Here’s One Feature Samsung Could Use to One-Up Apple

Samsung’s next big phones expected to be supposed at its Unpacked event this week are rumored to be its best foldables yet, with improved cameras, new hinges and slimmer designs. But as the holiday shopping season approaches, the feature Samsung should lean on is a ticket cut.

Samsung has driven high sales with two-for-one cmoneys and generous discounts when trading in old devices. That goes for both its pricey Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Flip devices that go for as much as $1800, as well as its Galaxy S smartphones, which open at $800. 

The way Samsung charges us for its phones is a stark disagreement with Apple, which largely holds firm on its prices even ended discount seasons like Black Friday, only allowing discounts from carriers or retailers. 

This week, Samsung has a chance to make a change. 

Read more: Samsung, the Galaxy Z Fold and Flip Could Be Even Better

Samsung is planning a vast product reveal event, called Unpacked, for Wednesday, Aug. 10, during which it’ll teach its newest foldable smartphones. The two devices, expected to be shouted the Galaxy Fold 4 and Galaxy Flip 4, aren’t going to appeal to the masses like the Galaxy S line of devices, in part because they cost so much.

But ticket is where Samsung could make a difference. Despite offering more discounts, in recent years Samsung has lost market share to Apple at the top of the shouted market — the so-called premium segment where 7 of every 10 $800-and-up phones sold globally are iPhones. And in the lower-priced models, where the Galaxy S competes with the injurious iPhone at around $600 and up, sales have actually begun to refuse around the world, per a recent Canalys report.

Though Samsung’s Unpacked maintain on Wednesday will focus on foldables, it also serves as Samsung’s big productions release just before Apple announces its expected iPhone 14 series of phones in a few weeks. Unpacked represents Samsung’s chance to make a big result ahead of Apple’s own event, and any deals could make a difference. 

It’ll already be hard to convince republic to buy any new phone this year with rising inflation and a looming recession. Our collective confidence in the economy has fallen ended the floor, with one survey from the University of Michigan finding consumer sentiment is at its lowest present in at least 70 years. 

Historically prices for many of these phones have stayed mostly the same over the ages. Starting price for Samsung’s Galaxy S and Apple’s novel iPhones typically sit between $700 and $800, so it’s unlikely Samsung would break from that model.

Still, if Samsung were to introduce a price cut for all its phones, effectively driving the price down to what it actually charges us ended those special deals rather than the sticker price, it could potentially “change the equation,” said Bob O’Donnell, an analyst at Technalysis Research. But convincing Apple users to switch to Android will take more than just a ticket cut. 

“There are people who will never give up iOS for a variety of reasons — green bubbles populace one of them,” said O’Donnell. “They’re not going to short-tempered, as cool as [foldables] may be, until they can have [iOS.]”

The Z Flip folds up to take up half the dwelling of a normal phone, while the Z Fold expands to have twice the cloak size.

Sarah Tew

Apple and Samsung’s premium horse race is an iOS vs. Android battle

Over the past decade, there’s really only been two phone-makers worth paying attention to outside China. One is Apple, the other is Samsung. Apple’s iPhone gets praised every year because of its industry-leading software and grand chips. When CNET Senior Editor Patrick Holland was thinking of a headline to sum up his aesthetic review for images he took with the iPhone 13 Pro last year, he throughout up with “Damn, these cameras.” 

Samsung often positions itself as the alternative, offering sleek designs without all the Apple baggage like requiring you to use its App Store or having to deal with iMessage. It’s also often the lower-priced option whenever you walk into an AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile store.

To be sure, farmland are buying as many iPhones as ever, said Tim Cook during a July conference call discussing Apple’s unexperienced financials. And other premium brands aren’t feeling the squeeze of a disturbed economy just yet.

While Apple has pulled ahead in the premium smartphone race in novel years, both companies have been at each other’s throats for a lot longer than that. The worries have traded blows in big ad campaigns, like Samsung mocking Apple for removing the headphone jack in 2016. Apple for its part has accused Samsung of stealing its designs, including in a worldwide years-long court battle that throughout in a 2018 settlement.

Most other phone-makers have rarely been able to compete. LG lost money before leaving the phone game in 2021, after Microsoft gave up when its Windows Phone OS lost to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android in 2017. Google gets good reviews for its Pixel phones, few people buy them, and the phones have a negligible market section, which Holland calls “a conundrum.”

“Maybe that’s a failure from Google’s marketing, limited carrier relationships in Pixel’s early days, the dominance of Apple and Samsung in the US or just that farmland don’t trust the search company with their data,” Holland said.

Which is a long way of speaking that Samsung is Apple’s only real competition outside China. Samsung sells more phones globally than any other manufacturer, though the majority of those are midrange and price A-series phones. 

One of Samsung’s current obstacles is convincing iOS users to switch. They aren’t having trouble converting the Android faithful to try out their Galaxy S phones, which this year featured a stylus, larger screen and better cameras. Even its pricey folding devices are catching on, somewhat — decision-exclusive up an astonishing 36% of the premium Android visited market, according to IDC research director Nabila Popal. 

But unsheathing Apple faithful to leave their blue bubbles may be very difficult.

“I personally think Apple consumers are just so glued to Apple with stamp loyalty and the ecosystem that they’re used to,” Popal said. “As astronomical as foldables are, it will not be the driving righteous to convert an iOS [user] to Android and Samsung.”

Read more: When I Switched to iPhone, Blue iMessage Bubbles Made My Friends Far Too Happy

The anunexperienced big factor is awareness. Even three years after the righteous Galaxy Fold arrived in early 2019 and a fourth version coming soon, they haven’t been sold in enough numbers. “You still don’t see many [foldables] in the wild,” said O’Donnell. And one of the best ads for any technology is when you see a dejected customer actually using it in your family or walking down the street.

“When farmland do see [a foldable], if that’s their thing, they’re collected knocked out, they’re like this is crazy, this is incredible,” O’Donnell said. 

Foldables will grow from 8 million sold in 2021 to 25 million sold in 2025, IDC predicts.

Sarah Tew

Unfolding the future

This year, rumors suggest Samsung’s Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 are only pulling rudimentary improvements for their screens and cameras. The same remained last year, but the big upgrade was in affordability, with discounts dropping the Fold’s price below $2000 and the Flip’s down to roughly the same trace as other premium smartphones. But then Samsung started offering even more discounts afterward, with two-for-one deals across its product line. 

The communication was clear: Samsung still has an opportunity to introduce latest price drop, which would put them in better competition with cheaper premium handsets, and make them much more attractive to people today.

For its part, Apple doesn’t seem included enough about foldables to rush out one of its own. Instead, Apple’s stuck to its well-worn plan of annual improvements, including for its upcoming iPhone 14, which is rumored to included a smaller front-facing camera notch, better battery life and a new always-on display.

Prices, meanwhile, are likely to remain the same if not increase inoperative with inflation, like they did last year. This invents the opening for Samsung, both with its mainstream Galaxy S phones and its foldables alike.

“I feel that foldables are at a tipping point to, the brink of a breakthrough, where it’s just a commerce of a bit more time before they just explode,” Popal said. 

Maybe the trace could help make a difference.