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Samsung expects foldable phones to go mainstream in high-end segment

Max Wang, Taipei; Yusin Hu, DIGITIMES Asia 0

Samsung foldable phones. Credit: DIGITIMES

Samsung Electronics Taiwan is lowering the prices of its high-end foldable phones in Taiwan with a substantial marketing budget to promote new models Galaxy Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3.

Samsung Taiwan cited Strategy Analytics as forecasting that global demand for foldable phones is expected to reach 6.5 million units in 2021, three times as high as in 2020. By 2025, global shipments of foldable phones are projected to break 100 million units with a CAGR at 113%.

Samsung's lower-price of the two new foldable models will be about NT$30,000 (US$1,073), almost on a par with some high-end Samsung Galaxy S series smartphones. But Samsung said the high-end smartphone market is getting more and more demassified and each model series has its own target customer group.

Samsung Taiwan vice president Jacob Chen said they have doubled the budget for marketing the new foldable phones compared to that for the Note series, and expect to see the foldable phones' sales reach the level that the flagship Note series had last year.

Chen said the team is confident in seeing higher sales, given that fordable phone sales in South Korea have exceeded expectations. Although upstream supply in the Southeast Asia has been affected by the resurgence of COVID since June, Samsung Taiwan is confident in satisfying demand fully at least until the end of this year.