Samsung's Big Bet On Foldables

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 have firmly established Samsung as the smartphone world’s trailblazer

-  Afzal Rawuther

Foldables haven’t been around for too long. And, truth be told, they don’t make up significant volumes for any manufacturer yet. But we have seen several foldable devices launched in the past couple of years. It can also be said that the media attention that foldables have received is clearly disproportionate to the demand that it has seen. Much of this can be directly attributed to the time, resources, and marketing muscle that Samsung has devoted to it. All other manufacturers, meanwhile, only seem to be testing the waters with their foldable phones. Samsung, on the other hand, has committed itself to its foldable line-up, so much so that reports are now emerging that Samsung might discontinue the Note Series and focus its energies on foldables.

While there are strong contenders like last year’s Motorola Razr and the Huawei Mate Xs, when compared with Samsung’s line-up, they are seriously underwhelming — one because of the hardware compromises it makes, and the other for the lack of Google apps and services. And then there is also the price. The two phones I mentioned above cost way too much for what they offer. While the Huawei is a technically accomplished smartphone, the Motorola’s major draw is nostalgia, along with the fact that among other such foldables, it is the one that will fit most comfortably in the palm.