As a proud owner of bleeding edge technology Z Flip 6, i don't think the public needs a cheaper small foldable. Compared to the Fold, Flip hadn't utilized its outer screen much, so you still need to open it most of the times. And Flip 6 also got that major issue with its main flex cable between boards rupturing apart. So imagine you've spent almost 1k on that phone with flagship specifications but the design is still not ready to be widely adopted. So it might be good as a secondary show off phone, but selling it as a budget model seems like misleading ripoff of poor, when people are gonna pay for a phone that is not really sturdy or reliable outside very specific conditions (hence IP 48 rating and precautions you need to take while dealing with the hinge)
As a proud owner of bleeding edge technology Z Flip 6, i don't think the public needs a cheaper small foldable. Compared to the Fold, Flip hadn't utilized its outer screen much, so you still need to open it most of the times. And Flip 6 also got that major issue with its main flex cable between boards rupturing apart. So imagine you've spent almost 1k on that phone with flagship specifications but the design is still not ready to be widely adopted. So it might be good as a secondary show off phone, but selling it as a budget model seems like misleading ripoff of poor, when people are gonna pay for a phone that is not really sturdy or reliable outside very specific conditions (hence IP 48 rating and precautions you need to take while dealing with the hinge)