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Economic Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
When Flip Flops: Foldable smartphone sales shrink in India
New Delhi: It flips, it folds, and now it flops. Foldable smartphones—hailed as the future of mobile handsets when they debuted seven years ago—are now seeing their sales charts do some folding of their multiple iterations and a drop in the average selling price (ASP), foldable smartphone shipments in India fell 47% year-on-year in 2024, when they accounted for less than 0.5% of the overall market, according to was followed by another 20% dip in the first quarter of 2025, as per the market research firm that tracks shipments from manufacturers to distributors and retailers. Counterpoint Research, which tracks retail sales to consumers, reported a 12% on-year decline in 2024, and a sharper 36% fall in the quarter ended March. Analysts expect foldables to remain a niche segment for the foreseeable future as consumers largely consider the devices fragile, pricey—notwithstanding recent price cuts—and lacking attractive use-cases. 'Despite all the attention new foldable devices receive, they are still too expensive for mass-market appeal,' said Jan Stryjak, associate director at Counterpoint Research. 'Further, most consumers are still not sure what a foldable phone is for, and may still have concerns about the durability and longevity of the devices.' Also Read | Airtel offers Perplexity Pro subscription worth ₹17,000/ year for free to all users IDC expects foldable shipments to decline by over 10% on year in is more optimistic, forecasting a turnaround with about 20% growth this calendar year, driven by Samsung's latest foldables and fresh launches from Vivo and the segment is expected to remain niche with sales of under 800,000 units in 2025, said Shubham Singh, analyst at Counterpoint. According to the researcher, India's smartphone sales reached 153 million units in is not an outlier. Even in developed markets like Europe and the US, foldable smartphone shipments have remained flattish, despite increased competition driving prices downwards, according to multiple overall global shipments of foldables, Counterpoint Research has forecasted a single digit degrowth in 2025, after 2.9% YoY growth in the segment remains aspirational, and brands continue to launch new models as a showcase of their engineering prowess, experts said.'Moving into their seventh year as a commercial category, foldables are no longer emerging,' said Runar Bjørhovde, senior analyst at market analysis firm Canalys. 'But uptake continues to be limited to tech enthusiastic premium buyers, partly due to high price points.' The average selling price of foldable smartphones in India was $1,234, or about Rs 1.06 lakh, in 2024, down from $1,299 in 2023, according to IDC. It is expected to decline further this year with more brands entering the segment. Samsung—which had a head start in the foldable market with its Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Flip models—continues to dominate the category with a 79% share in India, according to Counterpoint. It is followed by Motorola with 11% market share and Vivo with 5%.Still, Samsung faces increasing competition from rivals undercutting its pricing and offering productivity-focused features.'The next wave of competition will come from software—how vendors use the foldable form factor to deliver truly differentiated experiences,' said Sheng Win Chow, senior analyst at Canalys. 'Combining multimodal AI with foldable UX unlocks new possibilities, especially in productivity, multitasking, and language tools.'According to Bjørhovde, 'AI features are slowly moving up in the decision hierarchy, particularly in markets such as India and China.'
