Samsung SA digs in heels over foldables for premium market despite global slowdown

Samsung declined to respond to questions about the recent price increases on the Galaxy Fold 7 and Flip 7 or the disappearance of the 256GB Fold 7 variant from its South African online store. That silence is telling, especially in a market where smartphone sales are slowing and consumers are squeezed.

“Fold users typically remain the most loyal... they upgrade more, and they upgrade faster,” Samsung Mobile SA’s VP for Mobile Justin Hume told Daily Maverick at the local launch. “The base is growing every year.”

Samsung is banking, once again, on deep-pocketed loyalists, an expanding ecosystem and some health tech to keep its margins intact.

Foldable flatline

Globally, foldable smartphones are hitting turbulence. In the first quarter of this year, foldables made up just 1.5% of total smartphone sales in Europe, with year-on-year growth of only 4%, according to Counterpoint Research. That’s a sharp slowdown from previous years, and some analysts are calling it a warning sign.

“Most consumers are still not sure what a foldable phone is for,” said Counterpoint’s Jan Stryjak. “And many still have concerns about durability and longevity.”

Despite this, Samsung continues to dominate the category, but that lead is shrinking. In 2024, global foldable shipments rose 12% to 17.2 million units, yet Samsung’s market share fell from 54% to 45%. And 2025 isn’t looking much better, with “no further growth” forecast.

Hume acknowledges these headwinds, but argues that in South Africa’s premium segment, what he calls the “R1,000 market and above” (in terms of monthly contract spend), consumer spending is still resilient.

“That market is either corporate-driven, business owners and the like, and there’s this imperviousness to some of the economic conditions.”

Samsung’s best-selling device in the country? The S25 Ultra, outperforming even the entry-level Galaxy S25.

Flipping the market

For those not willing to drop over R40,000 on a Galaxy Fold 7, Samsung has released the Flip 7 FE, a more affordable version of its clamshell foldable, aimed at making foldables more accessible. At least in theory. 

Priced at R22,800 (another mysterious price increase for the 256GB version, but the 128GB is curiously absent), it uses in-house silicon and borrows design cues from the Flip 6 to deliver a slimmed-down, but still premium experience.

“We can now land this product at R799 [on contract] for that customer,” Hume said, referring to users on older Flip 4 contracts. “Yes, it’s not as highly specced. But compared to somebody who’s only seen the Flip 3 or 4, it’s night and day.”

The Flip 7 FE is a potential upgrade path for users in that pricing bracket, but its pricing still places it in the high-end category and that the narrow gap between the FE and full-spec Flip 7 may limit its appeal as a more affordable alternative.

A data privacy play

Samsung isn’t just betting on specs. A key part of the Fold 7’s value proposition is its integration of KEEP (Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection), which enables on-device encrypted storage that doesn’t send sensitive user data to the cloud.

“Your smart toilet could become the point of vulnerability,” Hume quipped, highlighting Samsung’s concern with AI-driven data access. “We manage all that environment from your handset.”

This is part of a broader push to challenge Apple’s dominance in the privacy conversation. But convincing users that Samsung’s approach is trustworthy, especially when it’s “free”, is a work in progress.

That free references Samsung South Africa’s partnership with Aura to launch Samsung SOS+, a free 12-month emergency response service for owners of the Galaxy A56, A36, and A26 smartphones. Hume recounts a general reluctance in the target market to make use of the service.

“The market that hasn’t been exposed to that is still trying to work out what exactly that means for them,” said Hume. “It’s good, but it’s too good to be true.”

It’s all still a proof of concept, but Samsung is in a unique position to leverage its Knox platform to provide secure device tracking once users hit the panic button.

Taking the fight to the wrist

While Samsung leads the pack in wearables bundled with phone purchases with an estimated 80% share of network-based smartwatch sales in South Africa, the brand still struggles in standalone retail sales.

“In pure retail, we know it’s an issue,” Hume admitted. “Our competitors definitely do an incredible job.”

Globally, the wearables market isn’t growing as fast as it used to. In 2024, it grew just 5.4%, with projections dropping to 4.1% in 2025. 

Smartwatch sales declined by 4.5% in 2024 and are expected to recover only modestly this year. The big winners? Hearables, which grew by nearly 9% and remain the largest wearables category worldwide.

Even so, Samsung is leaning into health as its killer wearable feature. The Galaxy Watch 8 features new sensors to measure vascular load and antioxidant levels.

The Watch 8 Classic model also marks the return of the rotating bezel, and Samsung hopes to win over users by giving them full control over their health data. “The empowerment sits with you,” Hume said. “You control access. Not the third party.”

But with all the sudden price increases and general market decline, the local market will show whether the now flat folding smartphones hit the right note. DM