The saga of Pablo Escobar-branded folding phones continues. When the Pablo Escobar Fold 1 and Fold 2 launched, every phone nerd could tell that these phones were blatant, suspiciously priced rebrands of other foldable smartphones. Namely, the Royole FlexPai and the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Well, now YouTubers have gotten their hands on the Fold 2 to find…it’s a Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker on it.
Are we surprised? Not in the slightest. In YouTuber Marques Brownlee’s video, you can clearly see him peel back the gold sticker at the hinge to reveal Samsung’s logo at around the 6:54 mark. Meanwhile, an earlier video by fellow YouTuber Mrwhosetheboss confirms that this isn’t an isolated incident.
Both reviewers took the risk of ordering from the dubious holding company, saying that they spent their own cash to obtain the units that turned out to simply be Galaxy Fold phones with stickers plastered onto them. Some more tidbits: the phones definitely come preloaded with that creepy mugshot wallpaper of Pablo Escobar, while the box itself is as bare-bones as you can get. Gizmodo reached out for our own review unit, but alas, we were not deemed worthy.
How the hell did Escobar Inc get its mitts on all these expensive folding phones—and what is it thinking selling them for a fraction of the price? (The Fold 1 was priced at $US350 ($539) compared to the $US1,318 ($2,031) Royole FlexPai; the Fold 2 was $US400 ($616) to the Galaxy Fold’s $US1,980 ($3,052).)
According to Mrwhosetheboss, Escobar Inc CEO Olof Gustafsson said the company bought three types of Galaxy Fold phones: phones found insufficient by Samsung’s quality control standards, returned units, and overstocked phones from retailers and wholesalers who overestimated how many Galaxy Folds customers would buy. This tracks with the press release for the Fold 2’s launch, in which Escobar’s brother says his goal is to become the “overstock kingpin of electronical devices.”
Both YouTubers came to a similar conclusion that it’s possible they received these rebranded units due to their sizeable followings—and it’s unclear whether regular customers who see this as a chance to nab a foldable phone on the cheap will ever get one of these stickered bad boys.