"Foldables Are Not the End" Samsung Takes the Lead Against Apple

A·S Series Launching Soon

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] It doesn't end with foldable smartphones. Samsung Electronics is preparing to launch the A series and S series immediately after the new foldable phones ‘Galaxy Z Fold3’ and ‘Galaxy Z Flip3’. This is a kind of preemptive move in the 5G smartphone market to counter the Apple ‘iPhone 13’ release scheduled for this month. By densely filling the lineup by price range?from the 1 million KRW range form factor (foldable), to the 700,000?800,000 KRW semi-premium, and the 500,000 KRW budget models?it is interpreted as a strategy to fill the gap left by the ‘Galaxy Note’ series.

◇Tomorrow, the 500,000 KRW A52s launches domestically... FE also ready to debut

According to Samsung Electronics on the 2nd, the budget smartphone ‘Galaxy A52s 5G’ will be released domestically on the 3rd as an unlocked model and through the three major mobile carriers. It comes in three colors: Awesome Black, Awesome White, and Awesome Violet, priced at 599,500 KRW.

The A52s 5G is a model based on the A52 unveiled at the A series unpacked event earlier this year, with some performance enhancements. It features a rear quad camera including a 64-megapixel camera, a 120Hz refresh rate displaying 120 frames per second, and a Super AMOLED display. It also has optical image stabilization and IP67-rated water and dust resistance. It is equipped with a large 4500mAh battery and supports 25W super-fast charging. Samsung Electronics emphasized that it "contains Galaxy's cutting-edge innovative features."

Following the A series, Samsung Electronics is also preparing to launch the semi-premium ‘Galaxy S21 Fan Edition (FE)’. The S21 FE is a product with similar performance and design to the flagship smartphone ‘Galaxy S21’ released earlier this year but at a lower price. The retail price is expected to be around 700,000 to 800,000 KRW, similar to the iPhone mini model. The S21 FE is known to feature a 6.4-inch display and Snapdragon 888 chipset. It also supports the 120Hz refresh rate applied to the iPhone Pro line.

The S21 FE unveiling date is likely to be on the 8th. The official launch is expected between September and October. IT tipster Jon Prosser stated, "Samsung Electronics will start FE pre-orders on the 20th of next month and officially sell from the 29th." Samsung is said to finalize the S21 FE launch timing while monitoring the record-breaking success of the Z series.

Galaxy S21 FE Rendering Image [Source: LetsGoDigital]

◇Preempting Apple iPhone 13... Expanding lineup to broaden choices

Industry insiders expect Samsung Electronics to preemptively launch the A series and S series FE models around the Apple iPhone 13 release date, aiming to take the initiative in the 5G market. The premium market is covered by the Galaxy Z series, the budget market by the A series, and the mid-price range by the S series FE, forming a comprehensive response structure.

This is strongly influenced by Samsung Electronics' judgment that despite the record-breaking success of foldable phones, many customers still prefer the traditional bar-type smartphones. Since the ‘Note’ series, which had been a ‘cash cow’ with cumulative sales of around 10 million units per series, will not be released in the second half of this year, a dense lineup offering choices in the bar-type smartphone market outside of foldables was necessary.

In particular, Samsung Electronics has set a strategy to counter the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 13 and also to respond to the aggressive moves of Chinese Xiaomi, which is openly aiming for the global smartphone number one spot, through this preemptive response. An industry insider evaluated, "While leading innovation with foldable phones, this move is to ensure that the Note’s market share in the traditional bar-type segment is not lost before foldables fully establish themselves." Besides Apple, Xiaomi is also scheduled to release a flagship phone this month.

Samsung Electronics, which declared the ‘foldable popularization’, continues the early sales momentum of the Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 unveiled at last month’s unpacked event. After breaking the all-time record on the first day of pre-activation in the Korean market, it surpassed 1 million pre-order waiting customers in China, the world’s largest smartphone market and once called Samsung Electronics’ graveyard. The so-called ‘reshuffling’ strategy, going all-in on foldables even at the expense of new Note releases, is considered successful. In the Korean market, the Z Fold3 and Z Flip3 achieved about 920,000 units in just one week of pre-orders, outperforming the flagship S21’s results by 1.8 times.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.