Flip/Fold – Quick Look
Last month we commented on the upcoming Samsung (005930.KS) ‘event’ that was expected to contain the announcement of Samsung’s latest foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Fold/Flip 4 series, and what we hoped might be part of that release. The event has taken place, the new phones announced, and while we have yet to examine the software, we can point to how our hopes and expectations were met, at least thus far.
Our first ‘hope’ was for a lower price, pitting economies of scale against the higher cost of silicon and other components. Unfortunately, at least at the onset, it looks like there was little pricing movement, with the Z Fold 4 (256Gb) selling for $1,799, even with the Z Fold 3, while the 512Gb version is a few dollars more expensive than last year’s model. There is a new version of the Z Fold 4 that has 1Tb of memory that sells for $2,159 so there is no comparison to the older model. The Z Flip 4 (128Gb) is priced at $999, the same as the previous model, with the 256Gb version $10 more than the previous year’s model, so little change, although there is now a 512Gb version that sells for $1,179, so there is little change overall on pricing, a bit of a disappointment and somewhat of a stumbling block to incremental y/y shipments.
We had hoped for a bigger 2nd screen on the new models, as the less often the device has to be opened the longer it will last and when closed a foldable should be the equivalent of a ‘regular’ smartphone, with a full sized high-resolution display. When comparing the new Galaxy Fold 4 to the previous model, it turns out that the size of the device is actually slightly smaller (~2%) but marginally thinner (under a mm difference when closed), although its .28oz. lighter. The main (foldable) display still has a 7.6” diagonal with marginally smaller bezels, with a 90.9% SBR vs. the Fold 3’s 88.8% SBR, with both having a PPI of 374. The cover display on the Fold 4 is still a 6.2” display but with a a higher resolution (+10.9%), so on an overall basis there was little change as to the displays on the Z Fold 4. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 has the same main (foldable) screen as the previous model, and the same size cover screen (1.9”) and the overall device is a mere 2.1% smaller than last year, so again little movement on our 2nd wish.
As far as our hope that the new device would be more ‘durable’, both new models have upgraded the cover glass from Corning’s (GLW) Victus to Victus+ with higher scratch resistance and the new X Fold 4 has a higher pixel count main camera and a 3x (vs. 2X) zoom on Cam #2, with pretty much everything else staying the same, while the Z Flip 4 has a 12% more powerful battery. Both new versions have upgraded chipsets, CPU’s, and GPUs, as one would expect, which should eke out slightly better performance, but on an overall basis most of the hardware has remained the same.
As we have yet to look at the software and built-in apps, we cannot tell if Samsung has made progress toward the development of applications that take further advantage of the device’s foldability, our 4th hope, so we will have to leave that slot open, but we are leaving the table feeling a bit unsatisfied, kind of like grocery store Sushi…you want to like it bit there is little to get excited about, somewhere between Masa and gas station tuna…
Our first ‘hope’ was for a lower price, pitting economies of scale against the higher cost of silicon and other components. Unfortunately, at least at the onset, it looks like there was little pricing movement, with the Z Fold 4 (256Gb) selling for $1,799, even with the Z Fold 3, while the 512Gb version is a few dollars more expensive than last year’s model. There is a new version of the Z Fold 4 that has 1Tb of memory that sells for $2,159 so there is no comparison to the older model. The Z Flip 4 (128Gb) is priced at $999, the same as the previous model, with the 256Gb version $10 more than the previous year’s model, so little change, although there is now a 512Gb version that sells for $1,179, so there is little change overall on pricing, a bit of a disappointment and somewhat of a stumbling block to incremental y/y shipments.
We had hoped for a bigger 2nd screen on the new models, as the less often the device has to be opened the longer it will last and when closed a foldable should be the equivalent of a ‘regular’ smartphone, with a full sized high-resolution display. When comparing the new Galaxy Fold 4 to the previous model, it turns out that the size of the device is actually slightly smaller (~2%) but marginally thinner (under a mm difference when closed), although its .28oz. lighter. The main (foldable) display still has a 7.6” diagonal with marginally smaller bezels, with a 90.9% SBR vs. the Fold 3’s 88.8% SBR, with both having a PPI of 374. The cover display on the Fold 4 is still a 6.2” display but with a a higher resolution (+10.9%), so on an overall basis there was little change as to the displays on the Z Fold 4. The Galaxy Z Flip 4 has the same main (foldable) screen as the previous model, and the same size cover screen (1.9”) and the overall device is a mere 2.1% smaller than last year, so again little movement on our 2nd wish.
As far as our hope that the new device would be more ‘durable’, both new models have upgraded the cover glass from Corning’s (GLW) Victus to Victus+ with higher scratch resistance and the new X Fold 4 has a higher pixel count main camera and a 3x (vs. 2X) zoom on Cam #2, with pretty much everything else staying the same, while the Z Flip 4 has a 12% more powerful battery. Both new versions have upgraded chipsets, CPU’s, and GPUs, as one would expect, which should eke out slightly better performance, but on an overall basis most of the hardware has remained the same.
As we have yet to look at the software and built-in apps, we cannot tell if Samsung has made progress toward the development of applications that take further advantage of the device’s foldability, our 4th hope, so we will have to leave that slot open, but we are leaving the table feeling a bit unsatisfied, kind of like grocery store Sushi…you want to like it bit there is little to get excited about, somewhere between Masa and gas station tuna…
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