Samsung is reportedly looking to focus less on its flagship Galaxy S and affordable Galaxy A lines and concentrate more on its foldable line as it looks to catch up with the dominant iPhone.
Samsung might still be the top smartphone manufacturer in the world, but Apple’s iPhone continues to be the biggest seller. Put another way, Apple doesn’t sell as many smartphones as Samsung overall, but the handful of premium models it does offer tend to sell better than their Samsung counterparts.
The South Korean manufacturer is looking to address that disparity with a fresh foldable focus, if a recent Korea Times report is accurate.
The two companies are set to clash at the top end of the market in the second half of 2022 – Apple with the iPhone 14 line, Samsung with its Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 foldables.
According to industry analysts, Samsung is planning to focus more on this emerging foldable market in a bid to “catch up with iPhone”, as it has “lagged behind” its American rival.
In order to take on the iPhone, the company will allegedly lower sales targets for its Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy A lines. This would encompass Samsung’s current flagship Galaxy S22 line, as well as popular affordable phones like the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G.
Samsung will instead focus on selling its new foldables phones from August onwards.
Given that 2021 was Samsung’s best year yet for foldable phone sales, that’s perhaps not quite as surprising as it initially seems. According to the company, it shipped four times more foldable phones in 2021 than it did in 2020 off the back of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3.
There’s another driver for such a move beyond simply taking the fight to Apple. Inflationary market forces tend to have a bigger effect on sales of affordable phones than on higher priced flagship phones.
In other words, those with the money to spend £1,600 on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 or Galaxy Z Fold 3 are still quite likely to have the money to splash out on its successor.
