung Galaxy S6 — Ted Kritsonis/Digital Trends

With more people moving on to smartphones, it’s a treat to learn that companies like Samsung still continue to churn out flip phones. Unlike the company’s straightforward Master series of phones, however, the SM-G9198, spotted by FoneArena, looks to be a full-featured flip phone for the masses.

Starting on the outside, the G9198 features two 3.91-inch, 768 x 1,280 resolution displays on the inside and the outside of the phone — relatively large displays for such a form factor. There is a 5-megapixel camera on the front for selfies and video calling, while you’ll find a 16-megapixel camera on the back. Right next to the rear camera is an LED flash module and, interestingly enough, a heart rate sensor that was first seen in the Galaxy S5.

More interesting are the surprisingly powerful internals, with the G9198 powered by a 1.8GHz hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. This is the same processor featured in LG’s 2015 flagship, the G4, though the G9198 pairs the processor with 2GB of RAM versus the G4’s 3GB. Continuing to look under the hood reveals 16GB of internal storage, though it’s expandable through the phone’s MicroSD card slot.

The G9198 even features 4G LTE connectivity and Samsung’s TouchWiz on top of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. No release or pricing information was revealed, though odds are the phone will remain in the East.

Regardless of how many people currently use smartphones, flip phones are experiencing a renaissance of sorts. In Japan, flip phone shipments rose in 2014 for the first time in seven years, while smartphone shipments in 2014 saw a 5.3 percent decrease from 2013 to 27.7 million units. There are several reasons for this surging popularity, some of which include flip phones’ ability to hold a charge longer than smartphones and being more durable than their smarter brethren. In addition, Japan’s low birth rate, combined with the rapidly increasing aging population, means there are more elderly consumers who don’t need everything a smartphone offers.

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