Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold2 smartphone could cost £1,799

The South Korean company's UK website briefly displayed the price of the new model, before removing it

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold2 smartphone will be unveiled globally on Tuesday at an online event. Courtesy Samsung

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold2 foldable phone, which will be launched globally on Tuesday, could cost as much as £1,799 ($2,400 / Dh8,815).

The price of the new phone was briefly displayed on the company’s UK website, before it was removed.

The leak, which was first reported by the Android Authority website, said the phone will be cheaper in the US, where it is expected to cost about £1,423.

The listing also showed that the Fold2 has just one storage variant, 256 gigabytes, and comes in two colours – bronze and black.

When folded, it has a 15.7-centimetre display that extends to 19.3cm when unfolded.

Samsung released a teaser video of the Z Fold2 on August 5 when it unveiled phones in its Note20 series. The company has yet to reveal a launch date for the new foldable phone in the UAE.

"We will announce it soon, sometime in September ... we believe in [the] foldable category and are very committed to it," Osman Albora, senior director of Samsung Gulf Electronics' mobile division told The National last week.

The UAE is an important market for handset manufacturers due to its high level of smartphone use. A November 2018 YouGov survey found that nine in 10 respondents in the UAE own a smartphone, with 70 per cent of those without a device planning to buy one.

“Our premium foldable devices are very well-accepted in this region … they have won a good following. We expect the same response for the new device,” said Mr Albora.

The South Korean consumer electronics company spent about eight years developing the first foldable smartphone, Galaxy Fold, which was launched in the UAE in October last year.

Samsung was forced to postpone a global release in April 2019 after reviewers reported screen problems within days of use.

Samsung said it sold between 400,000 and 500,000 units of the Galaxy Fold last year. It had a launch price of more than Dh7,200 and an 18.5cm screen that folded into a more compact device.

After this, Samsung launched the cheaper Galaxy Z Flip in February this year. The phone cost Dh5,499 and was sold out in the UAE on the first day.

The Galaxy Z Flip is a compact, palm-sized device when folded, but its screen size nearly doubles to 17cm when opened.

Following Samsung's launches, rival companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have also released their own foldable phone models.