Foldables will be making a larger contribution this year, Samsung India says

Samsung’s foldable and flip phones are getting more traction in non-metros and rural areas compared to urban, Aditya Babbar, Senior Director of Mobile Business at Samsung India told The Hindu. And, owning these smartphones has become easier as more financing options are now available, he added.

The South Korean electronics major claims that its fifth-generation foldable phones, launched in India in July, have received 1,50,000 pre-bookings. While the Galaxy Z Flip5 caters to younger buyers, the Galaxy Z Fold5 targets business users.

“This year, we have increased the availability of foldables by 50% in stores, which is helping us get more numbers,” Mr. Babbar said.

In response to a question on increase in price on the base variant of Flip5 compared to Flip4 last year, he said the company has made progress in design, making the phone slimmer, its display brighter, and the cover screen bigger -- cover screen of Flip5 is 3.4-inch this year, compared to 1.9-inch last year.

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On Fold5’s camera and battery being left untouched this year, Mr. Babbar noted that there have been improvements, not on the hardware part, but other elements like a new SoC (Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in this case), with an improved Image Signal Processor (ISP) capability.

Mr. Babbar brushed off the idea of Samsung making Fan Edition (FE) variant of the foldables which can be affordable and within reach for large section of society at the moment. The Fan Edition is generally the lite version of the premium phones at lower price point.

Samsung foldables are majorly made in India with some parts being assembled here, Mr. Babbar said. (Samsung has its manufacturing unit in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.)

Samsung now has the fifth generation of foldables in the market, but brands like Oppo, Motorola, Tecno are also making foldables. OnePlus and Honor are also intending to launch their foldables soon, intensifying competition in this space. On competition, Mr. Babbar said, “We welcome players in this segment as people will have more choices. Our ecosystem makes us distinct.”

Samsung is bullish on Diwali, and second half of FY23 with double digit growth as it sees demand in foldables, premium and 5G smartphones. He further added, “People are moving towards new tech even though average selling price is increasing and that is a healthy sign for us and the market. We will be making a larger contribution coming from foldables this year.”