Word on the streets is that Samsung's planning to launch a 'G Fold' multi-fold phone, also known as the "double-folding" foldable. This would expand the brand's current Galaxy Z family, going from a duo to a trio of diverse foldable form factors. Hurray for innovation, right? Well, based on rumors and alleged leaks from the weeks past, this seems counterproductive.
In case you haven't heard already, purported reports about Samsung's foldable sales and production numbers started surfacing around late December 2024. The Galaxy S24 Ultra might be breaking records, but the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 are headed in the opposite direction. Apparently, Samsung's Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 series sales did not live up to the Korean smartphone maker's expectations. Based on this decline, Samsung is supposedly cutting down on production for the Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 series.
An alleged reduction of roughly three million foldable units produced is no small feat. This doesn't bode well for Samsung's slice of the foldable market at all, especially when taking their original target of a 10% increase into account. And yet, the brand all but confirmed the multi-folding G Fold device at Galaxy Unpacked 2025.
This isn't the first time that Samsung has shown off its conceptual multi-fold phone. In fact, prototypes of the book-like Android device were shown off at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. What I am highly skeptical of at the moment isn't the existence of the device but rather the alleged release timeline.
If the rumors are true and Samsung launches the G Fold in the second quarter of 2025, there will be three Galaxy foldables launching this year and around the same time. Furthermore, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 likely will not be very different from their predecessors, as other leaks have pointed out. In that case, it is highly likely that the downward trend in their sales will continue.
Even with scaled-back Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 production, Samsung will then have the G Fold to consider. If people are losing interest in these expensive Android devices, who's to say the multi-fold will sell well? Sure, it'll garner interest from hobbyists and enthusiasts, but the exorbitant price tag will likely prevent many of them from actually buying one.
It's not like the larger, more innovative, and experimental G Fold multi-fold phone can be expected to launch with a cheaper price tag either. After all, new technology is expensive. The first few years of sales alone are sometimes not enough to recuperate research and development costs.
The Samsung Galaxy G Fold will reportedly use Samsung Display's "newly developed display and film," which will be debuted at Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona next month. Some tipsters have suggested that the G Fold launch could be delayed past Q2 2025 into Samsung's fall Unpacked event.
According to more hearsay, Samsung is only gunning for about 200,000 units of the multi-fold phone, playing it safe rather than taking a bold risk.
Samsung is starting to realize that its current portfolio of foldables has become very stale. This is very clearly reflected in the numbers. Regardless of Samsung's hopes for the multi-fold, I don't think it will be enough to revive foldable sales.
At the end of the day, it'll all boil down to the price of the G Fold. Because, let's be honest — if the G Fold is priced anything like the Huawei Mate XT tri-foldable, no one's going to buy it.
