Escobar Fold 2, the second folding phone from Escobar Inc. — the tech company owned by Pablo Escobar’s brother Roberto De Jesus Escobar Gaviria — made all the headlines when it was announced in January. The ‘Samsung killer’ phone was marketed with photos of scantily dressed models, and a catchy “rest in peace Samsung” tagline. Even the promo video of the phone runs with a ‘ripsamsung.com’ subtitle. The link redirects to the Escobar Fold 2 page. All the anti-Samsung marketing was because the Escobar Fold 2 looked erringly similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, a little too similar. Now, a video from popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee, famously known as MKBHD, has revealed that the Escobar Fold 2 is actually the Samsung Galaxy Fold with a golden Escobar skin over it.
In a video published on his YouTube channel, MKBHD uses a box cutter to remove the golden Escobar skin from the phone to reveal Samsung Galaxy Fold inside.
Previous videos and the specs sheet on the Escobar website had already showed earlier that the Escobar Fold 2 has the exact same specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and it came as a rather unusual surprise since the Escobar Fold 2 was offering for $399 (roughly Rs. 29,460), what the Samsung Galaxy Fold is priced at $1,980 (Rs. 1,64,499 in India).
Now, from previous unboxing videos it was understood that Escobar is saving money on the contents inside the box. Unboxing videos of the Escobar Fold 2 also showed that the phone comes with nothing except the phone itself and a charging cable. No manuals, no headphones, no cover or screen protector, etc. However, Brownlee says the company isn’t saving on box contents, and the reality is that this whole thing seems like a massive scam. Brownlee points out that the company is not shipping out to actual customers and thus not spending much of anything. It instead, is only shipping out to the important customers, like tech journalists and YouTubers to generate the hype around “its” foldable phone.
The video also mentions a ‘free upgrade’ that the company has promised to the customers of the Escobar Fold 1. People on Twitter had complained about not receiving the Escobar Fold 1 after months of placing the order. They all, however, said that they had received emails from the company saying that they will be upgraded to the Escobar Fold 2 for free. It is not known how many people actually received the phone.
Just like the Escobar Fold 2, the Escobar Fold 1 was also very similar to the Royale Flexpai, another foldable phone. Now, we are pretty much convinced that the Escobar Fold 1 is indeed, the Royale Flexpai, covered in golden Escobar skin.
Editor’s Note: This report incorrectly mentioned Samsung Galaxy Fold as Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 at some places. The error is regretted.