Samsung fifth-generation folding phones, the Z Fold5 and the Z Flip5, will cement its lead in the foldables segment despite growing competition from Google, Motorola, Oppo, and Xiaomi.
Apple is the only major brand absent in this segment.
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Samsung announced its new foldable phones, the Z Fold5 and the Z Flip5, as well as the Galaxy Watch 6 series and the Galaxy Tab S9 series of tablets, at its Unpacked event in Seoul, South Korea. The $999 Z Flip5 comes with a larger 3.4-inch front display, a 3,700-mAh battery, a flat-folding Flex Hinge, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Gen 2. The $1,799 Z Fold5 also includes a 4400-mAh battery, a 7.6-inch main screen, a 6.2-inch front screen, and an S-Pen. The phones will be available starting 11 August 2023, and pre-orders have already begun.
Promotional blitz from Samsung
Samsung continues to indicate how important foldables are to its device strategy by persistently holding a separate ‘Unpacked’ event for its folding phones. Substantial pre-order deals from carriers as well as Samsung that make the Z Flip5 available for free will be highly appealing for consumers. Flip phone rivals like Motorola will be hard-pressed to compete with this promotional blitz. Samsung is following its Galaxy S23 strategy by giving consumers “more” for the same price in this time of inflationary stress; the Z Flip 5 costs the same as its predecessor at $999 but doubles the base storage to 256 GB.
Samsung is on its fifth iteration of its Z folding line and is continuously improving its features. The company has no competition for its notebook-style Z Fold5 in the US, except for Google’s first-generation Pixel Fold. Other rivals like Oppo and Xiaomi compete largely in China, but Motorola’s newest razr+ has a front screen large enough to rival the Z Flip5. Motorola is also launching a cheaper version of its flip-folding razr series, expected to cost less than $1,000 in Q4 2023. Consumers will be more likely to experiment with an affordable folding phone, thereby expanding its reach and target user base, challenging Samsung’s dominance.
Apple is now an outlier
Most major Android OEMs have a foldable phone to their name, including relatively newer entrants like OnePlus. One name remains consistently absent: Apple. So far, Apple has shown no sign of interest in this segment, although rumors abound of a 2025 folding phone/tablet launch. Current foldables are not compelling enough for iOS users to switch to Android in droves, but they are driving some defection.
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By GlobalDataMotorola reported that 20% of new razr users in North America during 2022 were former iOS users. But Motorola sits far behind Apple in smartphone shipments, with Apple’s market share more than ten times that of Motorola, so the defection numbers are small.
However, the foldable phone segment has seen rapid growth, and amid a stagnating phone market as the category widens with more and affordable choices, the iOS-to-Android switches might start to sting Apple.
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