I don’t typically get requested in regards to the telephones I’m testing after I’m out and about, except it’s a folding telephone. Then I often hear some model of the identical factor: “Oh, I considered getting a kind of! However then I simply received a [insert slab-style phone name here].” My anecdotal information matches the precise gross sales figures; there are a lot of extra folks interested by folding telephones than there are buyers of folding phones. Samsung would very very similar to that to not be the case, and, by all indications, it’s about to drag out all of the stops at at its Unpacked event on July ninth. However is placing the Extremely title on a folding telephone sufficient?
The weak gross sales are usually not for lack of attempting — Samsung has been attempting to promote us on foldables for a good chunk of the last decade, and Google also got in the game a few years in the past. Motorola has had substantial success promoting clamshell-style flip telephones; Counterpoint Analysis discovered that the model’s foldable market share grew 253 percent year-over-year in 2024. However that’s a much bigger piece of a really small pie. TrendForce estimated that foldables made up simply 1.5 % of the general smartphone market in 2024. Within the US, Samsung was the earliest and loudest folding telephone maker, however a half dozen iterations of folding telephones hasn’t managed to make a major dent.
The corporate has all however confirmed that we’ll get an Ultra-branded Fold for the primary time, with a thinner profile to rival the latest efforts from Honor and Oppo. The Z Flip 7 is more likely to get a bigger, Razr-style screen that covers a lot of the entrance panel, and we would see a cheaper FE version with the outdated cowl display design. That each one appears to handle a few frequent complaints about foldables: they’re too dear and include too many tradeoffs in comparison with a slab-style telephone.
I’m not fairly certain it’ll be sufficient, although. Foldables stay extra vulnerable to break from mud than a regular flagship telephone — and repairs may be pricier. Regardless of saying years in the past that it’s pursuing full dustproofing, Samsung doesn’t appear to have cracked the code on a completely IP68-rated foldable simply but. Taking an opportunity on an costly telephone that’s much less sturdy than your typical $1,000 flagship? That’s sort of an enormous ask, particularly with costs on every part else we purchase going up, too.
It’s not all doom and gloom for foldables, nevertheless. Analysts are placing lots of inventory in rumors of a folding phone from Apple coming in 2026. An iFold or no matter it could be known as might assist increase the market, at the least within the US, and possibly that rising tide would float Samsung’s boat, too. Possibly a few new fashions hitting completely different worth segments is sufficient to get Samsung’s marketshare rising once more — a method that has worked well for the company up to now. Possibly an Extremely foldable with extremely specs will persuade some individuals who have been on the fence about folding telephones. And if anybody was holding out for an additional hinge, effectively, Samsung might just have that covered, too.
Images by Allison Johnson / The Verge