Announced in February to quickly take over from a first foldable smartphone (a rough takeover of Royole’s FlexPai, unveiled in December), the Escobar Phone 2 sported a design strangely close to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. In a recent video, the American YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) demonstrates the little effort made by Escobar Inc. to camouflage the origin of “its” new smartphone.
Credit: Marques Brownlee / MKBHD
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No one was fooled, but we still expected the Escobar Fold 2 to hide its obvious kinship a little better. Galaxy Fold from Samsung. It missed. If Samsung’s One UI interface, clearly identifiable on the device, was not enough, the American youtubeur Marques Brownlee managed to get hold of a copy of the said foldable smartphone… to reveal its true nature. How? ‘Or’ What ? By taking off a simple sticker at the tip of his knife. The Escobar Fold 2 then unveiled the Samsung logo of the Galaxy Fold, firmly in place on the hinge.
Same thing under the golden coating applied to the back of the mobile. Once removed, it is the Silver Stellar color of the Galaxy Fold that we find. The deception was definitely nothing sophisticated.
The Escobar Fold: a barely concealed scam
Attractive for its price of 399 dollars (against more than 2000 euros for the Galaxy Fold), the Escobar Fold 2 is all a scam. As Marques Brownlee pointed out in his video, Escobar Inc. (the firm behind the smartphone, founded by Pablo Escobar’s brother), seems to send the device only to youtubers, journalists or bloggers from renowned. The vast majority of customers who placed orders were indeed not delivered, their package remaining indefinitely “in preparation”. Another copy of the smartphone, ordered by Marques Brownlee under a pseudonym, was never dispatched.
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In this same video, the videographer also indicates that the two celebrities praising the merits of the product on the YouTube channel of Escobar Inc. were actually paid to do it via Cameo, a platform for ordering personalized videos from song stars, actors or TV presenters.
As mentioned above, the first smartphone had been launched in December by Escobar Inc.:Escobar Phone 1, a barely revamped Royole FlexPai and offered at only 349 dollars. Ordered this winter by Marques Brownlee, it has never been delivered.
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