Pablo Escobar’s brother launches a $349 folding phone

WTF?! If you like the idea of owning a folding phone but find the $1,500+ price tags too rich, check out the Escobar Fold 1—a $349 foldable device that’ comes from the brother of deceased drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, really.

Roberto Escobar, who already released a flamethrower this year inspired by Elon Musk’s Not a Flamethrower, has now turned his attention to the folding smartphone market.

The Escobar Fold 1 uses an out-folding design that turns the single 7.8-inch AMOLED FHD+ screen into a smartphone. It uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, Android 9, an Octa-core 2.8GHz Snapdragon 855, 6/8GB LPDDR4X, and 16-megapixel & 20-megapixel cameras. It also holds two SIM cards, has free shipping, and is unlocked to work on “all networks in USA & Worldwide.”

While Samsung’s Galaxy Fold was delayed for months due to its technical issues, Escobar says his device is much more durable. “My phone cannot break, because I did not have to make a glass screen like Samsung,” he said. “Our screen is made of a special type of plastic, and we still have the best resolution. Our special plastic is very difficult to break.”

Escobar also lauded the phone’s security features, saying that it is extremely secure, unlike Samsung and Apple devices that are “100% open to all governments in the world.”

It seems Escobar has his sights set on beating Apple rather than Samsung—he plans to file a class-action lawsuit against Cupertino next year. “They are cheating the people and selling worthless phones to consumers, overpriced. My lawyers have been ready for long time, but before I sue them and give money back to the people which they deserve, I wanted to show them that my product is much better. On January 6 of next year, 2020, the $30 billion class-action lawsuit will be filed in the courts of California of America. We want Apple to give some of their illegal profits back to the people. I will make sure of it. I have spent almost $1 million just on lawyers to begin this lawsuit,” he told Digital Trends.

If this all seems very strange, that’s because it is. Between the bizarre ad filled with women in lingerie, the image of Pablo being used as a background, and the whole Apple thing, it does appear quite shady. But, as Gizmodo notes, the most telling aspect is that the phone is obviously a rebranded Royole FlexPai that even uses the same marketing graphics and specs.

The Escobar Fold 1 will get an initial run of 100,000 units. If, for some reason, you want one, it will be available with 128GB for $349, and a 512GB variant will cost $499. The phone can be ordered direct from Escobar’s website.