Consumers Benefit From Increased Competition: Samsung Joins the Foldable Phone Market

Samsung has launched the new foldable Galaxy Z devices in India, which the company claims is in huge demand in the country. The company’s fifth-generation foldables would ideally be a cut above the competition, but as most of you know, the South Korean brand doesn’t have much competition so far.

All this may change as more brands enter the segment, but Samsung is ready to compete and in fact welcomes them into the market, which only gives consumers more options.

Aditya Babbar, head, mobile business Samsung India, told ReturnByte Tech that more foldable brands in the market is “good news for consumers because they have more choices.” He also emphasized Samsung’s advantage over Chinese brands. launching five generations of products gives them a better on-site experience, trained staff and distribution that is second to none.

So as you might have guessed from his statement and worried about the future, he walked us through the numbers for this year’s foldables as the company has 1.5 lakh pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Fip 5. in India.

When Babbar asked the reason for such a number, “pre-orders have become attractive because of various offers and upgrade schemes.” By this he is referring to Samsung Finance+, which helps people buy these premium devices without spending money.

He even mentioned that “50 percent of buyers using the financing option are new to the credit system.” Samsung offers people the opportunity to buy EMI phones for up to 24 months, which is not the case with other brands or financing schemes that only offer up to 9 months.

But the biggest takeaway from this interaction was that the demand for foldable products is no longer limited to high-end cities. “In fact, we have increased the availability of these devices in tier-II and tier-III cities by 50 percent this year because of the growth in Bharat right now, especially when compared to urban parts of the country,” Babbar emphasized. And that’s not all, he even mentioned that most of the people buying the Flip are young and first-time Samsung users, which explains their interest in using the form factor.

Premium folding products are one thing, but how does the company focus on the aftermarket part of these products? – Unskilled buyers can make an appointment at the service center, if they have problems, you can even say what time you want to come. We also offer home pick-up, seat reservation and a standby phone for the flagship and foldable device.”

Samsung also offers a free screen replacement folding screen if the screen bubbles. “You can change the membrane for free because we understand that it takes time for people to get used to new technology,” Babbar adds.

Now that Samsung has assured that it is not worried about potential competition, how does it plan to develop its products in this segment? “We learn from consumers, see what they want and work on it,” Babbar says, a strong indication that Samsung will continue to work in its own direction rather than follow someone else’s.