About a third of voters in last week’s poll just don’t care about foldables. But the rest of them do – would they pick a Samsung foldable? The majority of them say they would, both of the new Z series models proved quite popular.
When it comes to the choice between the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Z Fold4, the former reignited some people’s love for flip phones, the latter appealed to those looking for powerful productivity not possible on a small screen.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 won over 46% of voters with only 14% preferring foldables from other brands. Some might not have that choice as Samsung is in the enviable position of being the only real supplier of foldables in much of the world.
In places where there are viable alternatives, the discussion often boiled down to the form factor – the Z Fold4 is a big and heavy device. There’s no way around that, but it would be a real boon if the hinge could close without a gap. Samsung recently revealed that the hinge design is limited by the need to add dust and water resistance to the phone (the Galaxy Z models are the only foldables with an IP rating). The risk of a splash of water or a small piece of grit sending you to the store for an expensive repair is not acceptable to Samsung.
Other discussions involved the aspect ratios of displays, the 23:9 or so of the cover display of the new model is a marked improvement over the Z Fold3, but some would want to see it go down to 21:9.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 revealed an interesting divide – some were happy to see flip phones go the way of the dodo in the late 2000s, others miss them dearly. That latter group is the larger one as the Flip scored better percentage-wise than the Fold with basically 50% of votes going in its favor.
For both foldables a small contingent (around 5%) is holding on to their older models. Of course, foldables are still a new category so the majority of the would be owners is new buyers rather than ones looking to upgrade.
As always, there was the consideration of price. Samsung expects the Galaxy Z foldables to surpass the Galaxy S series by 2025 in the flagship segment. Also, mobile boss TM Roh said that “Foldables will become the new standard of smartphones,” which will also require more affordable models.
2025 is three years away. We are also three years away from 2019 when the first Galaxy Fold hit the market. If Samsung is right, we’re halfway to the era when foldables dominate the market.
