One of the web's longest-running tech columns, Android & Chill is your Saturday discussion of Android, Google, and all things tech.
Samsung spent a few million dollars to show some of its new products this week. It was a typical tech event with executives telling us how great the new stuff is going to be, how much we're going to love it, and why the company is important enough for you to spend an hour listening. What it didn't tell you is that the company thinks you're a sucker.
That's the first thing I thought when the dust settled because Samsung thinks you'll spend nearly two thousand dollars on a phone, and it's right. At least some of us will. I won't, and neither should you.
I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't pay more money for a phone that folds in half or how you should spend your money in general. Everyone spends money on things they don't need, including me. I am telling you that you shouldn't be buying your folding phone from Samsung because if you do nothing is going to change. Especially the pricing.
I'm not really faulting the company for adding $100 to the price. Everything is more expensive, and the 5% bump should have been expected. It just happens to be 5% on a price that was too high to begin with.
Analysts and tech writers have been saying how foldables will become more accessible and less expensive for the past five years or so. I can't find anywhere that Samsung actually said it's definitely happening, but the company happily goes along with the idea and has never stepped up and said it's not going to happen. Samsung has gone so far as to say that it's trying to make it happen, but it just hasn't done it.
I get that making a fancy hinge and a glass-plastic bonded screen that folds in half will add to the costs, but look at what other companies are doing. Do you really think that Samsung doesn't have a stronger supply chain or better access to materials than OnePlus? Or Google? Or Honor? Of course it does, if for no other reason than many of the components come directly from Samsung itself. Why are Samsung's foldables as expensive — or more expensive — than what other companies offer?
Maybe every single piece inside of a Z Fold 6 is better than anything a competitor is offering. Or maybe Samsung knows it can charge whatever it likes because the people who were going to buy one will buy it regardless of the price. This, I think, is what Samsung is counting on.
Samsung knows almost nobody buys foldable phones and has even admitted that "most" of the people who do buy one are people who already have one. The company also knows that it no longer sells the lion's share of folding phones. But does it care?
One way to gain market share is to streamline manufacturing and sell cheaper phones. A 10% profit margin on millions more products is as lucrative as higher margins on things that aren't selling. This would fit right in with Samsung's message that everyone should want a foldable because they are cool, and it's exactly how Samsung beats out Apple to sell the most smartphones year after year. Offer more, sell it for less, and people will buy it.
An alternative plan is to not give a damn about market share, charge as much as you can, and depend on those repeat customers who you think are going to buy your overpriced products anyway. And yes, people who will buy a new Z Fold, no matter the price, do exist. Too many of them, in fact.
The only thing we can do as consumers is to not buy overpriced products; to stop being a sucker. If enough people vote with their wallets, we'll get more for our money.
I know I'm not going to change anyone's mind by writing this. If you think Samsung is charging too much for a Fold 6, you don't need me to tell you. On the flip side, if you were going to buy one anyway, you'll think I'm foolish and might even take the time to let me know.
I do know I'm no sucker and won't let Samsung treat me like one.
