The Truth About the Escobar Folding Phone!
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Marques Brownlee shares his experience with the Escobar Fold, a rebranded Samsung Galaxy Fold sold by Escobar Inc. Despite multiple orders and initial non-delivery, he eventually received the phone, which was essentially a Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker. Brownlee critiques the company's marketing tactics, including celebrity endorsements and suspicious sales practices, and concludes by advising viewers not to purchase from Escobar Inc., emphasizing the importance of buyer beware when it comes to such dubious tech products.
Takeaways
- 📱 The Escobar fold is a rebranded Samsung Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker on the back, sold at a significantly lower price.
- 💸 MKBHD spent $350 on an Escobar fold in December 2019, but the order remained pending for months without delivery.
- 🤔 There were suspicions about the legitimacy of the Escobar fold, with the company's website appearing unprofessional and making bold claims.
- 🔄 MKBHD ordered a second Escobar fold under a different name, again without receiving the product, totaling $750 spent.
- 📦 After tweeting a negative review, MKBHD unexpectedly received an Escobar fold box at his shipping address.
- 🔑 The Escobar fold's packaging and marketing were of lower quality compared to the original Samsung Galaxy Fold.
- 🤷♂️ Many customers did not receive their Escobar fold orders, leading to speculation that the company might be scamming customers.
- 👥 The people behind Escobar Inc. include Roberto Escobar, Pablo Escobar's older brother, and Olaf Gustafson, the CEO of Escobar Inc.
- 🎬 The marketing for the Escobar fold included bizarre YouTube videos and questionable celebrity endorsements.
- 🚫 MKBHD strongly advises against buying anything from Escobar Inc., citing the numerous cases of unfulfilled orders and the company's suspicious practices.
- 📝 For those interested in the tech, MKBHD suggests watching his review of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, as the Escobar fold is essentially the same product.
Q & A
What was the main topic of the video script?
-The main topic of the video script is the Escobar fold phone, a rebranded version of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, and the questionable practices of the company behind it.
What is the connection between the Escobar fold phone and Pablo Escobar?
-The connection is through the use of the Escobar name by the company selling the fold phone, which is associated with Pablo Escobar, a notorious Colombian drug lord.
Why did the narrator order the Escobar fold phone?
-The narrator ordered the Escobar fold phone out of curiosity and to review it on his tech channel, despite the dubious nature of the company.
What was the initial experience of the narrator with the Escobar fold phone order?
-The initial experience was negative, as the narrator never received the phone after placing the order and noticed suspicious elements on the company's website.
What happened when the narrator tweeted about not receiving the Escobar fold phone?
-After tweeting about not receiving the phone, the narrator unexpectedly received an Escobar fold box at his shipping address a few days later.
What did the narrator discover about the Escobar fold phone upon unboxing it?
-The narrator discovered that the Escobar fold phone was essentially a Samsung Galaxy Fold with gold adhesive foil on the back, indicating a poor rebranding job.
What is the narrator's theory on how the company behind the Escobar fold is operating?
-The narrator theorizes that the company is selectively shipping the phones to people in tech media or those they think will talk about the product, while not shipping to others.
Who are the main people involved with the Escobar fold according to the script?
-The main people involved are Roberto Escobar, Pablo Escobar's older brother, and Olaf Gustafson, the CEO of Escobar Inc.
What was the narrator's final recommendation regarding the Escobar fold phone?
-The narrator strongly advises against buying the Escobar fold phone or anything associated with the company due to the questionable practices and potential scam.
What is the narrator's view on the marketing tactics used by the company behind the Escobar fold phone?
-The narrator finds the marketing tactics bizarre and unprofessional, including the use of celebrity endorsements from people who likely do not understand the context of their involvement.
Outlines
📱 The Curious Case of the Escobar Fold
In this segment, the narrator, MKBHD, recounts his experience with the Escobar fold phone, a folding smartphone that gained attention due to its association with the infamous Pablo Escobar. Despite the dubious reputation of the brand, the phone intrigued him, and he decided to purchase it for $350. He describes the skepticism surrounding the product and the company, including the unprofessional website and the questionable marketing tactics. MKBHD also mentions his disappointment when the phone never arrived, despite multiple follow-ups and an unresponsive order tracker. The paragraph ends with a twist, as he receives an email from Escobar Inc. asking for his mailing address, sparking renewed interest in the mysterious product.
