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Samsung's initial Galaxy Flip is the phone that taught me to appreciate foldables. Prior to the clamshell introduction, gadgets like as the Galaxy Fold were large and cumbersome. Rather than embracing mobility, the idea was to fit as much screen real estate as possible into a pocket-sized form. Even when closed, the Fold yielded huge results.
The Flip's popularity appeared to take Samsung by surprise. Despite the promotional assistance it provided for the Fold, the clamshell Flip accounted for 70% of the company's foldable sales in 2021, a year after its first introduction. Portability, along with a far cheaper price point, won the day, propelling Samsung foldable shipments to ten million that year.
Samsung remains the 500-pound gorilla of foldables, but the company's success in recent years has made the market substantially less lonely. Increased competition has benefited the market, introducing gadget diversity but also forcing the kingpin to reconsider some of its own orthodoxies along the road.
The choice to somewhat broaden the Fold's tiny front-facing screen is quite recent. It's not a significant difference (neither the Z Fold 6 nor the Z Flip 6 offered much in the way of differentiation), but it might be a reaction to complaints about what has always been an uncomfortable aspect ratio.
With a product like the Fold, the novelty alone is enough to keep buyers intrigued for a few years. However, attention spans in consumer gadgets are brief. After a few generations of refining, the early adopter sheen fades. That is especially true when competitors such as Google's Pixel Fold and the OnePlus Open introduce fresh concepts to the market.
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One of the most appealing challengers, however, has emerged from an unlikely area of the mobile world. I admit that I dismissed Motorola's foldable Razr when it was revealed a few months after Samsung's first Fold went on sale. It was a novelty in and of itself: an exclusive to slap a cherished but long-forgotten brand on a new product. It seemed like a cynical product of Hollywood's reboot age.
The 2020 Razr's reception was hampered by the fact that, like the original Fold, it came unfinished. The specifications did not justify the $1,200 price, and the folding process itself left more to be desired. For a time, it seemed as if the entire foldable category would be a blip on the radar.
Foldables haven't had much of an impact on declining smartphone sales so far, but the form factor is here to stay. According to Counterpoint Research, the worldwide foldables market increased 49% year on year in the first quarter of 2024. Huawei, an early entry into the category whose growth was considerably slowed by conflicts with the United States and other foreign countries, had a banner quarter, surpassing Samsung for the first time in history.
While Huawei is restricted from selling in the United States, it had a significant 257% year-on-year gain in the quarter. The shipments were mostly in Huawei's home country, spurred by the company's long-awaited transition from LTE to 5G using the form factor. Motorola, a fellow Chinese business, had remarkable global expansion, increasing by 1,473%. Samsung fell 42% in the quarter but remained the world's second-largest company, accounting for 23% of overall market share.
Both the Fold/Flip 6 and the Motorola Razr+ are too young to have had a significant influence on quarterly shipments, but I expect both to have significant increase as a result of well-reviewed smartphones.
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Samsung's current main issue is to develop new methods to keep the category fresh. Gaining market share is no longer only about education. The business must persuade non-foldable owners that it's time to make the switch and urge existing users to upgrade – a tough order given that the Fold and Flip now start at $1,900 and $1,100, respectively.
The Flip 6 continues to outperform the Razr+ in terms of image, an area where Samsung has historically excelled. However, Motorola learnt from its early missteps and now provides an excellent folding experience. The design is superb, and the practically edge-to-edge 3.6-inch front-facing display is stunning. Motorola's true hidden weapon, however, is affordability.
While $1,000 might not appear to be a terrific deal, the smartphone is often discounted. It debuted earlier this week, with a $100 discount. Meanwhile, its predecessor from 2023 is currently available on Amazon for $600.
Samsung, for its part, has been said to be working on a more cheap version of the Fold, which will be released later this year, but the firm may have backed off on that. It's a pity, because Samsung is no longer the only game in town, and the next big thing in foldables will be affordability.
