Price is the biggest hurdle for foldable units

Samsung will unveil the future of its unreleased foldable devices this lifetime – although high prices are the main obstacle keeping them out of customers’ hands.

The world’s largest mobile phone maker may also struggle to regain control of the foldable market, which it lost for the first time in the first quarter of this generation.

Seoul-based Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6 at its second Unpacked 2024 tournament in Paris on Wednesday. The company has not formally revealed the names of the units.

According to some leaks and reviews, both smartphones come with improvements, a flat-edged design to match the new Galaxy S24 size, upgraded cameras, and a more robust Galaxy AI platform, which was included in S24 units for the first time. Was. The Fold6 is not expected to have an integrated S-Pen.

On the other hand, despite token and significant upgrades for foldables, their price level is the most important sticking point for consumers who are considering shifting to the still-niche method issue, which is hindering the market expansion of the sector. Is. Analysts noted.

Fold ables remain pricier than familiar smartphones, primarily because of their extra advanced look. Notably, the Galaxy Fold has been priced starting at $1,799 for the past two years, with Huawei’s device being even more expensive.

That compares to $1,299 for Samsung’s last top-tier devices, the Galaxy S24 Extreme, and $1,199 for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The Turn, meanwhile, offers an extra affordable option at $999, on par with Samsung and Apple’s untouched-sized entry-level units.

“Despite the continued development of foldable hardware … the market has not grown as expected,” said Aaron West, senior smartphone analyst at business information tracker Omdia. nationwide,

“High cost to consumers remains a significant barrier to entry into the foldable market. Any and all new foldable phone releases need to address both this cost and lack of use cases to make foldable phones more attractive to consumers.

Additionally, consumers are paying attention to improvements, including dust and H2O resistance, more sophisticated hinges, screen durability, battery performance, camera generation, device backup, and devices becoming lighter and thinner.

“Continued improvements … indicate that foldables are becoming a serious category,” said Akash Balachandran, analyst supervisor for cell units at World Knowledge Company. nationwide,

“Foldable smartphones typically fall into premium and ultra-premium categories, which limit accessibility and appeal. However, as ASP (average selling price) declines, we can expect a significant increase in sales, especially in the flip form factor, where prices are already falling.

Samsung lost the ‘foldable’ crown

Folding smartphones remain a small part of the overall smartphone market, although changing consumer preferences have led manufacturers to continually push to bring more to the market.

Their popularity has largely been attributed to Samsung, which brought this segment into the mainstream with the new Galaxy Z Fold2 in 2019. The company followed suit with the Galaxy Z Turn, a smaller but also extra affordable phone. In an effort to attract additional customers.

Since its arrival, Samsung has ruled the foldable segment, with its market percentage reaching over 80 percent about two years ago.

On the other hand, there was a big change in the first quarter of 2024: Huawei now has the largest market percentage in foldables, capturing about 35 percent of the market, surpassing Samsung, which had 23 percent. , which is obviously bad. A file from Counterpoint Analysis presentations, possibly corresponding to 58 cents a generation ago.

top-down forecasting

While current business reviews of the foldable smartphone sector agree that expansion will continue, forecast numbers vary.

Overall, shipments in the global foldable smartphone market are expected to equal 25 million devices in 2024, up nearly 38 percent from 18.1 million last generation, and will reach 45.7 million by 2028, a compound annual growth rate of 20.3 percent. But it is. St., with IDC information presentations.

Samsung will also have to deal with other major brands that have foldables of their own, including Oppo, Motorola, Google and Honor, the former Huawei sub-brand, which ranked third in the three months to March according to Hong Kong-based Counterpoint. But it was. Information

Huawei’s expansion originally stemmed from its home turf of China, which is the “go-to” choice for consumers in the world’s second-largest economy, Mr. West said — despite the lack of Google services and products.

“Outside China, Samsung’s biggest rivals are Honor for its ultra-thin book-style foldable phones and Motorola for its more affordable Razr series of flip-style foldable phones,” he said.

Meanwhile, an independent report by TrendForce in June estimated that Samsung’s market percentage will account for more than half of the market in 2024 with Huawei momentarily maintaining control at around 31 percent.

The Taipei-based research company said they will build to a higher level this generation, with shipments expected to top 17.8 million units.

It says it will account for only 1.5 percent of the entire smartphone market – but that’s expected to grow to about 5 percent by 2028.

“It is only a matter of time,” Mr Balachandran said, adding that consumers will no longer see major compromises in choosing a foldable – but prices will need to come down.

Updated: July 08, 2024, 8:55 am