🔨 Unveiling the Escobar Fold: A Rebranded Galaxy Fold
This paragraph delves into the unboxing and examination of the Escobar fold phone, which the narrator unexpectedly receives after a series of tweets and emails with the company. He discovers that the Escobar fold is essentially a rebranded Samsung Galaxy Fold, distinguished only by a gold sticker on the back. The narrator compares the Escobar fold to his original Galaxy Fold, noting the identical features and the poor quality of the rebranding job. He also discusses the pricing discrepancy between the two phones, with the Escobar fold being significantly cheaper. The paragraph explores the company's marketing strategy, which seems to target tech reviewers and influencers for preferential treatment, while potentially neglecting other customers. The narrator concludes with a warning against purchasing from the company, based on the numerous instances of unfulfilled orders.
🚫 The Unscrupulous Marketing of the Escobar Fold
In the final paragraph, the narrator addresses the unethical marketing practices of Escobar Inc., highlighting the company's use of celebrity endorsements, which he suspects were unknowingly obtained through a paid service. He criticizes the company's attempt to associate itself with Samsung, even purchasing a domain to mock the original Galaxy Fold. The narrator also expresses his concern about the preferential treatment he received, suggesting that the company might be selectively shipping phones to tech reviewers to generate positive buzz. He concludes with a strong recommendation against purchasing the Escobar fold or any product associated with the company, emphasizing the importance of consumer safety and the reliability of the source when making tech purchases.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Folding smartphones
💡Escobar Fold
💡Pablo Escobar
💡Tech reviewer
💡Scams
💡Rebranding
💡Marketing tactics
💡YouTube
💡Product unboxing
💡Celebrity endorsements
💡Tech media
Highlights
MKBHD discusses the trend of folding smartphones in 2020 and the various options available.
Mentions skepticism about purchasing folding phones, including the Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Fold, and Moto Razr.
Introduction of the Escobar folding phone, associated with the infamous Pablo Escobar, and its controversial branding.
Pablo Escobar's history as a Colombian drug lord and the negative sentiment associated with his name.
MKBHD's experience ordering the Escobar fold phone and the suspicious nature of the company's website.
MKBHD's decision to purchase the phone despite skepticism, and the subsequent lack of delivery.
The re-emergence of the Escobar fold phone with new headlines and MKBHD's second purchase attempt.
MKBHD's theory that the company selectively ships phones to tech reviewers or influencers.
Unexpected delivery of the Escobar fold phone to MKBHD's shipping address after a critical tweet.
The Escobar fold phone is revealed to be a rebranded Samsung Galaxy Fold with a gold sticker.
MKBHD's comparison between the original Galaxy Fold and the rebranded Escobar fold.
The significant price difference between the genuine Galaxy Fold and the rebranded Escobar fold.
MKBHD's investigation into the company behind the Escobar fold and its questionable marketing tactics.
Analysis of the Escobar Inc. YouTube channel and its bizarre content, including endorsement videos.
MKBHD's warning against purchasing the Escobar fold or any products associated with the company.
Final thoughts on the Escobar fold, urging viewers to watch MKBHD's review of the genuine Galaxy Fold for comparison.
