As you may have heard, Samsung wants its foldable phone sales to cover half of all Galaxy flagship smartphone sales by 2025. But for now, the company's primary concern is to lure customers from rival brands to its Z foldable series.
In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, Samsung mobile chief TM Roh explained that its foldable smartphones are bringing in customers from other brands, more so than they facilitate Galaxy S customers switching to the new foldable form factor. (via AndroidCentral)
In other words, the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lineups are more successful at luring new customers outside the Galaxy ecosystem than convincing Galaxy S flagship buyers that it's time to upgrade to a foldable phone.
Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines are helping Samsung gain market share
New customers from other brands appear to be the primary source of success behind Samsung's foldable phones. Their actions led to a double-digit percentage increase in foldable phone shipments in 2021. “We consider this to be a quite meaningful percentage and a positive sign,” said TM Roh while highlighting the fact that “this is about switchers from other brands, not Samsung Galaxy device users switching to another Galaxy device.
It's worth noting that, although Galaxy S customers might not be in a rush to buy a foldable phone, many Galaxy Note fans may have migrated over to the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The Galaxy Note line is no longer around, but the S Pen exists in other formats. Inevitably, millions of Samsung customers have turned to other S Pen Galaxy devices once the Galaxy Note series got shelved, and many ended up buying a Galaxy S22 Ultra or Galaxy Z Fold 3.
As for Samsung's longer-term plans, the company wants to sell more than 10 million foldable phones this year, and by 2025, Samsung hopes that half of its flagship sales will be accounted for by foldable phones. The company unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 last week, and both devices are now available for pre-order.
Rival companies, including Motorola and Xiaomi, unveiled their latest foldable phones, the Moto Razr (2022) and Mix Fold 2, mere days after Unpacked 2022. But their reach is limited to China, and although some of their raw specifications are better on paper, Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 offer a more refined and featureful user experience.
SamsungGalaxy Z Fold 4
