Samsung Unveils Two New Foldable Smartphones in a Bet on Devices with Bending Screens

 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Phones displayed during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event at the COEX in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Phones displayed during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event at the COEX in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
TT
20

Samsung Unveils Two New Foldable Smartphones in a Bet on Devices with Bending Screens

 Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Phones displayed during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event at the COEX in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Phones displayed during the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event at the COEX in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 26, 2023. (AP)

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled two foldable smartphones as it continues to bet on devices with bending screens, a budding market that has yet to fully take off because of high prices.

The clamshell-designed Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Galaxy Z Fold 5, a larger device that opens and folds like a book, will be available for pre-orders starting July 26 in certain markets including the United States and South Korea.

Built with 6.7-inch and 7.6-inch main screens, the phones have bigger displays than Samsung’s previous folding devices and are equipped with more advanced cameras, providing crisper visuals and more features for work, text and video chats, movies and games, the company said. Designed to be compact and easy to carry, the Flip 5 is also built with a 3.4-inch cover screen that allows it to be used folded in half.

The phones, which run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor chips, are slightly sleeker and lighter than their predecessors but designed to be more durable and shock-resistant.

All that technology comes with hefty price tags. In the United States, Flip 5 will start at around $1,000 while the Fold 5 is set at $1,800.

Samsung, a South Korean technology giant that’s also a major producer of computer memory chips, has been the longest provider of folding phones, releasing its first devices in 2019.

The company announced the new phones at a lavish product event in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, choosing one of the markets where folding phones are closer to being mainstream products than novelties.

There’s optimism in the industry that the global market for foldable phones is beginning to grow at a faster pace with other vendors like Google, Motorola and Huawei now providing competition to Samsung.

According to Counterpoint, a technology market research firm, global shipments of foldable phones will approach 19 million units in 2023, which would mark a 45% increase from 2022, mainly fueled by rising consumer demands in China.

The shipments may exceed 100 million units by 2027, Counterpoint said in a report released Wednesday, although that projection was based on a presumption that Apple would eventually release a foldable iPhone, sometime around 2025. Apple, which closely competes with Samsung for the top spot in global smartphone shipments, has yet to confirm any plans for foldable devices.



Apple’s iPhone 16 Hits Indonesia Stores after Monthslong Ban

Apple's iPhone 16 models have hit the shelves in Indonesia after a monthslong sales ban. BAY ISMOYO / AFP
Apple's iPhone 16 models have hit the shelves in Indonesia after a monthslong sales ban. BAY ISMOYO / AFP
TT
20

Apple’s iPhone 16 Hits Indonesia Stores after Monthslong Ban

Apple's iPhone 16 models have hit the shelves in Indonesia after a monthslong sales ban. BAY ISMOYO / AFP
Apple's iPhone 16 models have hit the shelves in Indonesia after a monthslong sales ban. BAY ISMOYO / AFP

Smartphone buyers were cheered by shopkeepers in Jakarta on Friday after Apple's latest smartphone went on sale following a monthslong ban in Indonesia.

The marketing and sale of iPhone 16 models was prohibited by the government in October over Apple’s failure to meet regulation requiring that 40 percent of smartphone components be made from local parts, said AFP.

But the US tech titan announced last month that its latest smartphone models would hit the shelves, weeks after striking a deal with the Indonesian government to invest in the country.

Albert Wongso, 34, told AFP outside the store he was very happy to learn that the iPhone 16s were now available in Indonesia.

"I’m very happy to hear from the news because we can buy the iPhone directly from Indonesia," the IT consultant told AFP Friday, adding that he was looking to buy the iPhone 16 Pro model to replace his iPhone 11.

"Because if we buy from the other country... it’s quite hard for example to claim the warranty," he said.

While the ban was in place, the government had allowed iPhone 16 models to be brought into the country, provided they were not being traded commercially.

A win for Apple

Jakarta rejected a $100 million investment proposal from Apple in November, saying it lacked the "fairness" required by the government.

The company later agreed to invest $150 million in building two facilities -- one in Bandung in West Java province to produce accessories, and another in Batam for AirTags.

Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said in February that Apple had also committed to building a semiconductor research and development center in Indonesia, calling it a "first of its kind in Asia".

The iPhone 16's entry into the Indonesian market marks a win for Apple and signaled the economic importance of the country of 280 million people.

"Indonesia is one of the biggest markets for Apple in the Asian region apart from China and so on," said Nailul Huda, director of digital economy at the think tank, Centre of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS).

The Indonesian government is considering relaxing regulation of the information and communication technology sector ahead of talks with the United States over President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto is set to lead a delegation to Washington this month in the hope of striking a better deal after Trump announced a 90-day pause on the harshest tariff against US trading partners.

Indonesia has also banned the sale of Google Pixel phones for failing to meet the 40 percent local parts requirement.