What you need to know
- Samsung's Head of Mobile Business, TM Roh discussed with reporters following Unpacked the company's plans and estimates for foldable sales in 2024.
- There are hopes that the Flip 6 and Fold 6's advancements in AI and other aspects can boost its sales by 10% over the 2023 series.
- The Flip 5 and Fold 5 shattered pre-order records for Samsung in South Korea, as the brand achieved 1.02 million pre-orders.
Following Samsung's Unpacked, the company started discussing its hopes for its latest foldables, which involves increasing its sales.
The company's Head of Mobile, TM (Tae-moon) Roh, spoke with Yonhap News and reporters following the event to discuss sales figures (via GSMArena). Roh informed the press that the company aims "to sell 10 percent more of new products compared with the previous model released last year."
He added, "This time, we've introduced products that are more complete and immaculate in every aspect, such as the camera and battery." These aspects may facilitate the "better results" Samsung expects from its 2024 foldable devices.
Roh then discussed the "user-friendly" features provided through the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6 thanks to Qualcomm. Both devices feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy SoC in all regions. When the SD 8 Gen 3 debuted, the headliner was its strong focus on boosting the on-device AI capabilities of future flagship devices. The chip then provided boosts to a phone's CPU and GPU processes.
Samsung states the chip helps its foldable phones by "optimizing" its AI features and "enhancing" other basic functions.
It remains to be seen how well Samsung's 2024 foldables perform, however, the Flip 5 and Fold 5 shattered pre-order records last year. The numbers stemmed from South Korea, where the company amassed a whopping 1.02 million foldable preorders. Among them, the Flip 5 took the crown with 70% of the cut.
Those sales broke Samsung's previous highest tallied count of 970,000 pre-order sales for its Galaxy foldable phones on home soil. With Roh estimating (and hoping) for a 10% growth in sales back by Galaxy AI, it's going to be interesting to see where consumer interest falls.
However, it's worth noting that Samsung's showing of the Fold 6 wasn't that impressive, leaving some to ponder if the upgrade is worth it. Aside from its AI focus, there was little by way of innovation from the Korean OEM's folding devices. Let's also not forget that the devices came at an extra cost — roughly $100.
