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Samsung Electronics
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Samsung pours more resources to risky foldable smartphones bet after strong debut

  • Samsung is counting on foldable handsets to lead the charge against arch rival Apple’s perennial bestselling iPhone this holiday season
  • The South Korean electronics giant offers nearly identical specifications, including 5G and water resistance, to its foldable and regular smartphones

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Pedestrians walk past an advertisement for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Z Fold3 and Flip3 smartphones at an underground shopping area in Seoul, South Korea, on October 8, 2021. Photo: Agence France-Presse
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics is pouring more money into its gamble that folding smartphones will become the next big thing, as it projects a surge in sales of the novel handsets.
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Foldable smartphone sales are expected to increase by several times in 2021 from the previous year and continue significant growth in 2022, Samsung said on Thursday without providing a specific forecast. Its display division is expanding foldable panel production and making supplemental investments to pre-emptively address what the company sees as rising demand for the category.

“We think that we have succeeded in starting and leading the mainstreaming of foldables in the market,” said Kim Sung-koo, a vice-president from Samsung’s mobile division during a conference call to discuss the company’s latest earnings on Thursday.

The South Korean electronics giant launched the third-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip in August, breaking new ground by pricing the smaller device at US$999 and promising to put the full force of its global marketing juggernaut behind the category. Powered by the Z Flip 3, the line-up sold a million units in South Korea at the fastest pace for any Samsung smartphone in two years, the company has said.

A man checks out smartphone accessories at the Samsung Electronics gallery inside the South Korean technology company’s headquarters in Seoul on October 8, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE
A man checks out smartphone accessories at the Samsung Electronics gallery inside the South Korean technology company’s headquarters in Seoul on October 8, 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE
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Samsung is counting on the devices to lead the charge against Apple’s perennial bestselling iPhone this holiday season. It skipped releasing a Note device this year and instead used its late-summer launch window to put the focus squarely on its foldable devices.
The push into a novel smartphone form factor paid off for Samsung a decade ago when it introduced the Galaxy Note. It pioneered the larger screen sizes that have become common today and differentiated its devices with a unique stylus that has since also shown up in Apple’s iPads and Microsoft Corp’s Surface devices.
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