14 DAY TRIAL // As if the Galaxy Z Flip4 wasn’t already special enough, the South Korean company has decided to launch a new edition of the device that is created in collaboration with French luxury brand Maison Margiela.
If you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you probably don’t know that collaborations between phone makers and luxury brands across the world are quite common these days.
Samsung itself has also tried to launch as many special-edition versions of its devices as possible, so the debut of the Flip4 Maison Margiela isn’t necessarily surprising.
“Samsung has always been committed to openness, breaking barriers and engineering the impossible, which has led to the creation of its very first foldable smartphone. This ethos marries perfectly with Maison Margiela’s design philosophy, rooted in defiance, subversion and rejection of convention,” the South Korean company said in an announcement today.
Leaving aside the PR talk, here’s what you need to know about the new Flip4.
First and foremost, the design of this Flip4 has been customized by the French luxury brand with a solid white color and a matte finish. “The phone also embraces Maison Margiela’s décortiqué technique, which strips back an object’s outer layers to expose its core, featuring fine, translucent lines which signify the internal circuits of the phone,” Samsung says.
While the look of the phone has been refined to look as exquisite as possible, the collaboration between the two companies has also expanded to the software side.
For example, the device comes with special wallpapers and icons, including an X-ray background that’s supposed to provide a see-through look. Such wallpapers have been around for a while, but Samsung says its partnership with Maison Margiela makes the look even more special overall.
The special-edition Galaxy Flip 4 also ships with two phone cases, once again customized by the luxury brand. They are included in the box, so customers won’t have to pay extra.
“The special edition comes with two iconic phone cases. First, a unique leather cover that reflects the house’s iconic bianchetto technique, which reduces an object down to the simple beauty of a white canvas and its four stitches emblem, which signifies anonymity. The case is overpainted to create a unique texture to act like a canvas which could change over time. The second cover is a spin on Maison Margiela’s emblematic numeric coding ring, evoking the house’s DNA,” Samsung says.
The South Korean brand doesn’t provide any information on what’s under the hood of this special-edition Galaxy Z Flip 4, but we should expect the device to be pretty standard. In other words, there’s a good chance the company hasn’t made any hardware upgrades as part of this partnership, so everything most likely comes down to looks.
The company has also remained tight-lipped on the price of this smartphone, though it goes without saying it should be more expensive than the standard version of the device. On the other hand, Samsung did reveal that only a limited number of markets will get the smartphone, including China, France, and Korea.
The first units should start shipping on December 1, but for the time being, no pricing information is available. Samsung also says the device will be produced as a limited-edition series, but at this point, it’s not clear just how many units the company plans to build.
