In some months time, the Seoul giant will release its foldable handsets for 2025:
The way things are going – and I truly wish to be wrong here – these will be just another brick in the wall.
Samsung is throwing a foldable fiasco fest, and the duo, especially the Galaxy Z Flip 7, seems at the mercy of Samsung’s worst enemy and biggest rival: Huawei.
On a side note: in a parallel universe, we could be talking about Apple instead of Huawei; in the reality we inhabit, though, Cupertino has been chickening out from the foldable form factor so far.
Let me explain why I make these bold predictions about Samsung and the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7. Let’s see where Huawei and its upcoming clamshell by the name of Pocket 3 fit in.
The numbers have spoken
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 haven’t been a hit. | Image credit – PhoneArena
I know, I get it: statistics can be bent, manipulated and made to dance to any tune. Still, sales statistics do tell us something about a given product and more so – about its parent company and the market context.
While the Galaxy S24 series have turned out to be an unexpected hit – bravo, Samsung! – their Fold and Flip phones from 2024 didn’t get much attention market-wise. By “didn’t get much attention” I mean they were a flop for a company the size of Samsung.
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 faced disappointing sales, performing even worse than their already underwhelming predecessors, the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5.
By December 2024, total sales for both devices reached just 5.21 million units, barely improving from 4.9 million in November.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 struggled the most, selling only around 80,000 units in December, while the pricier Z Fold 6 fared slightly better, increasing from 2.09 million to 2.32 million.
In contrast, the Galaxy S24 series saw strong demand, surpassing 37 million units sold.
But what if the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 restore Samsung’s foldable lineup? That’s not what early expectations suggest; the rumor mill has it that minimal innovation will be at play once again in Samsung’s foldables.
“Shame! Shame!”, as Septa Unella once said
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is performing better than the Flip 6, but it’s not a star. | Image credit – PhoneArena
OK, there’s no need for Samsung to take the walk of atonement. But there it seems there isn’t a shortage of shortcomings when it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7:
In short, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 are shaping up to be underwhelming upgrades, recycling many elements from their predecessors.
The Fold 7 could be essentially a global version of the Z Fold 6 Special Edition, featuring a larger screen but lacking S Pen support due to the absence of a digitizer. While it could gain a 200MP camera and improved speakers, its design choices suggest minimal ambition from Samsung.
Performance concerns arise with potential regional chipset splits, where some markets might receive an Exynos 2500 instead of the Snapdragon 8 Elite, mirroring past variance.
The Z Flip 7, while maintaining its appeal (it’s a Samsung phone, after all), could suffer from stagnation in camera hardware, while competitors offer more interesting configurations. With pricing expected to remain high, the lack of meaningful innovation could make Samsung’s foldables struggle… again.
Huawei’s big mouth
The Huawei Pocket 2 looks bold, but I’m aware that some would call it ugly. | Image credit – Huawei
I’m deliberately not mentioning other amazing foldables, like the thin as a pancake Magic V3 by Honor and the OnePlus Open. I’m focused on Huawei, since the Chinese giant overtook Samsung as the top foldable smartphone manufacturer in early 2023, though Samsung regained the lead by Q3. However, if rumors about Huawei’s upcoming Pocket 3 prove true, the company could once again surpass Samsung in the foldable market this year.
Also, Huawei promised us something pretty interesting:
Huawei is expected to launch a product in March that no one can think of. After the product is on the market, people all over the country will rush to buy it and everyone will be able to afford it.
– Yu Chengdong, chairman, Huawei’s Consumer Business Group
So far, no juicy rumors have dropped about the potential Pocket 3 and its specs. What I find most intriguing is the last part of the aforementioned statement: that everyone will be able to afford it. That means cheap.A cheap (but fairly capable) foldable means a potential hit, that’s just my humble opinion.
When it comes out, we’ll discuss what it actually means for the smartphone market.
Until then, Samsung can do one thing (besides actually boosting their foldable game) and one thing only: pray and hope that Huawei doesn’t release the Pocket 3 globally.
Oh, wait, I almost forgot: Huawei is still heavily sanctioned and people outside of China were forced to ditch it. How convenient for Samsung! It turns out that it can, in fact, sell us the same phone twice, given that no real competition is present.
