Samsung says foldables will be ‘the new standard’ of smartphones by 2025

Ben Schoon | Aug 12 2022 - 1:38 pm PT

Foldable smartphones finally caught some traction with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and, even more so, the Galaxy Z Flip 3. Now, as the next round hits the market, Samsung believes that over the next few years, foldables will become the brand’s most popular premium smartphones.

The Korea Herald reports that Samsung lead Roh Tae-moon said during an NYC press conference this week that the company believes foldables will make up “over 50%” of premium phones sold by Samsung in the next few years. Specifically, Samsung believes this change will occur by 2025.

By 2025, foldable items will take up more than 50 percent of Samsung‘s total premium smartphone shipments. Foldables will become the new standard of smartphones.
Roh Tae-moon

Samsung, of course, is currently the market leader on foldable smartphones. This report cites data from Omdia that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3 sold around 7.1 million units combined, comprised primarily of the Z Flip 3, with the market as a whole being around 9 million units in total – ahead of the Fold 4 launch, Samsung claimed 10 million foldables sold worldwide by all manufacturers.

Still, 7.1 million is a far cry from being Samsung’s most popular lineup by volume. The company shipped an estimated 271.5 million devices in 2021, mostly made up of affordable and mid-range devices.

But in the premium sector, Samsung is actually closer to this goal than you might think.

The Galaxy S21 series reportedly shipped around 20 to 25 million units, and it was reported recently that the Galaxy S22 Ultra is on track to ship around 11 million units on its own this year. At 7.1 million units last year, foldables might already make up roughly 30% of Samsung’s premium smartphones. And that’s before considering that the foldable market is only expected to grow, with Counterpoint claiming earlier this week that the market will see 16 million devices shipped in 2022, and 26 million in 2023.

We expect the new Galaxy Fold 4 and Flip 4 combo to continue Samsung’s momentum in the space and sell close to 9m units this year, helping the company’s H2 2022 foldables share to jump to 80%.
Counterpoint Research