This Is Currently The Most Affordable Foldable Phone You Cannot Buy!

It’s Japan only. If you want to get it yourself, you either go to Japan or find a grey market seller.

Foldable phones whether in a tablet form factor in a classic clamshell, are still considered luxurious and a flagship by design. However, things are changing as technology matures and Tecno proved that with their clamshell Phantom V Flip which only costs PHP 29,999 (and PHP 23,999 for the lucky first-time buyers). With their affordable pricing, companies can follow and release clamshell foldable phones at an even more affordable price. The first one to follow that route is ZTE, out of all companies surprisingly.

There is one small catch though. The phone is only available for Japan. There, it sells for JPY 63,000 (~PHP 23.4K direct converted). The selling price is similar to the discounted price of the Tecno Phantom V Flip!

And speaking of the Phantom, the design of this phone is a whole lot similar to it thanks to the rounded camera island that also houses the miniature 1.43″ cover screen. However, looks aside, it still has more differences to it than Tecno’s offering. First, its camera setup is not as impressive. You do get what you pay for. There is technically only one camera here, and that is the 50MP sensor. The other is a 2MP depth sensor you’d find even on ultrabudget phones. The front is also the usual 16MP cameras you’d find on a budget midrange phone like the Redmi Note 13. On the other hand, the Tecno Phantom V Flip’s cameras are much more functional and useful, consisting of a 64MP primary, a 13MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie camera.

Inside is a midrange Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset comparable to the first Motorola Razr. However, unlike the Razr, the Libero is more affordable. Its got the most basic RAM/ROM configuration, 6GB + 128GB.

The front consists of a 6.9″ FullHD+ (2400x1080px) OLED screen with large bezels. It doesn’t mention any sort of refresh rate however. Going back inside, you’ll find a 4,310mAh battery with QC4.0 standards and 33W fast charging. Although cheaper than the competition, the phone can still lay flat on a surface and it still manages to hide the folding crease. The device comes in White, Gold, and Blue, and Japanese telco Y! Mobile is already offering pre-orders while open sales are available starting February 29.

Source: GSMArena, ZTE (in Japanese)