Samsung gearing up to popularize foldable phones

By Kim Bo-eun

Sammobile's rendering of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 / Captured from Sammobile website

Samsung Electronics is set to release a series of new foldable phones in the coming months, at a time when the tech giant is seeking to popularize these premium models, as part of its strategy to maintain competitiveness in the market while facing challenges by Chinese rivals.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 are set to be introduced at Galaxy Unpacked, with an online event planned for Aug. 3. The devices are set to hit the shelves just over three weeks later on Aug. 27, according to reports. The August release comes a month earlier than Samsung's usual introduction of foldable models in September. The Z Fold was launched in September 2019 and the Z Fold 2 was released in the same month of the following year.

The planned early release comes in the absence of a new Galaxy Note model this year. Samsung has traditionally launched its Note models in August, but said in March that a new product release would not take place this year.

Samsung said that it could not comment on the release schedules before their official launch. But given the fact that the firm has introduced new products at its Unpacked event in August every year, it seems likely that the new foldable models will appear then and ship in the following weeks.

Samsung has been reiterating its strategy for top-tier phones, which is to expand their user base of foldable phones. They currently only take up a minute portion of Samsung's smartphone sales. The latest foldable models will be priced some 20 percent below that of their predecessors.

A revised pricing strategy appears inevitable, given the massive influx of Chinese players' more affordable foldable phones in the market. A differentiation strategy seems imperative for Samsung, which had managed to take the reins in the global smartphone market during the first quarter, but also lost its share in 5G handsets during the same period.

According to market tracker Strategy Analytics, Samsung fell behind Apple, and China's Oppo and Vivo in the global 5G smartphone market, with just a 12.7-percent share. This figure is down from 34.6 percent in the first quarter of 2020. Huawei dropped out of the top five smartphone vendor rankings as U.S. sanctions weighed in, but other Chinese players are quickly picking up its market share.

A sense of crisis appears to be looming over Samsung's smartphone division, as the management maintains focus on the business' performance. Samsung's mobile division failed to make 100 trillion won in sales last year, which was a first in eight years. The division's sales came to 99.59 trillion won in 2020.

"Given the fact that the global market for smartphones has entered maturity, growth has become difficult. Samsung appears to be taking the strategy of expanding its mid to low-end product line, while at the same time popularizing its high-end foldable products by making them more affordable," KB Securities analyst Kim Dong-won said.

"Samsung is expected to lower the price of its latest Z Flip model to slightly above 1 million won. This will bring the price of its foldable phone close to that of Samsung's flagship model, and such a move will lead to larger shipments of the premium line," he said.

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