Samsung SA digs in heels over foldables for premium market despite global slowdown
Samsung declined to respond to questions about the recent price increases on the Galaxy Fold 7 and Flip 7 or the disappearance of the 256GB Fold 7 variant from its South African online store. That silence is telling, especially in a market where smartphone sales are slowing and consumers are squeezed.
'Fold users typically remain the most loyal… they upgrade more, and they upgrade faster,' Samsung Mobile SA's VP for Mobile Justin Hume told Daily Maverick at the local launch. 'The base is growing every year.'
Samsung is banking, once again, on deep-pocketed loyalists, an expanding ecosystem and some health tech to keep its margins intact.
Foldable flatline
Globally, foldable smartphones are hitting turbulence. In the first quarter of this year, foldables made up just 1.5% of total smartphone sales in Europe, with year-on-year growth of only 4%, according to Counterpoint Research. That's a sharp slowdown from previous years, and some analysts are calling it a warning sign.
'Most consumers are still not sure what a foldable phone is for,' said Counterpoint's Jan Stryjak. 'And many still have concerns about durability and longevity.'
Despite this, Samsung continues to dominate the category, but that lead is shrinking. In 2024, global foldable shipments rose 12% to 17.2 million units, yet Samsung's market share fell from 54% to 45%. And 2025 isn't looking much better, with 'no further growth' forecast.
Hume acknowledges these headwinds, but argues that in South Africa's premium segment, what he calls the 'R1,000 market and above' (in terms of monthly contract spend), consumer spending is still resilient.
'That market is either corporate-driven, business owners and the like, and there's this imperviousness to some of the economic conditions.'
Samsung's best-selling device in the country? The S25 Ultra, outperforming even the entry-level Galaxy S25.
Flipping the market
For those not willing to drop over R40,000 on a Galaxy Fold 7, Samsung has released the Flip 7 FE, a more affordable version of its clamshell foldable, aimed at making foldables more accessible. At least in theory.
Priced at R22,800 (another mysterious price increase for the 256GB version, but the 128GB is curiously absent), it uses in-house silicon and borrows design cues from the Flip 6 to deliver a slimmed-down, but still premium experience.
'We can now land this product at R799 [on contract] for that customer,' Hume said, referring to users on older Flip 4 contracts. 'Yes, it's not as highly specced. But compared to somebody who's only seen the Flip 3 or 4, it's night and day.'
The Flip 7 FE is a potential upgrade path for users in that pricing bracket, but its pricing still places it in the high-end category and that the narrow gap between the FE and full-spec Flip 7 may limit its appeal as a more affordable alternative.
A data privacy play
Samsung isn't just betting on specs. A key part of the Fold 7's value proposition is its integration of KEEP (Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection), which enables on-device encrypted storage that doesn't send sensitive user data to the cloud.
'Your smart toilet could become the point of vulnerability,' Hume quipped, highlighting Samsung's concern with AI-driven data access. 'We manage all that environment from your handset.'
This is part of a broader push to challenge Apple's dominance in the privacy conversation. But convincing users that Samsung's approach is trustworthy, especially when it's 'free', is a work in progress.
That free references Samsung South Africa's partnership with Aura to launch Samsung SOS+, a free 12-month emergency response service for owners of the Galaxy A56, A36, and A26 smartphones. Hume recounts a general reluctance in the target market to make use of the service.
'The market that hasn't been exposed to that is still trying to work out what exactly that means for them,' said Hume. 'It's good, but it's too good to be true.'
It's all still a proof of concept, but Samsung is in a unique position to leverage its Knox platform to provide secure device tracking once users hit the panic button.
Taking the fight to the wrist
While Samsung leads the pack in wearables bundled with phone purchases with an estimated 80% share of network-based smartwatch sales in South Africa, the brand still struggles in standalone retail sales.
'In pure retail, we know it's an issue,' Hume admitted. 'Our competitors definitely do an incredible job.'
Globally, the wearables market isn't growing as fast as it used to. In 2024, it grew just 5.4%, with projections dropping to 4.1% in 2025.
Smartwatch sales declined by 4.5% in 2024 and are expected to recover only modestly this year. The big winners? Hearables, which grew by nearly 9% and remain the largest wearables category worldwide.
Even so, Samsung is leaning into health as its killer wearable feature. The Galaxy Watch 8 features new sensors to measure vascular load and antioxidant levels.
The Watch 8 Classic model also marks the return of the rotating bezel, and Samsung hopes to win over users by giving them full control over their health data. 'The empowerment sits with you,' Hume said. 'You control access. Not the third party.'
But with all the sudden price increases and general market decline, the local market will show whether the now flat folding smartphones hit the right note. DM
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IOL News
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'Women have always featured strongly in our home loans book, but the past two years clearly show growing confidence and empowerment to take the lead in achieving their home ownership goals,' said Toni Anderson, head of home services at Standard Bank. The average price of the properties purchased by female main applicants has increased by 48.2% from R800 000 in 2015 to R1.3 million in 2025. This is supported by the 74.3% growth seen in the average gross income for female main applicants over the last 10 years, whose average income grew from R38 000 in 2015 to R67 000 in 2025. While women of all ages are said to be entering the market, 74% of female main applicants are under the age of 45, pointing to younger women increasingly investing in long-term assets. Female asset ownership is rising beyond property. In Standard Bank's Vehicle and Asset Finance (VAF) division, women's share of the client base grew from 38.5% in June 2015 to 43.9% in June 2025. 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Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. 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Daily Maverick
an hour ago
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The JSE displays an unhealthy obsession with secrecy
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The IR investigation found that disclosure of information in this case was not unreasonable, as it pertained to market activities conducted under the regulatory oversight of the JSE. Commercial harm? The JSE also stated that it could not provide the information that Inhlanhla sought because to do so would violate the mandatory protection of commercial information of a third party. This is also an oft-seen tactic – the bald claim that commercial harm would result from the disclosure of the information. The IR stressed that a public body cannot make this claim as a 'mere assertion' and had to provide evidence of how disclosure would actually harm the relevant third party. 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Public interest override Paia provides that, notwithstanding other prohibitions, the public body must assess whether the disclosure of the records would reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law and whether the public interest in the disclosure of the record clearly outweighs the harm contemplated in the grounds of refusal. The IR investigation noted that Inhlanhla had furnished the JSE with an analysis of the Traded enX Shares over the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020 and that it had clearly invoked concerns regarding 'substantial contravention of the law', in the form of market manipulation. The IR took the view that the JSE had simply not properly engaged in the balancing exercise required by Paia to determine whether the public interest override would apply, and found that mandatory disclosure in the public interest was relevant or applicable under the circumstances. Where to from here? As mentioned earlier, the IR enforcement committee still needs to review and make a determination on the investigator's preliminary report. After that, either party can take the IR decision to court – as the JSE has already indicated it will do if it is ordered to make the requested disclosures. As the Inhlanhla story demonstrates, the process to challenge a refusal is so onerous and so lengthy that often someone seeking access to information is forced to give up. It's hard not to think that the public bodies know this and so know that – despite their misreading of the law and judicial precedent – their refusals of the public's Paia requests will probably go unchallenged. With public bodies defaulting to secrecy rather than transparency, and our access to information mechanisms taking years to resolve complaints, is it any wonder that we're in an accountability vacuum in South Africa? DM
Daily Maverick
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Minister Macpherson to address media as exposé of IDT officials' bribery bid reverberates across SA
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