Do leaflets cost too much and are they fragile? Brands try to unlock the market

The foldable smartphone market in Europe is emerging from the ‘curiosity’ phase for nerds and is trying to consolidate itself as a premium choice. It is not yet a mass product, but the manufacturers describe a category that grows and differentiates itself (from Folds that fold like a book to Flips that recall the mechanism of old cell phones).

They focus on three levers: reliability, software optimized for the format and daily use value in terms of productivity, creativity and entertainment. The main obstacle remains the price, together with a perception of fragility which, according to brands, is increasingly less justified.

Samsung: “We are no longer in the experimental phase”

Samsung claims that the category has now passed the testing phase: with “seven generations of Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip”, Nicolò Bellorini, vice president of the South Korean company, states that “we are no longer in an experimental phase” and assures that “foldables have become a stable and rapidly growing category in the premium segment”, with a forecast of over 20 million units in 2025.

The direction is also software: “we are rethinking software based on the form factor”, with One UI designed for foldable screens and AI integration that aims to make the experience “multimodal” and more proactive.

On the “smartphone-tablet” concept, Bellorini replies that “foldables already represent that bridge today”, citing Fold as an example of “tablet” versatility with smartphone portability. “We still believe in it, it is a market that is expanding” he adds, “I think we will see the category grow much further in the future”.

Honor: resistance and battery to overcome fear

For Honor the theme is also cultural. According to Pier Giorgio Furcas, head of marketing of the Chinese company, widespread resistance was born from the idea that “it can break very easily”, with perceived higher maintenance costs because “you don’t have just one screen to repair, but two”.

“We worked a lot on the resistance of the product, as well as pushing even more on the battery” assures Furcas citing the evolution towards silicon-carbon. Today the segment is “consolidating in a mature way” and many initial challenges on hinges and screens have been overcomebut the timing of “public perception and costs” remains central. The vision is ambitious: foldables “have the potential to become the high-end reference”, without necessarily completely replacing traditional smartphones.

Huawei: the tri-fold remains (for now) limited by cost

Huawei, through Andreas Zimmer (Head of product for Europe), places foldables in an overall “relatively stable” market (with some slight declines), and explains that foldables grow within this stability.

European demand, says Zimmer, “is growing slowly”: the first generations had very high prices, therefore a smaller market. Now, he adds, “we see more and more leaflets arriving in more price ranges”. However, they remain expensive products and their diffusion may also depend on “come on operator subsidies” which vary from country to country.

The positive sign, in his reading, is that “more and more people are at least actively interested in buying a leaflet” and that “you see more of them on the street”.

On the tri-fold, Zimmer holds back the idea that it could soon become the standard: “it will take a long time before we get to that point”, because “building tri-fold devices is very expensive”, the production is complex and therefore “the offer will remain somewhat limited” as well as the question. And remember that the main difficulty with foldables is the hinge, a dedicated component which means that “they are much more difficult to make than they seem when you have a foldable in your hand”.

Motorola: from the “trailblazer” Razr to uncompromising foldables

Motorola describes the segment as now more mature: “from a technological curiosity” to an “increasingly relevant segment”, with more robust hinges, more resistant displays and performance in line with traditional tops. But he recognizes that two obstacles remain: price and perception of durability on which it works with testing and communication, as well as with production scalability to “democratize” the offer.

Giorgia Bulgarella, head of marketing at Motorola adds the company’s perspective: so far the foldable has been “a niche market” (around 1% approximately, variable by country), but the technological leap is clear and today “there are no more compromisesAnd he predicts that in the next “12-24 months” the market will “grow”, although without becoming the dominant form factor in the short term.

The declared strategy is also one of expansion: “we have already tried to launch different products at different price ranges to broaden the market” and “year on year we double the sales of this market” in particular on the gaming and professional front, with partnerships linked to entertainment.