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Samsung previews foldable Galaxy Z Flip phone in Oscars ad

Two days before its official unveiling, the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip bore it all in a commercial during the 92nd Academy Awards. Samsung previewed its second foldable phone in a 30-second advert ahead of its Galaxy Unpacked event that’s set to take place on Tuesday, February 11.

Samsung just showed off its new Fold during an Oscars commercial. That’s one way to announce something. pic.twitter.com/rtSJ3jvkif

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) February 10, 2020

The advertisement corroborates earlier leaks featuring a flip phone with a single, tall bendable screen you can fold in half and offers the best look so far at a handful of the Galaxy Z Flip’s headlining use cases. More importantly, it confirms that the South Korea-based manufacturer hasn’t yet figured out that crease in the middle as the ad in the small print says: “You may notice a small crease in the center of the main screen, which is a natural characteristic of the screen.”

In addition, the commercial shows the Galaxy Z Flip will have a tiny color screen on the front that will allow users to check on notifications without flipping open the screen entirely. Samsung also claims the transition from you picking up, for instance, a video call from the front to the larger display will be nearly seamless. Plus, the Galaxy Z Flip’s foldable screen will be seemingly strong enough to stay put when bent even only halfway through letting users place it at a 90-degree angle on a table and watch a movie or video chat.

Surprisingly, Samsung didn’t go all the way to handing the phone to a few celebrities — a product placement move the company has adopted several times in the past.

The promotion also doesn’t shed light on any specifications. However, other unofficial reports suggest the Galaxy Z Flip will be likely powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chipset, a 3300mAh battery, 8GB of RAM, and a non-expandable 256GB of onboard storage. The phone will be dominated by a 6.7-inch, 2636 x 1080 folding display that’s made out of an “Ultra Thin Glass” instead of plastic.

As for the cameras, the Galaxy Z Flip will have a total of three shooters. Housed inside a hole in the 6.7-inch screen will be a 10-megapixel selfie camera. On the back, the Galaxy Z Flip will have a standard 12-megapixel f/1.8 sensor coupled with a secondary ultra-wide sensor.

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Shubham Agarwal
Shubham Agarwal is a freelance technology journalist from Ahmedabad, India. His work has previously appeared in Firstpost…
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