Sorry Apple, your iPhone 14 isn’t as important as the Galaxy Z Flip 4

Samsung recently reported its quarterly earnings and the numbers showed how big of an impact its foldable smartphones have had on the company's profits. There's no denying the fact that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 have turned out to be big hits. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 in particular has been selling like hot cakes, perhaps even faster than Samsung had imagined!

That's a good problem to have but the story doesn't end here. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has arrived and conquered so now, it's time to look towards the future. That's precisely why the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is going to be the most important device for Samsung this year. We're talking make it or break it important.

You might be wondering why is that so. The high-end smartphone market is about to experience a monumental shift and Apple is the driving force behind it. Apple's recent quarterly results show that the company has been making money hand over first. Rumors suggest that its next iPhone could introduce one of the biggest design changes we've seen from the company in years.

Samsung needs to come up with a very strong to maintain its competitiveness. A plan that effectively shows that Samsung is the new Apple. Wait, what? That might sound absurd but there's a method to this madness. You see, Samsung may ship the most number of smartphones worldwide, but only a percentage of them are premium handsets. On the other hand, Apple remains the top global smartphone vendor by value.

So how exactly is Apple shaking things up in 2022? Rumor has it that the iPhone 14 Pro could ditch Apple's signature notched display for the hole-punch design. Apple has resisted this change for many years. Samsung was among the first Android vendors to adopt the hole-punch design and it's now a permanent fixture on its devices.

The hole-punch design will allow Apple to stretch out the display on the iPhone 14 Pro models, giving customers a big incentive to purchase the new device. This may entice a lot of existing iPhone owners to upgrade their devices to the latest iPhone faster than ever before. After all, who doesn't like a larger display?

How does Samsung respond to that? Its conventional Galaxy S and Galaxy Note flagships have competed with the iPhone on paper. However, they haven't had much attraction to make iPhone owners leave Apple's walled garden.

Apple also has a winning formula that it sticks to consistently for its iPhones. It doesn't make significant design changes to its handsets. Such changes are only made once every two to three years. Its customers are happy with that, they don't mind that an iPhone 7 can be made to look like an iPhone with a cheap third-party kit.

There is one device that has made people switch, though, and it's the Galaxy Z Flip 3. It's all because of the device's unique form factor, its incredibly good looks and its amazing $999 price tag. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is something unique, a device that absolutely smashes the monotony in the smartphone market.

It needs to leverage that in order to prevent 2022 from being the year of the iPhone. What concerns me is that Samsung still seems to be searching for its winning formula. Whether it's the perfect color options, striking a balance between performance and battery life or simply adopting a consistent strategy to poach customers. Well, allow me to make a few suggestions.

If there was ever a device that would benefit from two models, it's the clamshell foldable. Samsung should launch a Galaxy Z Flip 4 and a Galaxy Z Flip 4 Ultra. The display size shouldn't be what primarily differentiates the two models. Rather, it should be core specs like cameras, battery, under-display camera, etc.

Samsung's color strategy hasn't been consistent as well. We went from a flashy feel on the original Galaxy Z Flip to a more muted approach on the Galaxy Z Flip 3. The company needs to stop experimenting with colors and just focus on the options that are proven to be crowd-pleasers. That's your matte black and white colors, mostly. Customers would also appreciate rose gold and yellow gold colors in matte finish.

Design-wise, it's safe to say that the Galaxy Z Flip 4 will be a stunner, but there's still going to be room for improvement. For example, the display crease is something that customers would like to see go away. Technological limitations may prevent that from happening but Samsung can surely make it less prominent.

Now the battery department is in need of a big improvement. The new clamshell foldable must see at least a 25% bump in battery life compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 3. It's difficult for customers, particularly those coming over from other high-end devices, to adjust to this. They expect better longevity and it's high time Samsung gave it to them!

The cameras did leave a lot to be desired on the Galaxy Z Flip 3. They weren't as good as they could be. This is another crucial area that needs improvement. Samsung, it's completely fine if the new models are a hair thicker than their predecessor. Customers will overlook that when they get top-notch cameras. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 Ultra model should also feature an under-display camera as its differentiating factor.

Samsung made the Galaxy Z Flip 3 one of the world's first foldable smartphones with an IP rating for water resistance. It should most definitely be retained for the Galaxy Z Flip 4 even if the rating itself isn't bumped up.

The company also needs to do some of the fun stuff that it did with accessories before. There was a time that Samsung worked with Swarovski and Montblanc. The Galaxy Z Flip is the perfect device for such collaborations. Work with fashion brands Michael Kors, Tory Burch, Coach, etc to provide customers with high-end fashionable accessories.

Lastly, Samsung needs to kick things up a notch or two in the marketing department. There should be a complete overhaul. Go back to the days when Samsung's ads were funny at Apple's expense.

Those ads were hilarious and they even had Apple worried! Use that strategy to highlight all the ways Samsung's latest foldable outshines all iPhones, past and present. Make people want to question their loyalty to the walled garden and maybe you'll entice them enough to jump ship.

As Samsung fans, we can only hope that the company realizes its Galaxy Z Flip 4 is far more important to innovation in the mobile industry than just an iPhone with a hole-punch. We hope it will make us proud.