Samsung pours more resources to risky foldable smartphones bet after strong debut
- Samsung is counting on foldable handsets to lead the charge against arch rival Apple’s perennial bestselling iPhone this holiday season
- The South Korean electronics giant offers nearly identical specifications, including 5G and water resistance, to its foldable and regular smartphones
Foldable smartphone sales are expected to increase by several times in 2021 from the previous year and continue significant growth in 2022, Samsung said on Thursday without providing a specific forecast. Its display division is expanding foldable panel production and making supplemental investments to pre-emptively address what the company sees as rising demand for the category.
“We think that we have succeeded in starting and leading the mainstreaming of foldables in the market,” said Kim Sung-koo, a vice-president from Samsung’s mobile division during a conference call to discuss the company’s latest earnings on Thursday.
The South Korean electronics giant launched the third-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip in August, breaking new ground by pricing the smaller device at US$999 and promising to put the full force of its global marketing juggernaut behind the category. Powered by the Z Flip 3, the line-up sold a million units in South Korea at the fastest pace for any Samsung smartphone in two years, the company has said.
The Note series has reliably sold in the millions of units each year, but its distinctiveness has faded over the past decade. Samsung opted not to release a new model this year and decided to add a stylus to the Z Fold 3, making room for foldables to take over.
The Note devices provide the blueprint for Samsung’s approach now: leading with hardware differentiation and comparable pricing to other top-tier smartphones. The Z series can cost more than US$1,800 – in line with the lofty pricing of foldable gadgets from all manufacturers to date – but Samsung moved to the sub-US$1,000 mark sooner than the competition with its Z Flip 3, which has expanded the potential customer base.
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In testing by Bloomberg News, the device showed no signs of the durability flaws that plagued first-generation foldables from Samsung and others, though its comparatively small battery and overheating issues still need improvement. Samsung may also find it challenging to produce enough of the gadget to satisfy mass-market demand.
Foldable smartphones are widely expected to become the fastest-growing phone category, with Counterpoint Research estimates pointing to 10-fold growth by 2023. Samsung may hold three-quarters of that market in the coming years, as it commands the supply of the most advanced foldable displays, the researchers said.
