Key Takeaways
- Samsung has released the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro, a limited edition phone inspired by the SGH-E700 from 2003, with a dark navy blue cover panel and exclusive UI mode.
- The Flip 5 Retro has a transparent Flipsuit case, cover cards with older Samsung logos, a collector card, and Samsung-themed stickers.
- The phone will only be available for online purchase in select countries, including Australia, Korea, France, Germany, and Spain.
Samsung has spent millions of labor hours and literal billions of dollars to make the Galaxy Z Flip 5 happen. It’s a lovely clamshell-styled phone with a foldable display and cover glass and costs $1,000 – for most people, it’s a decently accessible price with financing. But we all stand on the shoulders of giants, and the company is looking to show off its shoulders with a limited edition release of the Flip 5. It’s just a shame that many people who would want one of these special phones won’t be able to buy one.
What is the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro?
The company has announced the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro, a device designed around the SGH-E700 from 2003. The E700 was Samsung’s first traditional flip phone to feature an embedded antenna instead of an external one – it wasn’t too long before when telescoping aerials were a common sight on cellphones, so this design change was, indeed, a touchstone. The device proved to be both compact and popular enough to rack up more than 10 million sales.
What do buyers of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro get?
Samsung
The Flip 5 Retro takes the color cue for its cover panel from the E700’s dark navy blue strip on its exterior. Samsung has also included an exclusive UI mode and Flex Window animation inspired by the E700. In the box, customers will find a transparent Flipsuit case with three cover cards featuring Samsung’s older (and eponymous) triple-star logomarks, as well as a collector card with the unit production number printed on it and a selection of Samsung-themed stickers.
Where will the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro be available?
That’s all well and good, but Samsung will only be selling the Galaxy Z Flip 5 Retro directly to consumers online in Australia, Korea, France, Germany, and Spain. The phone will be available in those regions except for France starting on 1 November; those in France can buy it the day after. Android Central reported that in Korea, the phone will go for 1,599,400 KRW (about $1183).
As of this writing, Samsung hasn’t announced plans for a US release, so buyers there will have to miss out or attempt to import one.
Other notable and recent Samsung special editions
Samsung
Like any multinational enterprise worth its weight in clout, Samsung is well-acquainted with special edition releases. The Galaxy S20+ BTS Edition might be an obvious example for some. We don’t even need to stray from the Galaxy Z series: as mentioned in our piece on the coolest phones you can’t buy in the United States, Samsung is selling the Fold 5-inspired W24 exclusively in China. In fact, the country has had a whole series of W-branded flagship-level Android flip phones to itself for years. The W24 is notable for sporting 16GB of RAM instead of the 12GB that is standard in the Fold 5.
On a slightly different tangent, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Flip 4 Bespoke Editions allowed buyers to color the back and front exterior panels and the frame (including the hinge) however they wanted. We’re not exactly sure you could call these “special” in the traditional sense, as the Bespoke Edition customization was widely available, but it’s certainly a nifty differentiation to point out.
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