Samsung’s new foldable smartphone is a “game-changer,” but investors should not expect the new device to be a major contributor to the company’s profits this year, according to an analyst.
The South Korean tech giant announced the new phone, called the Galaxy Fold, on Wednesday at a launch event in San Francisco. It builds on Samsung’s engineering and display innovation since its first flexible display prototype in 2011.
“It’s a game-changer in how we may use our devices in the next decade, where you can convert your phone into a tablet,” Mark Newman, managing director for global memory, storage and electric vehicles at Bernstein, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
But the smartphone’s steep price of $1,980 would likely be a barrier to widespread adoption.
“It’s a 2,000-dollar price point, so it’s too expensive, really, for most people to buy,” Newman said. Samsung was “always talking about a limited launch — very, very limited geography, a million units or less. It’s not really going to drive Samsung’s bottomline at all this year,” he added.
‘Status symbol’
Instead, Wednesday’s launch was meant to test the water for an ultra-high end and pricey smartphone at a time when the broader market is shrinking. Newman explained that Samsung’s plan was to the show off the technology, get the manufacturing process going, have the software up and running, and get customers accustomed to the concept of a foldable smartphone.
“When it’s ready, they’re going to go for mainstream launch, with a more aggressive price point (in) 2020, probably,” he said, adding the Galaxy Fold would eventually present “big upside” for the world’s largest smartphone maker.
While analysts generally agree that the new foldable device demonstrates Samsung’s innovation capabilities, Daniel Yoo, head of global strategy at Kiwoom Securities, said that it might not substantially drive the company’s growth rate in the smartphone market.
Last year, Samsung’s overall smartphone shipments declined about 8 percent, according to the International Data Corporation, but the tech giant held on to pole position in terms of its market share.
“The key question mark is whether the foldable phone is going to create huge sales,” Yoo told CNBC’s “Street Signs.”
Samsung foldable phone design
- Smartphone into tablet
- Range of colours with spine colour options
The Samsung Galaxy Fold folds down the centre, effectively giving you a smartphone footprint when folded, but a tablet when unfolded. It showcases classic Samsung design around the sides of the device, but when closed, unavoidably, it’s basically double the thickness of a regular smartphone.
Open it up and you have something more like regular thickness – Samsung hasn’t given us the exact measurements – and there’s the feeling that this is more folding tablet than folding phone.
Much of the design, however, is in the hinge around the back. Samsung said it needed to come up with something that would stand repeated opening and closing and it certainly looks great – but all you’ll see is the spine.
There will be a range of fancy colours to choose from – but Samsung says you’ll also be able to customise the design and pick a contrasting spine colour.
Galaxy Fold display
- Dynamic AMOLED 7.3-inch internal
- AMOLED 4.6-inch external
- Infinity Flex
Known as the Infinity Flex, the internal display gives you 7.3-inches. It takes on a 4.2:3 aspect and because its on the inside of the device, you’re not using that display when it’s folded up.
The internal display has a WXGA+ resolution according to Samsung, but we don’t have the exact pixels. There’s a notch to one side for the cameras.
The exterior display is a second AMOLED screen, this time measuring 4.6-inches on the diagonal. That’s pretty tiny by modern standards and looking at the Galaxy Fold, it’s clear that this is markedly different to other Samsung phones. It sits in the centre of the device’s face, surrounded by bezel, so doesn’t really look like a modern phone at all.
Galaxy Fold hardware
- 7nm 64-bit octa-core processor, 12GB RAM
- 512GB UFS3.0 storage, no microSD
- 4380mAh battery capacity
Beyond the design, Samsung has confirmed that this is a 7nm octa-core device – we expect an Exynos chipset at its heart. Given the huge price, it’s no surprise to find that it has 12GB RAM and 512GB of storage, both of which are pretty huge. There is no microSD however, one of the first Samsung devices to omit this convenience feature.
There’s a 4380mAh battery which is fairly big – big for a Samsung phone, but not the biggest battery in a modern device. The battery has been split into two halves so it sits in both sides of the device. It supports fast charging both wired and wireless.
Samsung Galaxy Fold cameras
- Front camera (cover): 10MP, f/2.2
- Rear cameras (cover): 16MP ultra wide, f/2.2; 12MP main, f/1.5 & f/2.4; 12MP 2x zoom
- Front dual camera (internal): 10MP Camera, f/2.2; 8MP RGB depth, f/1.9
Samsung has loaded the Galaxy Fold with cameras. With more sides or modes of use than a normal phone, there are more cameras – six in total.
On the outside of the device you have a triple-camera arrangement that’s pretty similar to the new Galaxy S10. That means you have a dual aperture main camera, an ultra wide camera and a zoom camera. You can read more about the S10 cameras here, which gives you a good idea of what they offer.
The exterior also offers a selfie camera on the front (when closed) – basically the same as the Galaxy S10 again – but when you open the phone up, you have a dual camera arrangement. This gives you a selfie camera with a second lens – an 8-megapixel sensor to give you depth – the same as the Galaxy S10+. Basically, the Galaxy Fold gets all the camera options.
CNBC/Pocket-Lint