Samsung's bet on the future of smartphones is something Apple doesn't have an answer to yet

CNN

6 days ago

Samsung on Wednesday announced three new foldable phones in its latest push to popularize what the company believes is the future of smartphones.
The new $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7, $1,100 Galaxy Z Flip 7 and $900 Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE launch on July 25, with preorders beginning July 9.
Meanwhile, Samsung faces increased competition from Android rivals and is bracing for the potential arrival of Apple's first foldable iPhone.
Samsung's foldables give it another card to play against the iPhone in the market for premium smartphones, a category that Apple typically dominates. Although reports of a foldable iPhone have circulated for years, Apple has yet to release one or publicly indicate intentions to do so.
Samsung has spent more than half a decade selling consumers on phones that can fold in half to either double as a tablet or fit more easily into your pocket. It's a gambit to reinvigorate interest in new kinds of phones — traditional smartphones have matured, gaining few notable new features each year and leaving consumers with little incentive to upgrade.
But although Samsung is largely considered to be the market leader, foldables have been a tough sell; they still account for less than 2% of the broader smartphone market, according to estimates from the International Data Corporation and Counterpoint Research. And price remains one of the biggest challenges to attracting new consumers. Total foldable phone shipments are expected to reach 45.7 million units by 2028, according to the IDC's estimates, trailing the 1.2 billion smartphones shipped in 2024.
The new trio of foldables are Samsung's latest attempt to change that.
'We believe that now, with the launch of the Fold 7 and Flip 7, we will be nearing the tipping point of going mainstream,' Won-joon Choi, chief operating officer of Samsung's mobile experience business, said through a translator in an interview with CNN ahead of Samsung's product launch.
The South Korean tech giant is betting that it can woo consumers with slimmer designs and bigger screens.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is lighter than the company's non-folding Galaxy S25 Ultra and has an 8-inch internal screen compared to its predecessor's 7.6-inch display. Samsung's new flip phone has a larger 4.1-inch external screen that covers the entire front of the device when closed, and a slightly bigger 6.9-inch screen on the inside.
Taken together, these changes make the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 more closely resemble regular phones when used in 'bar mode' — i.e. when the Galaxy Z Fold is closed and the Galaxy Z Flip is opened.
'Obviously, this did not come about in just one year,' said Choi. 'It's something that we have been working for quite a long time, and it involves new parts, and also new materials.'
Both phones also include new processors, although Samsung is straying from its usual strategy of using the same chip in both foldables. Citing supply chain reasons, Samsung is using a Qualcomm chip for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and a Samsung's Exynos chip for the Z Flip 7.
Samsung is also releasing a cheaper version of its flip phone for the first time called the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, which has a similar design as Samsung's older flip phones and an older processor. But the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is $100 more expensive than last year's model, which the company attributes to hardware changes like the thinner design and higher resolution camera, not tariffs.
While foldable phones were expected to eventually get cheaper, that is no longer the case, according to Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst covering mobile devices across the EMEA market for the IDC. He said phone makers like Samsung are leaning on foldables to compete with the iPhone in the premium segment of the smartphone market.
'They are not really pushing prices down, which was sort of expected to happen, but they realized that despite shipping small volumes, they are (making) quite decent money out of it,' he said.
A device like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, for example, could appeal to consumers who may have otherwise opted for an iPhone 16 Pro Max, the largest phone Apple sells.
Foldables are the only Android product without an Apple alternative — and there's data to suggest that at least some iPhone owners are switching.
In the quarter that ended in March, 8% of US consumers who bought a foldable phone had switched from an iPhone, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners data provided to CNN. Choi also said the switch rate, or people switching to a Samsung phone from another Android phone or iPhone, is higher for its foldable phones than regular phones.
Apple is expected to release its first foldable phone in 2026, according to Bloomberg and TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, although Apple has not mentioned any plans to release such a device. Apple did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment about the foldable phone reports.
When asked about speculation of Apple entering the foldables category, Choi responded: 'We would welcome that.'
Samsung launched its first foldable phone in 2019 and has largely maintained the leading position in the market since. But the company has faced stiffer competition from Chinese brands such as Huawei, Vivo and Honor, which dominate sales in China — the biggest market for foldable phones, according to Counterpoint Research.
Just days before Samsung announced its new trio of devices, Honor introduced a slim new foldable phone called the Magic V5.
Huawei also beat Samsung to the punch in 2024 when it released a new type of foldable phone that bends in two places like an accordion, providing an even larger screen nearly the size of an iPad when fully unfolded. Samsung has showed similar concept devices at trade shows but has yet to turn those prototypes into real products.
Choi says Samsung has a new style of device 'that can be brought to market in the near future,' although he declined to reveal details or specific timing.
For now, Samsung is leaning on hardware upgrades and AI to differentiate its phones from the growing competition. It has worked with Google to optimize the way its Gemini assistant works on the phone's unconventional screens. Gemini Live, the feature that lets users speak to Google's AI assistant conversationally, is now available on the Z Flip 7's cover display, unlike Samsung's previous flip phones. Gemini can also work across multiple windows on the Z Fold 7's tablet-sized screen.
Samsung plans to collaborate with other AI companies in addition to Google, Choi said, although he didn't name specific potential partners. Bloomberg reported last month that Samsung is close to a deal with AI search engine Perplexity.
Choi sees a larger change coming to smartphones in the future that involves relying on AI agents to accomplish tasks, like watching a movie, sharing a recipe or booking a vacation, instead of bouncing between apps. The company is working with industry partners to move its smartphone software in that direction.
'I don't know how long it'll take, but I don't think it's like 10 years,' said Choi. 'I don't think it's like six months or a year, but I think somewhere in between. But it's (going to) happen.'