Samsung’s new foldables are a victory lap… One it might not actually deserve
Samsung’s done good…but are they choosing not to do better?
Last week Samsung introduced its Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 devices, it’s latest foldable offerings that garnered an adequate amount of praise despite not necessarily blowing up the internet. The phones are more a refinement of last years devices, the Fold and Flip 3, but that’s mostly a good thing as what matters more here is these devices become more durable, reliable and recommendable to the average person, something that Samsung is claiming this year. But while Samsung can definitely be commended for its iterative improvement of these devices, another aspect that should definitely be pointed out is that it kind of seems like the only player in this space, especially to most people, and that’s not true. In fact, without certain advantages the company has enjoyed, you might realise Samsung’s victory lap in foldable is a little unearned considering the competition.
Now again let’s make it clear that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 are great devices, and probably the most refined foldable on the planed. There’s no huge design changes on the outside but multiple little refinements to make the designs that Samsung came up with some years ago now stick and be more reliable. Again that’s great to hear, but unless you were specifically keeping your eye on foldables last week, you may have missed 2 devices that may surpass Samsung’s devices both in design and features : The Motorola Razr 2 and the Xiaomi MI MIIX Fold 2 as well. Both these devices are obviously from different manufacturers,2 of the few that actually challenge Samsung in the foldable space(in China and Asia that is), and they each aim for one of Samsung’s 2 foldables while touting differentiating designs or features of their own.
Let’s start with the RAZR. Meant to obviously take on the Z Flip like it’s predecessor, the 2022 Razr is poised to directly challenge Samsung in almost every Stat/Spec where it counts, having the same Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Chip, more RAM (12GB vs 8GB), a faster screen (144Hz vs 120Hz), and higher megapixel cameras with two 50MP shooters on the back and a 32GB front camera, vs the Samsung’s 12MP and 10 MP setups. It lacks the minimal water resistance of the Z Flip 4 but has an arguably more durable folding screen with no crease unlike the Samsung. The only bad thing about it (minus the slightly odd back camera arrangement) is the fact that right now it’s exclusive to China.
Why that is, I don’t know, but Motorola did exclaim that they will likely roll it out to other countries soon. Either way it muddies the waters on what seems like a solid offer.
Then there’s the phone meant to take on the Fold 4. Now , I’ll start by saying that while it’s had some notable competitors/alternatives with this form factor(Oppo’s Find N, Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2), Samsung’s kind of had the bigger, tablet-like foldable on lock for a while now. After all this is the fourth generation of this thing(technically the fifth if you count the original Galaxy Fold’s redesign) , so by now they kind of have their formula locked down. What you get with a Galaxy Fold is a huge screen inside, and impressive, usable screen on the outside, Samsung level cameras, impressive speed and nowadays even an optional S-Pen, along with the fit and finish to call your device a luxury Samsung phone. But Samsung still has a few key design choices that not everyone agrees with, starting with the crease on the screen similar to the Galaxy Flip’s (but far more pronounced on the Fold’s bigger screen). Add in it’s longer but narrower design and you also have it being thicker than devices like Microsoft’s Surface Duo. Xiaomi seemingly looked at these flaws and (like it does in its other phones as of late)and decided it’ll just make a phone that matches everything Samsung does and fixes the flaws Samsung made. The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 has a similar screen size, cameras and other specs to the Z Fold 4 but has Three key differences:
It’s slimmer, being 5.4mm thick in the tablet mode vs 6.3mm on the Galaxy Fold 4 and 12mm folded vs 14mm on the Fold
It has basically no crease , due to a different (and maybe more durable) folding mechanism
It’s $200 – $500 cheaper than the Fold based on the version you buy.
In fact, that last point is one of the biggest ones. Samsung claimed it was making foldables more accessible the last few years but the Z Fold 4 is $1800. That’s enough money to buy two MacBook Airs if you know where to look. And Samsung is charging that because both the RAZR and Mi Fold 2 are currently China exclusive. Even the RAZR starts at around $800 compared to the $1000 charged for the Flip 4, but again, Samsung won’t bother adjusting for that because it doesn’t have to. To put it simply, it owns the foldable market, at least internationally. After all think about it, with it’s push to bring these things even as close as South Africa, the only foldables you’ve ever seen is probably a Samsung one. Just like for a time, the iPhone defined what a smartphone was, Samsung kind of defines the foldable space for most people right now, especially in the biggest markets which are the US and Europe. And unfortunately none of the major challengers have taken it on in those markets.
Even Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2, which actually does deserve a second look from most people and is starting to carve a sort of niche for itself, fell on its face at first due to software bugs and basically everyone decided only the Z Fold matters. So now Samsung goes unrestrained in the foldable market. And don’t get us wrong here, we think their work with foldables has been phenomenal . On some level they basically created the category. But a little competition is always needed, that’s how tech remains exciting after all.
So does Samsung deserve it’s victory lap? For now, kind of. After all it’s the only one still in the race. Hopefully however, that changes soon, and this foldable race becomes one worth watching. I know for sure that will be a much better time to observe.
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