I don’t usually get requested concerning the telephones I’m testing once I’m out and about, except it’s a folding cellphone. Then I often hear some model of the identical factor: “Oh, I considered getting a type of! However then I simply bought a [insert slab-style phone name here].” My anecdotal information matches the precise gross sales figures; there are various extra folks inquisitive about folding telephones than there are patrons of folding telephones. Samsung would very very like that to not be the case, and, by all indications, it’s about to drag out all of the stops at at its Unpacked occasion on July ninth. However is placing the Extremely title on a folding cellphone sufficient?
The weak gross sales will not be for lack of making an attempt — Samsung has been making an attempt to promote us on foldables for a very good chunk of the final decade, and Google additionally bought within the recreation a few years in the past. Motorola has had substantial success promoting clamshell-style flip telephones; Counterpoint Analysis discovered that the model’s foldable market share grew 253 % year-over-year in 2024. However that’s a much bigger piece of a really small pie. TrendForce estimated that foldables made up simply 1.5 % of the general smartphone market in 2024. Within the US, Samsung was the earliest and loudest folding cellphone maker, however a half dozen iterations of folding telephones hasn’t managed to make a major dent.
The corporate has all however confirmed that we’ll get an Extremely-branded Fold for the primary time, with a thinner profile to rival the latest efforts from Honor and Oppo. The Z Flip 7 is prone to get a much bigger, Razr-style display screen that covers a lot of the entrance panel, and we would see a less expensive FE model with the outdated cowl display screen design. That each one appears to handle a few widespread complaints about foldables: they’re too dear and include too many tradeoffs in comparison with a slab-style cellphone.
I’m not fairly positive it’ll be sufficient, although. Foldables stay extra prone to break from mud than a normal flagship cellphone — and repairs might be pricier. Regardless of saying years in the past that it’s pursuing full dustproofing, Samsung doesn’t appear to have cracked the code on a totally IP68-rated foldable simply but. Taking an opportunity on an costly cellphone that’s much less sturdy than your typical $1,000 flagship? That’s sort of an enormous ask, particularly with costs on all the pieces else we purchase going up, too.
It’s not all doom and gloom for foldables, nonetheless. Analysts are placing a number of inventory in rumors of a folding cellphone from Apple coming in 2026. An iFold or no matter it is perhaps known as may assist develop the market, at the very least within the US, and possibly that rising tide would float Samsung’s boat, too. Perhaps a few new fashions hitting totally different worth segments is sufficient to get Samsung’s marketshare rising once more — a technique that has labored effectively for the corporate prior to now. Perhaps an Extremely foldable with extremely specs will persuade some individuals who have been on the fence about folding telephones. And if anybody was holding out for an additional hinge, effectively, Samsung may simply have that coated, too.
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