Samsung's $2,000 W2018 flip-phone clears FCC; to feature NFC and dual displays

It’s no news that Samsung is at the head of a lot of innovation. Many reports point out that Samsung will launch the first smartphone with a folding display, rumoured to be called the **Galaxy X**, in early 2018. Another Samsung product gaining a lot of traction is the flip-phone W2018 which, according to reports, is getting closer to its official unveiling. [caption id=“attachment_4220405” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Samsung W2018. Weibo[/caption] The FCC has cleared the device, according to Android Crunch, and the and leaked information suggests that the serial number is R38J906NX2E. Among other things seen in the “leaked system’s image” is that the phone has NFC capabilities, an always-on display, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. An earlier reported **hands-on video** of the W2018 indicated that the device had a touch-screen dual-sided display, with both screens 4.2-inch in size. Trust Samsung to reintroduce an out-dated flip-phone design and make it several times trendier to suit the current market. Looking at the design and specs, however, it’s quite clear that the phone is similar to last year’s SM-W2017, which launched with the Snapdragon 820 platform. [caption id=“attachment_4236465” align=“alignnone” width=“800”] Samsung W2018. FCC[/caption] The camera department is a little less fancy. In this generation of dual-camera smartphones, the W2018 has a single 12 MP rear camera with LED flash and a 5 MP front camera. The report also mentions the possibility of the device having a 2,300 mAh battery and also wireless charging support. However, to fans of Samsung living outside of China, some bad news for you guys. It may be that Samsung won’t sell the phone outside China. Hard luck. Or maybe not. The phone is reported to cost around $2,000 (Rs 1,30,000), and when you think about it, that’s twice the price of the iPhone X. It’s up to you whether you think this is twice the phone. [caption id=“attachment_4220407” align=“alignnone” width=“800”] Samsung W2018. Weibo[/caption] This, however, isn’t Samsung’s first, let’s say… flip-smartphone. Late last year, Samsung had launched the **W2017** dual-sided flip-phone in China. The phone had some nice specs with a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. It even had support for Samsung Pay and wireless fast charging capacities. However, it was reportedly costing around 20,000 CNY or approximately Rs 2,00,000. Ouch.