Transcripts
hey what's up guys mkbhd here
alright story time so it's 2020 folding
smartphones are all the rage and there's
a bunch of different options now almost
none of which you should probably
actually buy but I mean we have the
galaxy Z flip from Samsung we have the
Galaxy fold the Moto razor and then sort
of the rest you know everything from the
TCL trifold concept phone to the Royal
flexpa and you may have seen another
story floating around of another folding
phone by Escobar yeah that Escobar just
a little filler in on the Escobar name
if you're not familiar so Pablo Escobar
was the Colombian drug lord ended up
being known as basically the wealthiest
criminal in history for monopolizing
cocaine trade into the United States
before fun fact he died of a gunshot
wound to the head the day before I was
born so you know this isn't exactly a
positive sentiment around this name like
being known for the killings of police
officers and politicians and making
Colombia the murder capital of the world
not the best way to have your name known
but it is a known name like y'all have
heard of Escobar so now suddenly on
every tech website there's this new
folding phone with the Escobar name on
it curiously and it's getting a lot of
eyeballs turning a lot of heads very
interesting and it's 3 to 50 bucks and
looking at the actual phone it is a
curious one it's a gold accent which is
a nice touch but if you study the specs
or the design long enough at all
you literally realize it's just a royal
flux pie with a gold accent taped to it
so naturally I ordered one so on
December 5th 2019 I spent my 350 bucks
free shipping and placed my Escobar fold
order something a lot of people think
about this channel is that like I get
everything for free and while it's true
that I get review units and I will make
first impressions videos with those I
end up buying pretty much everything
that I review on this channel I got so I
haven't reviewed the motor razor folding
phone yet for example because I sent the
review unit back that's what I did the
first impressions with and now the one
that I bought spend allayed by several
weeks so anyway I didn't reach out to
Escobar Inc I didn't
even think to ask if they had a review
program I just quietly bought one so
that was in December and yeah I never
got it I mean I guess I shouldn't be
surprised it was a little suspicious to
begin with I mean you look around their
website and it is it's a little suspect
there's some pretty wild pictures and
statements trying to sell you this phone
some some pretty bold claims and it's
just overall not the most professional
looking website I've ever bought a phone
from but I think we knew from the
beginning I wasn't I've really ever
gonna get this phone like I put down the
money in the off chance I was surprised
and then hey that would be kind of funny
but when I put my order into the tracker
they never updated from pending pending
it just sort of said it was in
production for months so that was it
you know we never made a video on it we
were sharing some other pretty cool
stuff at the time it's sort of went
under the radar
it was just lost money that's sort of
where I thought it would end but then we
saw headlines of another new Escobar
fold phone it was who's the Escobar fold
- and once again there were articles
there were headlines there were even
some videos of this new thing a $400
Escobar folding phone that looks like
this it's a it's looking kind of
familiar again oh that's that's just a
samsung galaxy fold and then on February
2nd I got an email from Escobar Inc just
asking mailing address like what's your
mailing address at that point I was
again like sort of genuinely interested
but after a few back-and-forth so
basically declined because I wanted they
wanted to guarantee a video by sending
it to us and I I wasn't willing to
commit to guaranteeing a video just from
them sending a phone that's not
something we do so they ended up not
sending one but but I I did buy a second
one because apparently I liked giving
money away to anything tech related so
maybe if you guys wanna buy the merch
and support we won't have to worry about
this so much but I bought another
Escobar fold too so I still didn't have
the first one I went to their site again
bought the second one under a different
name so now I've given them $750 free
shipping both times and I've gotten
nothing in return
so for a while I didn't get one and
neither did many
other people but then videos started
popping up and this always happens I've
I've had this happen before where I
declined something in my inbox some
opportunity and then a week later I see
a bunch of videos about it on YouTube in
my sub box etc so this is one of those
things I was curious about because the
product isn't that great but the company
behind it and the the schematics behind
it are so weird so I tweeted this zero
out of 10 would not recommend didn't get
the phone
both times I ordered but then that night
believe it or not when I got home from
the studio to home which is the shipping
address that I put in for my first order
guess what was waiting for me at my door
an Escobar fold box so on February 24th
which is like four days after this this
tweet and the box showing up I got an
email saying that they upgraded my fold
one order to a fold to which I guess I
believe because it had my name on it
from the first order I placed and it
went to the shipping address of my first
order I placed and other people have
gotten the same upgrade happen who who
also happened to be tech reviewers so
like the only reason I'm talking about
this is because it's based around a tech
product like I talk tech but if this was
happening with like a kitchen appliance
product or some makeup product or
something else like that I probably
wouldn't have cared nearly as much but
because it's tech and they really seem
to be trying hard to make it seem like a
great phone to buy well that's what made
it so fascinating to me
[Music]
okay so the unboxing experience super
simple and within about 30 seconds of
using a phone and no I'm not putting my
sim card in it but from using the phone
