Yes, you read that right. Famed drug lord Pablo Escobar is long dead. But his biological brother, Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria, is using the family name as a brand to announce a new foldable phone. The phone, dubbed as “Escobar Fold 2”, is a follow up to the “Escobar Fold 1”. The funny thing here is, Escobar Fold 1 is yet to be released.
The Escobar Fold 2 was revealed in a cringe-worthy video showcasing scantly dressed models destroying a Samsung Galaxy Fold. The video is titled “www.RIPSAMSUNG.com – Rest In Peace Samsung – Say Hello to Escobar Fold 2”. No, really. This coming from Pablo Escobar’s brother, question is, just how concerned should Samsung be? (Lol)
Check the video out for yourself:
Strange Announcement
Two things come to mind. Firstly, why is a followup phone being announced before the release of the first phone, Escobar Fold 1. The second thing is the price. The Escobar Fold 2 2 has a starting price of just a meager $399. And that comes with free worldwide shipping. In contrast, both of the two most popular foldable phones in the market right now, The Royole FlexPai and the Samsung Galaxy Fold have a four digit price tag. The Royole FlexPai has a starting price of over $1300 and the Galaxy Fold, which the Escobar Fold 2 claims to be competing with, sells for almost $2000.
It wouldn’t take a genius to smell the potential scam in this announcement. But said manufactures, Escobar Inc., have gone all the way with announcing the specs and everything. Let’s humor them.
Specs & Price?
Here are the basic specs announced on the website:
- Operating System: Android 10.0
- CPU: Octa-Core 2.84GHz Clock Speed
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Series, 855, 64-bit ARM LTE Processor
- GPU: Qualcomm Adreno 640
- Cameras:
- Selfie: 1) 10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3″, 1.22µm and (2) 8 MP, f/1.9, 24mm (wide), 1.22µm, depth sensor HDR
- Main: (1) 12 MP, f/1.5-2.4, 27mm (wide), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS, (2) 12 MP, f/2.4, 52mm (telephoto), 1/3.6″, 1.0µm, AF, OIS, 2x optical zoom and (3) 16 MP, f/2.2, 12mm (ultrawide), 1/3.1″
- Displays:
- Main (Foldable): Foldable Dynamic AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 7.3 inches, 162.6 cm2 (~85.7% screen-to-body ratio), 1536 x 2152 pixels (~362 ppi density), HDR10+
- Second: 6″, Super AMOLED, 720 x 1680 pixels (21:9)
- Battery: Non-Removable 4,380 mAh Lithium-Polymer, 5V/5A
Price
The Escobar Fold 2 will reportedly come in two different versions. First is the 8 GB memory & 128 GB storage version, for a price of $399. The second is a 12 GB memory & 512 GB storage version for $549.
Here’s an “unboxing” video for the phone:
Dear God! It doesn’t stop here. There’s a whole bunch of these videos.
Is It Scam?
Short answer is: Yes, it appears like it is so.
The main man of Escobar Inc. released a grammatical error ridden statement, explaining his venture:
“My goal is to become the overstock kingpin of electronical devices this year. All these factories simply have too much technology laying around, nobody is buying anything in China from secondary factories. We cut the prices and give clients direct discounts under the Escobar brand umbrella.”
CEO of the company, Olof Gustafsson, claims that the phone will have an initially limited production run of 200,000 phones.
Foldable phones have so far been a stinker in the market. But that has mostly got to do with their huge price tags. Should Escobar Inc. magically deliver the promised phone, perhaps people would be more interested.
