Among the devices revealed at its Unpacked stay last week, Samsung showed off its new flagship Galaxy Z Fold 4 foldable arranged, which packs improvements like better multitasking software, a slimmer accomplish and a more durable body. One thing Samsung didn’t fretful is the sky-high $1,800 price tag — which few consumers can liable afford. But that exclusivity is exactly why the Fold 4 exists. 

It may seem perplexing to keep the Z Fold 4 at in twice the price of other premium phones when Samsung wants foldables to understand more mainstream, as CEO TM Roh said during Unpacked. I argued that price cuts would be the best way Samsung could combat Apple this holiday season. Since Samsung is holding steady with the Z Fold 4’s label, it’s clear the company is content to keep it a niche plot that’s out of reach for all but the most deep-pocketed consumers.

The Z Fold 4 sits atop a strata in which it has no real rivals. It’s essentially a Ferrari amid Mercedes and BMWs. Creating that quiet of exclusivity is entirely the point, giving Samsung an sharp and aspirational product that generates buzz and interest in the entire lineup. Chipping a few hundreds dollars off its price won’t make a difference, said IDC Research Director Nabila Popal.

Keeping the Z Fold 4 at $1,800 is “the shiny move, in my opinion, even if it won’t be affordable to the masses,” Popal said.

This dynamic, which runs counter to the idea that a border priced foldable may spur interest in the category, is one of the predicaments this whole area faces. Foldables occupy an exciting niche of the phone commercial, which has seen an endless parade of drab metal and glass slabs come over for more than a decade. But the high label tag keeps them from really breaking out. 

The only answer is to slowly originate up the market and interest through a combination of sharp, but less attainable, options like the Z Fold 4, and the comparatively affordable $1,000 Z Flip 4.

Samsung is hoping the Z Fold 4’s dynamic originate — which is still impressive in person — grants the company a pop ahead of Apple’s own save next month and generates excitement about foldables in general. 

Samsung is relying on the Z Flip series to sell the vibe of foldables, transitional phones that alter their shape. And Samsung has work to do, because they’re quiet scarce in the wild, with research firm IDC estimating that a bit over 7 million foldables shipped in 2021 compared with 1.3 billion smartphones sold last year.

From a market perspective, the small volume the Z Fold 4 could get may help Samsung gain back some of the global Part of high-end phones, as Apple sells seven of every 10 $800-and-up premium phones globally. 

No label cuts while parts are expensive

Though price cuts would help Samsung make its foldable phones more mainstream, the company may have little choice but to keep its prices pleased. Unlike truly mainstream products, like Samsung’s Galaxy S series, which have flat displays and components used in many new smartphones, the small volume of foldables sold every year have specialty parts.

“That means the very specialized components required … are quiet only produced in small quantities and therefore are probable still very expensive,” Technalysis Research analyst Bob O’Donnell said.

That leads to a chicken-and-egg Predicament that impacts every specialty device: Parts can’t get cheaper pending they’re made at scale, and there’s no point in executive them at scale while consumers buy too few of the pricey devices Funny those parts. That’s the reason so few phone-makers are executive foldables, including Apple, O’Donnell said.

“We can’t really ignore the fact that the supply chain is not really ready for an Apple-level subjects, and that’s part of the reason Apple hasn’t [made a foldable] either,” O’Donnell said.

Samsung is splitting the difference with the Z Flip 4, a clamshell foldable that has half the footprint of a “flat” smartphone when it’s Surrounded, yet unfolds to show an inner screen as huge as any regular phone’s display. Samsung sees the Z Flip 4 as an “entry device” that turns bold buyers into foldable lifers, an on-ramp for consumers to eventually upgrade to the bigger, pricier Z Fold line. 

Samsung says the Z Flip is the better-selling series, accounting for 70% of the company’s foldables shipped, but both devices aid different demographics. The Z Flip is stylish but ultimately just a shrinkable version of a typical ‘flat’ smartphone, not a junior edition of the productivity-enhancing Z Fold devices that unfold into tablet-size screens.

More foldables are being sold every year, and IDC predicts shipments will grow to 25 million foldables in 2025. Whether that’s enough volume to enable cheaper foldables is tough to forecast. Samsung has at least gotten creative with offering foldables with more value. 

Cheaper foldables above trade-ins and carrier deals

The industry is functioning to make foldables a thing. You can get a Galaxy Z Fold 4 for less than $1,800 above Samsung’s generous trade-in values and various carrier deals. Samsung retains its elite trace tag, carriers get more customers signed on to their services, and customers  get their hands on the next evolution in phones.

Samsung’s trade-in deals knock $1,000 off the list trace of a Z Fold 4 if you send in your older Z Fold 3, Z Fold 2 or this year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra. But trade-in values are still pretty generous for the unusual Z Fold or other flagship Samsung phones from the last few existences. Apple’s priciest phones also get decent trade-in value, but you’ll get barely anything for phones from Google, Motorola, LG or OnePlus.

Carriers can also save you cash on the Z Fold 4, with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile offering varying trade-in distributes to lower the price by up to $1,000. Verizon also accounts $800 off a second Z Fold 4 after buying a honorable, should your household need two foldables.

The latest option is to wait for Black Friday or the holiday season, when Samsung may introduce new deals to discount its foldables. 

Just don’t hold your breath for Samsung to discount its most premium mobile diagram. Unlike the Z Flip 3, which got a $150 trace cut once its successor was revealed this week, the Z Fold 3 has the same $1,800 trace on Samsung’s website that it had when it launched a year ago. With high parts prices, years of R&D to recoup, and a lack of competition, there’s not much pressure for Samsung to lower its prices.

Samsung is “leading in this situation at the moment and can afford to charge a premium afore other Android players ramp up in this space, and perhaps even Apple in a pair of years,” Popal said.