Newest Samsung foldables to hit market in August

Anticipated rendering of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold 4, which was issued by Smartprix. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Samsung Electronics is expected to reveal the latest models of its foldable duo — the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip — in August, following lower-than-expected sales of its Galaxy S22.

The smartphone maker is schedule to offer a first glimpse at the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 at an Unpacked event in New York, according to multiple media reports. If so, the event would be a return to normal after two years of virtual product announcements.

“Samsung Electronics will launch the two foldables in August [following the Unpacked event], as it had done with the previous models,” said a source with knowledge of the release.

Samsung Electronics declined to comment on or confirm the media reports.

The folding pair is reportedly powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, a successor to Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 used in the Galaxy S22 series.

Qualcomm announced last month that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 offers a 10 percent increase in the clock speeds of the graphics processing unit (GPU) and a 30 percent jump in energy consumption for the central processing unit (CPU) compared to its predecessor.

The 8 Gen 1 was manufactured by Samsung Electronics and the 8+ Gen 1 by Taiwan’s TSMC.

The Korean manufacturer came under fire with the Galaxy S22 line as a pre-installed app called Game Optimizing Service significantly throttles the performance of apps.

Market analysts predict that Samsung Electronics will likely come with lower price tags to boost sales and overcome the previous fiasco.

“Samsung will seek to improve its reputation hurt by the Game Optimizing Service controversy by selling the foldable phones at competitive prices,” Lee Dong-joo, an analyst at SK Securities, predicted.

Ross Young, co-founder and CEO of market tracker DSCC, echoed the view.
“One of the interesting developments to watch in 2022 will be how the Fold 4 performs,” Young said in a recent report.

"We believe Samsung has recently increased its expectations for this product and is expecting faster growth for the Fold 4 versus the Flip 4, which likely signals a lower launch price than last year’s $1,799."

Despite unfavorable market conditions for smartphones, the analyst presented lofty expectations for folding smartphone products, a segment dominated by Samsung Electronics.

“While 2022 will be a challenging year for most display applications, foldable smartphones will see strong growth,” he said, projecting a 107 percent increase in foldable smartphone shipments to over 16 million units for this year.

“Driving the growth will be Samsung’s ambitious plans for its upcoming Z Flip 4 and Z Fold 4 launch as well as contributions from new models in the second half of 2022 from three other brands,” the analyst noted in the report.

BY PARK EUN-JEE, KIM TAE-YUN [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]