CNET
09-07-2025
- CNET
Gen Z Deserves a Cute Flip Phone. Samsung's Cheaper Foldable Is Too Pricey to Be It
Every young person today should get to experience the specific fun, flirty pleasure of having a quirky flip phone that is both a fashion accessory and a cutting-edge piece of tech. It's the noughties tech experience in a nutshell – or a clamshell, if you will. But even though folding phones are now more sophisticated than ever thanks to advances in flexible screen technology, the devices on the market are usually extortionately expensive. Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, announced Wednesday at Galaxy Unpacked, starts at an eye-watering $2,000, for example. That's way beyond what most adults are willing to spend on a phone, never mind teens. By contrast, Samsung has long targeted its cheaper Galaxy Flip series at a Gen Z audience – enlisting Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney to endorse the phone and making its front-facing selfie camera a key part of the device's promotion strategy. But two years ago, at the launch of the Galaxy Flip 5, I pointed out that even though the phone was around half the price of the Fold, it was still too expensive. That observation still applies to the latest iterations of the Fold and Flip. Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 2:45 Loaded : 7.20% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 2:45 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 I was thrilled, though, when Samsung announced it had at last added an even cheaper model to its foldables family in the form of the Galaxy Flip 7 FE. The FE has a slightly smaller screen and footprint than the Flip 7, along with a less sophisticated camera system, which has the Flip 7's wide-angle 50-megapixel lens, but not its 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. "Samsung is now offering a broad portfolio catering for different segments and most importantly those price-conscious users," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. At first glance, the Flip 7 FE looks like the flip phone Gen Z has been waiting for. That is, until you look at the price tag. Even though it's cheaper than the $1,100 Flip 7, it's only $200 cheaper at $900. That's still a flagship price for a nonflagship phone. It's not giving affordable, as the kids might say. I'm not the only one to balk at the price of the Flip 7 FE, either. "Extending its foldable portfolio to include the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is a move in the right direction, but it is likely not priced affordably enough to have a significant impact on the market," said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. Foldable phones remain a tricky sell. Market researcher IDC notes that while the market is growing, companies are failing to shift as many devices as predicted. Pricing, it says, is often the No. 1 thing standing in the way of people buying these phones. Demand for foldables remains "stubbornly low," said Wood. "Samsung will still need to overcome consumers' nervousness about foldables as an alternative to a traditional smartphone." So will this be the year the teens get to discover the joy of flip phones? I suspect the hinged devices might still be out of their financial grasp for now. But if Samsung can find a way to make foldables genuinely affordable and not such a big risk, I believe there's hope yet for the flip phone to delight another generation, who deserve the opportunity to melodramatically end a call by snapping shut their phone, before dropping it into their stupidly small clutch bag and heading to an indie-sleaze club night to make some bad decisions.
CNET
09-07-2025
- CNET
I Was Excited About Samsung's Cheaper Folding Phone. Then I Saw the Price
Every young person today should get to experience the specific fun, flirty pleasure of having a quirky flip phone that is both a fashion accessory and a cutting-edge piece of tech. It's the noughties tech experience in a nutshell – or a clamshell, if you will. But even though folding phones are now more sophisticated than ever thanks to advances in flexible screen technology, the devices on the market are usually extortionately expensive. Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, announced Wednesday at Galaxy Unpacked, starts at an eye-watering $2,000, for example. That's way beyond what most adults are willing to spend on a phone, never mind teens. By contrast, Samsung has long targeted its cheaper Galaxy Flip series at a Gen Z audience – enlisting Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney to endorse the phone and making its front-facing selfie camera a key part of the device's promotion strategy. But two years ago, at the launch of the Galaxy Flip 5, I pointed out that even though the phone was around half the price of the Fold, it was still too expensive. That observation still applies to the latest iterations of the Fold and Flip. Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 Click to unmute Video Player is loading. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Next playlist item Unmute Current Time 0:02 / Duration 2:45 Loaded : 7.20% 0:02 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 2:43 Share Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Close Modal Dialog This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 I was thrilled, though, when Samsung announced it had at last added an even cheaper model to its foldables family in the form of the Galaxy Flip 7 FE. The FE has a slightly smaller screen and footprint than the Flip 7, along with a less sophisticated camera system, which has the Flip 7's wide-angle 50-megapixel lens, but not its 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. "Samsung is now offering a broad portfolio catering for different segments and most importantly those price-conscious users," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. At first glance, the Flip 7 FE looks like the flip phone Gen Z has been waiting for. That is, until you look at the price tag. Even though it's cheaper than the $1,100 Flip 7, it's only $200 cheaper at $900. That's still a flagship price for a nonflagship phone. It's not giving affordable, as the kids might say. I'm not the only one to balk at the price of the Flip 7 FE, either. "Extending its foldable portfolio to include the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is a move in the right direction, but it is likely not priced affordably enough to have a significant impact on the market," said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. Foldable phones remain a tricky sell. Market researcher IDC notes that while the market is growing, companies are failing to shift as many devices as predicted. Pricing, it says, is often the No. 1 thing standing in the way of people buying these phones. Demand for foldables remains "stubbornly low," said Wood. "Samsung will still need to overcome consumers' nervousness about foldables as an alternative to a traditional smartphone." So will this be the year the teens get to discover the joy of flip phones? I suspect the hinged devices might still be out of their financial grasp for now. But if Samsung can find a way to make foldables genuinely affordable and not such a big risk, I believe there's hope yet for the flip phone to delight another generation, who deserve the opportunity to melodramatically end a call by snapping shut their phone, before dropping it into their stupidly small clutch bag and heading to an indie-sleaze club night to make some bad decisions.
