Samsung has already made significant price cuts with its latest foldables. Both the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Flip 3 debuted at a much lower price than their respective predecessors while packing improvements all around. This is certainly one of the biggest reasons why the phones are selling like hotcakes, breaking sales records. However, at $1,800, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is still quite expensive and is surely not for everyone. This effectively defeats Samsung’s ambition of making foldables mainstream devices. After all, you can’t expect it to compete with $1,000 phones, no matter how advanced technology it packs. It’s a smartphone at the end of the day. To that end, the Korean company is now looking for ways to further reduce the price of its Fold series foldables while ensuring that quality standards aren’t compromised. It plans to lower the production cost by applying more advanced and cost-effective UTG (ultra-thin glass) technology. This new technology is reportedly showing poor yields as of now but Samsung has time on its side to get things right. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 isn’t expected until the second half of next year. Samsung is also planning to diversify its component supply chain to reduce prices. The more competition among suppliers, the lower will be the price. It already sources the hinges, an expensive component in a foldable smartphone, from two different suppliers. The company could tap two more firms to supply hinges for its foldables starting next year.
The Galaxy Z Fold 4 will also bring user-facing improvements
It’s not just cost-cutting measures that Samsung is focused on for the Galaxy Z Fold 4. It will also bring improvements for users. Most notable, the Korean company is expected to improve the performance of the under-display camera (UDC). Its second-gen UDC tech should bring about improved visibility for clearer pictures. At the same time, the company also needs to work on making it less visible when not in use. These improvements, coupled with a lower entry price, will certainly make the next-gen Samsung foldable more appealing. However, don’t expect a drastic price cut just yet. Samsung would do exceptionally well if it could manage to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 4 at around $1,600. There’s almost a year to go before this device breaks cover. So the company has plenty of time to decide on how to go about things here. We will keep you updated with all the latest developments around Samsung’s fourth-gen foldables.
