Samsung Unveiled New Foldable Smartphones Ahead of Apple's Expected Entry into This Market

Samsung Electronics unveiled a new generation of Galaxy Z foldable smartphones, expanding the lineup to three models and raising prices for its flagship devices. The company aims to strengthen its position in a segment that could undergo significant changes as early as this year—following the long-awaited release of Apple’s first foldable iPhone. Samsung’s stock jumped more than 3% at the opening bell on July 23.

At a presentation in London on July 22, Samsung announced three new devices in its Galaxy Z series of foldable smartphones: the new flagship Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, the standard Galaxy Z Fold8, and the Galaxy Z Flip8. The lineup now features support for Alphabet’s Gemini AI system.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra will cost $2,099—$100 more than last year’s model, which was previously Samsung’s most expensive and flagship foldable smartphone. The price of the Galaxy Z Flip 8 has also been raised by $100, while the standard Z Fold 8 will occupy the mid-range segment at $1,899.

The new Z Fold8 is shaped like a passport, just like the Google Pixel Fold, with a 5.5-inch external screen and a 7.6-inch internal display. The Fold8 Ultra offers a more advanced feature set than the Fold8, including a triple-camera system with wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lenses, as well as a telephoto lens.

At the same time, the Fold8’s dimensions are virtually identical to those of a yet-to-be-released iPhone model: 5.35 inches when folded and 7.58 inches when unfolded, according to sources cited by David Naranjo, deputy director of Counterpoint Research, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Samsung remains the largest manufacturer of foldable smartphones, with a share of about 40% of the global market, while Huawei holds about 30%, according to a 2025 estimate by Counterpoint Research cited by Yahoo Finance. Once Apple releases its foldable device, the company’s analysts believe it could capture 25% of this market. Bloomberg notes that the new device could be released in September.

"From a strategic standpoint, this is one of the most important launches of foldable smartphones for Samsung. The company needs to defend the market segment it created itself, so it can’t afford to be too cautious right now,” Francisco Geronimo, vice president of research firm IDC, told Reuters.

Samsung, like other players in the industry, is having to operate amid a sharp rise in component costs. Memory and storage account for more than 30% of the cost of premium smartphones, and chip prices have risen due to high demand from the AI industry and limited supply, Reuters reports. “In devices costing more than $1,500, memory accounts for a significantly smaller share of the total cost of goods sold than in mid-range smartphones. That’s why it’s easier for manufacturers to offset rising chip prices in the high-end segment,” the agency quotes Omdia senior analyst Sheng-Wing Chou as saying. “The main question is: how to justify such a price. A larger screen alone is no longer enough.”

Some analysts expect Samsung's mobile division to post a quarterly loss for the first time due to pressure on production margins, although the company's semiconductor business, by contrast, is benefiting from rising memory prices, Reuters notes.

IDC forecasts that the global smartphone market could shrink by a record 14% in 2026, while shipments of foldable devices will grow by about 20%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor