{"id":775632,"date":"2026-07-21T10:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775632\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T10:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T10:13:11","slug":"samsung-is-under-serious-pressure-heres-why-it-needs-to-nail-its-next-z-fold-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/775632\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Is Under Serious Pressure. Here\u2019s Why It Needs to Nail Its Next Z Fold Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Samsung gears up for its annual folding phone fest, the company is under more pressure than ever to prove its foldables are the ones to beat. At Galaxy Unpacked<\/a>, due to take place on Wednesday in London, Samsung is widely expected to unveil its next-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip devices<\/a> \u2013 and it needs them to be good.<\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s foldable line dates back to 2019 and the company\u2019s latest devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 7<\/a> and Galaxy Z Flip 7<\/a>, both unveiled this time last year, impressed us with their mix of durability, practicality and innovation. But this year, we hope to see Samsung really push its foldables to the next level in response to shifting market sands that mean it can\u2019t afford to rest on its laurels.<\/p>\n

Seven years on from launching the first Galaxy Fold, Samsung has established itself as the market leader for this phone category, but the competition is heating up. In 2025, North America saw a 28% year-on-year jump in foldable phone shipments, according to Counterpoint Research<\/a>, but Samsung\u2019s dominance declined, with Motorola gaining significant ground.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all down to the Razr<\/a> \u2013 a flip phone in the style of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 that costs around $300 less than its Samsung rival. The success of this phone sparked Motorola\u2019s market share to jump to 44% in 2025, an increase of around 14% since 2024, which is almost exactly the same amount as Samsung lost. Motorola now has four foldable phones at a variety of prices, including the Razr Fold<\/a> \u2013 its first book-style foldable, which it introduced earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Other competition is coming from Google with the Pixel Fold, and in countries outside of the US, Chinese companies, including Honor and Huawei. If rumors are to be believed, Apple will also join them<\/a> in a matter of months, with many expecting the company to launch a widescreen, book-style folding phone at its annual September event. Then there\u2019s RAMageddon<\/a>, the memory shortage that has already forced Samsung to raise its phone prices and will likely impact the company\u2019s new foldables, too.<\/p>\n

All of this adds up to a high-stakes moment for Samsung. It can\u2019t afford to simply rely on minor upgrades \u2013 it needs to prove it has the chops to dominate the foldable market with both its Flip and Fold phone, but especially the latter.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold, Samsung\u2019s biggest competition comes from a phone that doesn\u2019t exist yet, and from a company that might change the shape of the game altogether. Foldables have yet to become widespread and are largely still in the early-adopter stage, but with Apple expected to unveil its first folding iPhone<\/a> as soon as this fall, that could change very soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Samsung<\/p>\n

The looming threat of Apple<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Samsung and other foldable-makers haven\u2019t done a sterling job of architecting and refining this subcategory of phones, but Apple\u2019s track record for mainstreaming emerging tech means it could be pivotal \u2013 especially in the American market.<\/p>\n

When Apple enters the fray, Counterpoint forecasts<\/a> that it could absorb a 28% share of the foldables market by the end of this year. Many people buying Apple foldables will be existing iPhone owners, but the research firm also predicts Apple\u2019s offering has the potential to turn the heads of current Android users considering the leap to a book-style foldable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe eagerly anticipated Apple foray into this category threatens to reset consumer expectations,\u201d says Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight. In anticipation of this, Samsung will need to put its most competitive foot forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cSamsung must use its early market lead, deep experience, and partnerships such as Gemini to exploit the unique capabilities of the foldable form factor fully,\u201d he adds. \u201cUltimately, this is about delivering tightly integrated hardware, software and services as one seamless experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already, we\u2019re expecting Samsung to fight off the incoming competition by unveiling a new, wider rectangular device<\/a>, which is much like Apple\u2019s rumored take on the foldable phone. Key to the success of this device will be Samsung\u2019s approach to using this fresh shape and screen aspect ratio to enhance the experience it offers on its standard Fold-style phone.<\/p>\n

The company can use the years of insight into how people get the most from their foldable phones to its advantage here. And if it gets it right, it will not only continue to be Apple\u2019s primary rival in all areas of the smartphone space, but it could prove that its pioneering work in foldables has been fundamental to crafting the one market-leading device.<\/p>\n

Everything\u2019s to play for and the pressure on Samsung is intense. We can\u2019t wait to see how the chips land.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Katie\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie Collins\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrincipal Writer\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKatie is a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET’s European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET’s Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a “living synth” by London’s Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSee full bio\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Samsung gears up for its annual folding phone fest, the company is under more pressure than ever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[74],"class_list":["post-775632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}