Samsung’s foldable phone sales to determine its flagship trajectory

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 Models / Korea Times File

Sales of new foldable phones by Samsung this year will prove crucial in achieving its strategy of popularizing its high-end smartphones.

Market researchers offer a range of predictions. Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) expects foldable phone shipments to reach 5.5 million this year, double last year’s 2.3 million. Counterpoint Research predicts that foldable phone shipments will reach 9 million this year. DSCC predicts that Samsung will account for around 90% of global foldable phone shipments.

Samsung declined to share its internal sales target, but it’s likely to be close to market projections of 6.5 million foldable smartphone sales this year, given its market share. Samsung VP Choi Bang-seop referenced the figure expressed by market researchers, after the company’s latest foldable models debuted at an unboxed event earlier this month. .

“Market circumstances have not changed since last year, as no new player such as Apple unveiled foldable models,” an industry official said.

This year could determine whether Samsung will be able to include its foldable models among its flagship smartphones, alongside the S series. This has become more likely at a time when Samsung may stop producing its Note series as it seeks to streamline its lineup of products to boost market competitiveness.

Samsung’s focus on its high-end models has become crucial at a time when it needs to differentiate itself from Chinese competitors, like Xiaomi, which offer a wide range of models, from low-end foldables to premium foldables, at price points. much more affordable.

The competition has become more intense with Xiaomi overtaking the No. 1 global smartphone sales ranking in June. Although this is attributed to temporary factors such as production disruptions at Samsung’s smartphone factory in Vietnam earlier this year due to COVID-19, Xiaomi also overtook Apple for the first time in the second quarter to clinch. second place in the global smartphone market.

Samsung’s latest foldable models are getting a favorable response from the local market. In Korea, Samsung got 1 million reservations for its foldable models after their release. Samsung has started selling its Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 models in 40 countries, including the US, Canada, UK and France. It plans to increase the number of countries releasing its foldable models to 130 by October.

The company launched its Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 models on August 11, as part of its strategy to include its high-end smartphones among its flagship models. The No.1 smartphone vendor unveiled the latest version of its foldable phones, at discounted prices earlier this month. At launch, its mobile chief Roh Tae-moon said the world’s leading mobile vendor would expand its portfolio of foldables to make them more accessible to the public.