just for a little bit it's pretty clear
this appears to be a legit samsung
galaxy fold and the new one at that so I
have my regular galaxy fold here with
the dust caps on the hinges and the new
slightly stiffer hinge and everything
and this Escobar fold it's the same
phone with a gold sticker glued to it
no actually it's it's actually a galaxy
fold with gold tinfoil adhesive to it
you take a bit of that gold off of the
hinge on the back and right underneath
is that Samsung logo right where it's
supposed to be and the the gold foil
comes off the back with a box cutter or
a knife or really enough heat to melt
the adhesive so it's not pretty but yeah
it is an actual galaxy fold fully
working - any of the stuff that normally
comes in the box and it's a really poor
rebranding job it's an actual galaxy
fold so from this point if you're
reviewing an Escobar fold - you're
really just reviewing a samsung galaxy
fold with a gold sticker on the back and
some weird pre-installed muggshot
wallpapers but the galaxy fold costs
eighteen hundred dollars and the Escobar
fold - costs four hundred dollars so how
are they pulling this off well it's not
just the lower quality packaging it's
not just the lower quality marketing my
theory is that they are going through
orders finding the names of youtubers or
just people in tech media or people who
they think will talk about the phone if
they get it and shipping those and then
just not shipping the rest that's
probably why they found my first order
cuz I had my name attached to it and why
they upgraded me and shipped mine out
they were probably hoping I would speak
pretty positively about it that's why I
tweeted what I did but if you really
want to get into it they tell everything
on their site so the two main people
involved are these two guys Roberto
Escobar so Pablo Escobar his older
brother and chief of assassinations and
this other guy Olaf Gustafson who is the
CEO of Escobar Inc now I don't know why
both the photos look like mug shots
maybe that's their cool vibe or whatever
but there's a Twitter account behind
this
Olaf guy who honestly just looks like a
younger maybe somewhat tech-savvy dude
who's just convinced this older guy he
can use the Escobar name and make them
lots more money from it
so he's tweeted all these articles and
tons of photos with celebrities somehow
and he seems very proud of any press he
can get in
including when he also cloned the boring
company flamethrower and tried to get
Ilan to stop selling his and when he
helped mr. Escobar start a
cryptocurrency that didn't exactly work
out but the marketing for the Escobar
fold is easily the best part so if you
go to their YouTube channel which is
truly incredible I'll link it below it
currently has about fourteen videos on
it including a one minute video panning
back and forth across five fold phones
maybe all that they'd made at that time
there's an unboxing video that I'm
pretty sure if I show more than about
three more seconds of it it's gonna get
this video D monetized they have a video
called our IP Samsung comm where they
take a bunch of non rebranded original
Galaxy folds out of the box and then put
safety glasses on but no other
protective clothing and then just starts
smashing Galaxy folds with sledgehammers
until they literally catch on fire and
if you look it up if you go to our IP
samsung.com which is in the title and
this whole videos point the Escobar guys
bought that URL and they have a redirect
to Escobar inc.com which is crazy
because this phone wouldn't exist
without Samsung's phone and then there's
two other endorsement videos so I guess
this is really how you make sure you
sell a lot of phones from Chris Hanson
and Anna unka hey guys Chris Hanson here
of Hanson vs. predators and To Catch a
Predator I just wanted to tell you all
that I've seen this amazing new
smartphone called the Escobar fold tube
it appears to be the best phone out
right now I've been looking at the
transcripts so have a seat check it out
and remember I'll be watching
it's probably a good thing they disabled
comments on these videos hi I'm gonna
ain't get from Sweden I used to be
married to the singer Paul Anka and I
just wanted to tell you that they're
Escobar's faulty smartphone it's a
really really incredible innovation from
some amazing people in Stockholm Sweden
I'll hope you guys will enjoy it and use
it a lot
lots of love mmm I also conveniently
both of these celebrities are on a site
called cameo which is where you can send
requests and pay 50 or 100 bucks or so
and get a personalized video in return
I'm pretty sure videos on this site are
typically like Oh have a Arnold
Schwarzenegger say happy birthday to
your friend or something I doubt that
these two people even know that their
videos are being used to help promote a
scam so look I'm a tech reviewer so I'm
typically just focusing on the final
product the finished thing should you
buy it or not but this piece of tech
we've reviewed already it's the Galaxy
fold I've talked about it it just has
gold tin foil on the back so the
interesting part now becomes the
behind-the-scenes part which is the
company that's trying to maybe sell some
of them and also not ship most of them
they're trying to scam you it's one of
those situations where you know you have
to take any preferential treatment you
might get with a gigantic grain of salt
so I guess the lesson we've learned is
there are way way way too many cases of
people not getting there Escobar fold
for me to ever recommend you ever buy
anything from this company so don't
don't buy an Escobar fold too if you
want a galaxy fold that is very pricey
but I also typically don't recommend you
buy one either and and just for your own
safety of money don't buy anything that
any of these guys are associated with at
all I took the hit so you don't have to
there you have it if you want an Escobar
fold review watch my galaxy folder view
I've already done it link below the like
button if you want to check it out
that's pretty much it that's the truth
thanks for watching catch you guys in
the next one peace
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