Samsung's foldables could become what Apple's iPhone did for Apple
Undoubtedly, the iPhone is arguably one of the most recognizable gadgets ever made. In addition to bringing in many billions of cash, the iPhone has transformed Apple's fortunes and become a way of life for many individuals worldwide who find it impossible to use any other gadget. One of the most instantly recognizable phones on the market, the iPhone has maintained a familiar form while going through some significant design modifications.
Over the past few years, a lot of talk has focused on Apple's refusal to take any chances with the design of the iPhone. People have begun to joke that all new iPhones look the same as the devices they replace since the modifications, if any, have been so slight. Even third-party kits that allow customers to add new camera housings to their outdated iPhones to make them look like the newest models are sold.
The truth is that Apple's customers do not really care that the iPhone will not be receiving any significant design updates. If the corporation truly felt awful about it, they would not have allowed their decision to be tardy with design changes to irritate customers, nor would they have taken a lot of negative comments. It has discovered that buyers do not really care about the iPhone's appearance as long as the user experience is good.
The design's solidity, if you will, has not deterred people who still view the iPhone as an ideal choice. People still save money for an iPhone in a lot of developing nations throughout the world. They know what the people they want to impress by flashing their iPhone know what the phone looks like, so they go in with an idea of what the iPhone looks like in their heads. When you see it in someone is hand from a distance, you know they are using an Apple product.
Samsung has not produced a smartphone as widely used as the Galaxy Note series, and even that one was mostly used by Android fans before it was discontinued and combined into the Galaxy S Ultra versions. Over the years, the Galaxy S series has undergone numerous design changes.
It has seen curved edge screens, Contour Cut camera housing, sharp corners, and more. Every few years, Samsung presents a fresh design concept that it continues to use for a few versions before abandoning. Because of this, the Galaxy S series lacks the design stability that the iPhone has benefited from and fully utilized.
Given the competitive landscape in which it operates, Samsung may feel it necessary to make these regular design revisions. Because no other firm produces phones running iOS, Apple has the advantage of being able to control what it does with the device. Samsung must go above and beyond to differentiate its flagship Android phone models from those of its competitors, as the business faces stiff competition.
The Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip foldables, however, have the potential to be for Samsung what the iPhone was for Apple in terms of design stability. If you look at every foldable that it has produced since 2019, you will see that rather than seeing huge changes every year, the design tweaks have been more subdued and concentrated on refining, akin to what the iPhone has done.
The newest models—the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6—highlight this to perfection as, although they may not first be easily distinguished from their predecessors, you can tell that they are Samsung foldables based on their form factor and style.
It occurred to me in an intriguing way that Samsung's foldables might be to the company what the iPhone was to Apple. Following a strenuous journey that included an ascent of more than 4,000 feet, I asked someone to use my Galaxy S22 Ultra to snap a picture of me at the summit.
Despite using a mirrorless camera themselves, they were rather pleased with the camera's output and inquired about the type of phone it was. Even while this person, who also had an iPhone, couldn't have told at first glance that the device they were holding in their hands was a Samsung, I assume that if I had been using an iPhone (the horror!) that would have been easily apparent.
Conversely, as I was using my Galaxy Z Flip 5 to check train schedules at the station one day, the person standing next to me noticed and asked, "This is that Samsung foldable, is not it?" with a certain amount of interest. Since that was something new to them, they were especially interested in touching and feeling the crease on the foldable panel.
Although Samsung's foldable gadgets are relatively new and many people are still ignorant of their existence, they possess the same instantly recognizable potential as the iPhone.
Samsung has a monopoly on this industry since it was the first to bring foldables to the general public. Samsung is gradually but surely making its foldable phones as readily identifiable from a distance as the iPhone by being more restrained with the yearly design changes while maintaining a generally similar look and feel for the models. The design possibilities are limited by the devices' obvious form factor, which limits what can be done, but Samsung's approach has proven effective thus far.
In the future, Samsung hopes that sales of its flagship phones will be significantly impacted by foldables. That is only possible if a specific desire is established through design as well as features and technology.
Since Apple is not anticipated to enter the foldable market anytime soon, Samsung already enjoys the advantage of having far less competition than it would have otherwise. This simply creates the ideal environment for what Apple has accomplished with the iPhone.