QUICK SUMMARY
A Samsung phone with the codename "Q6A" has been spotted online. Could it be a cheaper Samsung Galaxy Z Fold device?
There's certainly a gap in the lineup for a more affordable option.
Samsung is the market leader by a clear margin where folding phones are concerned, but unless you're happy to get an older model it's got a gap in the lineup for a more affordable option.
The Z Flip clamshell phones have been less expensive than the Z Fold bi-fold ones in recent years, but neither constitutes a particularly approachable price point in truth.
Now a new report suggests the firm could add a third folding phone option to its array when the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 arrives later this year.
As spotted by 91mobiles, import codes for Samsung's forthcoming phones suggest that there will be a third variant alongside the Z Fold and Z Flip, and since the Z Fold is coded "Q6" and the new variant is "Q6A" it makes sense that they could be related.
While these codes can't exactly be treated as factual, this is nonetheless suggestive of a relationship with something like Google's Pixel "a" lineup which comes in as a more affordable way to get the latest Pixel software.
The idea of a more affordable bi-fold phone from Samsung also doesn't come out of the blue – it's something that has been discussed and rumoured pretty heavily in the last couple of years, in fact.
Exactly how Samsung would cut the costs to make the phone more affordable is an interesting question, though.
Part of the issue for the Z Fold series is that they're expensive to make thanks to a complex hinge mechanism, despite nearly annual streamlining of its internal design, and have an obvious surfeit of components compared to a regular phone.
This can be as simple as the fact that they have two displays (one internal and one external) to a regular phone's single one.
It's anyone's guess, therefore, what an affordable option would look like, but we'd speculate that it could just mean missing out on newer design touches and innovations - so that Samsung could effectively make Z Fold phones based on its existing models as a less expensive choice for customers.
Time will tell, though, whether we actually get any firm details on this from Samsung, with no major mobile announcements expected on this front until its Unwrapped presentation, which typically rolls around in July or August.
