This week Samsung revealed its latest lineup of foldable phones in the form of the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Flip 4.

The fourth iterations in the foldables space for Samsung, which is still in its infancy at three years old, it looks like Samsung is one of the few smartphone markers pushing forward this market.

Pre-pandemic there was fervour surrounding foldables, but in the years since, the South Korean firm appears to the only one to keep with it.

Is Samsung essentially competing against itself? Is there indeed an appetite for such devices locally? Can we expect an evolution into new form factors?

These are some of the questions that we asked Samsung Mobile South Africa VP, Justin Hume, at the local Galaxy Unpacked event earlier this week. While there is indeed scope to expand the foldable lineup, Hume remained tight-lipped on what could be on the way.

That said, he did provide some insight into just where Samsung’s foldables are heading and the surprising uptake of these devices in South Africa.

This is what he had to say.

Hypertext: Samsung’s foldable journey until now has been 10 years in the marking, with the market itself only three years old. While that is a short period of time, what do you think the evolution of Samsung’s foldables will be?

Justin Hume: “I can’t give away an actual product, but I can reference the fact that we are spending a lot of R&D investment into creation of the foldable category.

We see huge potential in having devices that have a degree of compactness for example, but also the mobility requirement within our current living spaces.

We see a requirement for foldable technology to evolve in a purposeful way. Whether that will evolve into a foldable TV or whatever it might be, I think we will have to wait and see, but mobility and portability is key to the thinking in terms of the category’s evolution.”

Hypertext: Sticking with evolution, what are your thoughts on this technology filtering down into the mid-range space?

JH: “If we think logically about the market and the requirement, I’d step back to when we had the Galaxy Note and its 5.7″ display and our entry-point device had a 3.5″ screen.

Today we talk about 6″ displays being the entry, so yes there is a definite evolution of technology that comes down.

Right now the focus is about refinement and perfection of the category, and conceivably we can then look at a more affordable foldable.”

Hypertext: Looking at the category currently, Samsung is pretty much alone, with a handful of Chinese manufacturers. How does the company think about innovation when it is essentially competing against itself?

JH: “So firstly we have always viewed complacency as our biggest competitor. We cannot afford to fall inside that trap as we are an innovation company by nature, so that inspires us. The thinking is always about how can we deliver a product that is better than the previous one.

That is hugely informed by what our customers are telling us, so we spend a vast amount of our time and money on getting that insight.

If we look at the orientation of our Galaxy foldables, we think about things like how do we get a slimmer device to deliver a better experience, so that is where our focus goes.

Yes, we do not have a key competitor in this category right now, but we want to be the category creators and invite others into the space.”

Hypertext: These devices do not come cheap. Given the general cost of living at the moment, what was local reaction to the previous foldables like?

JH: “There has definitely been interest in this category locally, with it really kicking off following the launch of Fold3 and Flip3. There was a 1 200 percent growth rate year-on-year so it really has been in the last 10 months where we are seeing consumers switch on to the potential of foldables.

Part of that, and to your point around affordability, has been the proliferation of 36 month-long contracts.

Most important, however, has been our trade-in offer. What we refer to as an attachment rate (number of devices traded in vs. number of devices sold) is exceptionally high in SA on the foldable devices. We have seen that this has reduced the barrier to entry.

Those consumers trading in their previous Samsung, Apple, Huawei or whatever it might be, along with the guaranteed R10 000 offer has been great for us.”