{"id":11956,"date":"2022-08-09T15:10:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T15:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/09\/samsungs-all-alone-at-the-foldable-party\/"},"modified":"2022-08-09T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T15:10:12","slug":"samsungs-all-alone-at-the-foldable-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/09\/samsungs-all-alone-at-the-foldable-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung\u2019s all alone at the foldable party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/9\/23297794\/samsung-galaxy-unpacked-august-2022-z-fold-flip<\/a>
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Samsung is throwing itself a party tomorrow with a couple of guests of honor: its foldable phones. We\u2019ll likely see some updated watches and earbuds<\/a>, but really, it\u2019s a birthday party for the Z Fold and the Z Flip. They\u2019ve been around for years now, but last August was when they really hit their stride with the most mainstream models yet. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re probably not going to see any dramatic upgrades or shocking price drops this year because Samsung doesn\u2019t need to produce any of those thrills. It owns the foldable phone category, and it likely will for some time. It\u2019s a foldable party with a guest list of one: Samsung.<\/p>\n

Lest we forget, early iterations of the Fold and Flip were a little half-baked: awkward, too expensive, and not durable enough. But they got better. Last year\u2019s Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 felt almost normal, with robust water resistance and better usability. <\/p>\n

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The Fold 3 offers a durability rating that allows you to do this kind of thing.<\/em><\/figcaption>Photo by Dieter Bohn \/ The Verge<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the rest of Samsung\u2019s competitors seem to be stuck on early design iterations or not showing up at all. LG threatened to bring a rollable phone to market<\/a> shortly before it quit making mobile devices altogether. The 2020 Motorola Razr<\/a> is overpriced, underwhelming, and overdue for an update. TCL talks a big concept game<\/a> but has yet to deliver a foldable that anyone can buy. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different story if you live in China, where Oppo and Huawei offer foldable devices, but they\u2019re limited to that market. And I haven\u2019t forgotten about the Surface Duo (though almost everyone else has \u2014 sorry, Dan<\/a>). But the numbers don\u2019t lie: in 2021 Samsung shipped 10 million-ish foldable devices<\/a>, with an 87 percent market share. It\u2019s still a tiny piece of the overall smartphone market, but it\u2019s definitely something to celebrate if you\u2019re Samsung.<\/p>\n

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