Samsung has taken the wraps off of its latest phone — and it’s a flip phone called the Samsung Leader 8. What makes this phone a little different from others, however, is that under the hood it’s almost as capable as any other flagship phone you’d see on the market.
For starters, the phone features the Snapdragon 821 processor — which is the chip you might have seen in 2016 flagships like the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy S7. On top of that, you’ll find a nice 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The phone also features a 2,300mAh battery — which may not sound like much, but will probably get the phone through the day thanks to the much smaller display, which sits in at 4.2 inches.
When it comes to the camera on the back, the phone sits in at 12MP with an f/1.7 aperture. Right under the camera, you’ll see a fingerprint sensor — which seems like a pretty awkward positioning for a flip phone. The phone doesn’t stop at great specs either — it supports Samsung service you’d find on other phones, too, like Samsung Pay and wireless charging.
It’s certainly an interesting concept, though if you live in North American you probably won’t be able to get your hands on it. Samsung hasn’t announced anything related to pricing or availability just yet apart from the fact that it will be available in China — but if it is launched in other countries it will likely only be in other parts of Asia.
This isn’t the first time in recent years that companies have revisited the idea of a flip phone. Just last year Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy Folder 2, which had midrange specs rather than the flagship specs you’ll find on the new device. Not only that, but in June LG launched the LG Exalt LTE — which also happened to be the first LTE-only device available from Verizon.
So are we seeing a resurgence in the humble flip phone? Probably not — but it’s still fun to see the form factor live on despite the fact that most of the world has moved on.
