The war of folding screen smartphones is now in Samsung

On February 20, 1919, Samsung held a separate event to launch the Galaxy Fold alongside the Galaxy S10 flagship models. On February 24, Huawei unveiled the Mate X during the MWC 2019 event. Thus, in less than a week, the foldable war officially began.

Because the launch time between the two products is only very short, both Samsung and Huawei have the right to consider themselves as the pioneers of folding screen technology on smartphones. On the sidelines of the product, a series of scandals broke out, implying that Samsung’s technology was stolen and sold out. Each company also chooses a different direction when the Galaxy Fold folds the screen in (like a notebook) while the Mate X folds the screen on the outside.

Fate of those leading the way

It should be pointed out that no foldable phone launched smoothly – including the Galaxy Fold.

In April, the first Galaxy Fold came to the press and … simultaneously encountered errors. Samsung was forced to withdraw the machine, cancel orders and make design modifications. It was not until July that Samsung announced a new design, integrating a protective layer into the body instead of leaving it outside as before. In September 2019, Galaxy Fold hit shelves.

But the Mate X is slower. Constantly delayed, experts in the industry also predict that this smartphone will be killed before it reaches consumers. Fortunately, it was not until October 2019 that the first Mate X hit shelves in China. Unfortunately, as expected, Mate X also encountered an error shortly after the sale .

Also at the end of the year, the foldable race expanded when a big name, Motorola (now Lenovo) announced it would revive the once famous Razr brand under the form of folding smartphones. Instead of using a foldable screen to “transform” from a smartphone to a tablet like the previous two rivals, the new Razr integrates a long screen in the body.

But things are even worse with Chinese folding smartphones.

The fate of Razr? Immediately after reaching the press, this “revival legend” quickly received criticism on all aspects, from price, performance (using only mid-range chips), cameras to hinges. fold. Motorola even had to defend its durability, but everything became meaningless when Razr reached the user: this $ 1400 folding screen smartphone is really at fault.

The battle now rests in the hands of Samsung

When the Motorola Razr hit shelves, Samsung announced the next folding smartphone. With a starting price of $ 940 – the lowest of all folding smartphones available on the market, the Galaxy Z Flip crushes Razr in terms of both processing power and durability: the number of folds of the new Galaxy is estimated at 200,000. times, higher than any other foldable one.

Once a rival chasing Samsung, Huawei suffered heavy losses despite selling smartphones for $ 2700.

Around the same time, Huawei launched an improved version of the Mate X called the Mate XS. The Chinese manufacturer cheerfully announced the “out of stock” sale, but did not say how many units it was sold. Shortly after, Huawei pity asserted, Mate XS has made a loss of up to $ 60 million.

A device costing up to 2300 Euro, or half the price of the Galaxy Fold, should have brought “huge” profits to Huawei. The huge loss implies an uneasy truth: perhaps, no one has bought the latest foldable from China. Huawei may have lost its research and development budget for the Mate XS.

What about the Galaxy Fold? According to information from Samsung, the estimated sales of this pioneering folding smartphone by the end of 2019 (ie after 3 months) is about 500,000 units. With this sales, the amount of Galaxy Fold brought to Samsung is about 1 billion USD. At this level, the Galaxy Fold is almost certainly a profitable product, not a loss like Mate XS.

Most important is the look of the fans. Ask anyone if they have money to buy and if they’re forced to buy foldable, which name will they choose? Will they choose an expensive folding smartphone from China with uncertain durability, low configuration and expensive price, or they will choose the affordable Galaxy phones and proven durability through sales ? Obviously, the foldable war is now over, the victory is in Samsung hands.

The person who owns the latest folding technology can only be the one who has continually improved the display technology in the past.

It was also a predictable outcome. On one side, the giant has been constantly researching and promoting screen technologies on smartphones, from large screens (Galaxy Note) to beveled screens (Galaxy Note Edge) and curved screens (Galaxy Fold). On the one hand are Chinese brands, where no creativity is their own, not even getting rid of the luxuriant groves of intellectual property.

By the end of this year, Galaxy Fold 2 will debut. The foldable road is now for Koreans only.