Holly Brockwell is unimpressed by the sexist advertising for the gold folding phone launched by Pablo Escobar's brother, but is not surprised.

Like most people, when I saw the Escobar Fold 1 I thought it was a hoax. But as with many new products in tech, the gold-coloured folding phone bearing the monogram of notorious deceased drug king Pablo Escobar turned out to be as real as it is baffling.
Created by Pablo's brother Roberto, the phone looks a lot like a rebranded version of the Royole Flexpai from 2018. That's not surprising ? hardly any manufacturers have managed to get a functional folding phone to market, so it would be quite the event if a former drug accountant managed to beat them to it.
Oddly, the Escobar Fold 1 ? intriguingly named as if it'll be the first in a series of cartel-themed smartphones ? is offered for sale at just $349 (about £266) for the 128GB version, whereas the Flexpai and other folding phones  cost a grand each. It's not clear how the Fold 1 is so much cheaper, but perhaps Royole gave Roberto a good deal on a bunch of unsold stock. We probably wouldn't negotiate too hard with him, either. However, the most interesting thing about the Fold 1 isn't the price or the, "celebrity" endorsement ? it's the advertising. As you might expect for a gaudy gold phone displaying a greyscale photo of a deceased criminal, the marketing materials have been firmly aimed at men.
Promotional photos and videos feature a single handset (do they only h...