CNET
09-07-2025
- CNET
Samsung's Cheaper Folding Phone Still Has an Affordability Problem
Every young person today should get to experience the specific fun, flirty pleasure of having a quirky flip phone that is both a fashion accessory and a cutting-edge piece of tech. It's the noughties tech experience in a nutshell – or a clamshell, if you will. Unfortunately, even though folding phones are now more sophisticated than ever thanks to advances in flexible screen technology, the devices on the market are usually extortionately expensive. Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, announced today at Galaxy Unpacked, starts at an eye-watering $2,000, for example. That's way beyond what most adults are willing to spend on a phone, never mind teens. By contrast, Samsung has long targeted its marginally cheaper Galaxy Flip series at a Gen Z audience – enlisting Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney to endorse the phone and making its front-facing selfie camera a key part of the device's promotion strategy. But two years ago, at the launch of the Galaxy Flip 5, I pointed out that even though the phone was around half the price of the Fold, it was still too expensive – an observation that still applies to the latest iterations of the Fold and Flip. I was thrilled, though, when Samsung announced it had at last added an even cheaper model to its foldables family in the form of the Galaxy Flip 7 FE. The FE has a slightly smaller screen and footprint than the Flip 7, along with a less sophisticated camera system, which has the Flip 7's wide-angle 50-megapixel lens, but not its 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens. "Samsung is now offering a broad portfolio catering for different segments and most importantly those price-conscious users," said PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore. At first glance, the Flip 7 FE looks like the flip phone Gen Z has been waiting for. That is, until you look at the price tag. Even though it's cheaper than the $1,100 Flip 7, it's only $200 cheaper at $900. That's still a flagship price for a non-flagship phone. It's not giving affordable, as the kids might say. I'm not the only one to balk at the price of the Flip 7 FE, either. "Extending its foldable portfolio to include the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is a move in the right direction, but it is likely not priced affordably enough to have a significant impact on the market," sid Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight. Foldable phones remain a tricky sell. Market researcher IDC notes that while the market is growing, companies are failing to shift as many devices as predicted. Pricing, it says, is often the No. 1 thing standing in the way of people buying these phones. Demand for foldables remains "stubbornly low," said Wood. "Samsung will still need to overcome consumers' nervousness about foldables as an alternative to a traditional smartphone." So will this be the year the teens get to discover the joy of flip phones? I suspect the hinged devices might still be out of their financial grasp for now. But if Samsung can find a way to make foldables genuinely affordable and not such a big risk, I believe there's hope yet for the flip phone to delight another generation, who deserve to the opportunity to melodramatically end a call by snapping shut their phone, before dropping it into their stupidly small clutch bag and heading to an indie sleaze club night to make some bad decisions.
CNET
08-07-2025
- CNET
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked Watch Party: Join CNET Live as We See What Unfolds
Samsung's next wave of Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Flip phones are likely debuting Wednesday at Galaxy Unpacked, and CNET will be hosting a live watch party right as these reveals take place. CNET's Bridget Carey and Andrew Lanxon will kick off our live coverage at 9:30 a.m. ET (6:30 a.m. PT) on CNET's YouTube channel, counting down the final rumors and what we expect leading into Samsung's Unpacked event. Our livestream will then pivot straight into Samsung's conference when it begins at 10 a.m. ET. After Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked wraps, our live coverage will return to go over all of the new devices. CNET Managing Editor Patrick Holland and Senior Editor Abrar Al-Heeti will join live from Samsung's event in New York, providing their on-the-ground perspective on all the reveals. Send in your questions and comments about the Samsung event in the live chat on CNET's YouTube channel, and you can also follow along with our coverage with our Samsung Unpacked live blog.
