Folding smartphones boom in Australia as Samsung to roll more models out

Interest in smartphones with screens that bend, fold and flex is soaring in Australia. See what’s in store.

Australians should expect to see a lot more smartphones that flip, fold and flex in the coming year as interest in folding phones skyrockets by 300 per cent and sales break the 10 million barrier for the first time.

And one research firm expects buyers to snap up four times as many folding phones within just three years, forcing more companies to create innovative handsets to keep our attention.

The predictions come after Samsung showed off two next-generation folding smartphones in New York — the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Flip4 — that will arrive in the country on September 2.

Samsung Australia mobile vice-president Garry McGregor said the new style of smartphones was finally breaking through mainstream use, with younger buyers at the front of the queue.

“Generation Z in particularly interested in this category of phone — their interest has increased nearly 300 per cent on last year,” he said.

“Obviously there are more of these products out in the wild but people searching for foldables online has gone up markedly as well.

“Month on month, more people are searching for ‘best folding smartphone,’ ‘do I need a folding smartphone,’ and ‘what folding smartphone should I buy’.”

Samsung's new flip phone with a flexible screen, the Z Flip3.

Mr McGregor said Australian buyers, who were well known for adopting technology early, were likely to lead the world in finding phones and would “have a big say in what iterations are made” to their design.

Telsyte research found more than one in four Australian buyers in the market for a smartphone was now actively considering a folding device, up from nine per cent in 2021.

In addition to more durable bodies and better screens, he said the phones had proven themselves to younger users as tech to elevate their selfies and capture social media videos hands-free.

“We do expect folding phones to continue to grow in popularity in Australia,” he said.

“One of the key demographics are influencers who are looking for better than front-facing cameras for selfies which was touted as a benefit initially but has come into its own as one the key reasons why people buy these phones.”

Mr Fadaghi said research also showed buyers were willing to pay more for a folding phone, and were more likely to keep buying them after their first.

Rebecca Tesoriero with her kids Lydia 3 and Vincent 5, and her folding phone. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Sydney mother Rebecca Tesoriero is one of the pioneers, having bought a Galaxy Z Flip3 in August 2021 so her “most-used piece of tech” could easily “fold and fit in my pocket or small bag”.

Ms Tesoriero said she’d since become something of an advocate for the technology among her friends and family, and sometimes interested bystanders.

“People around me are often so curious and interested when I pull out my phone and open it,” she said.

“I always let them have a go with a hands-on and they have loved the experience of holding, folding and scrolling through the phone to see how the seamless the experience on the screen is.”

Samsung's new flip phone with a flexible screen, the Z Flip3.

IDC research manager Anthony Scarsella said Samsung’s Flip and Fold devices had proven “there is consumer demand for foldable phones once they hit the right price and feature a more stable build”.

The research firm predicts folding phone sales will almost quadruple to 27.6 million by 2025.

As a result, he said, many other smartphone makers including Oppo, Microsoft, and Motorola were likely to launch phones with flexible screens in the coming months.

“We have already witnessed other vendors launching new foldables this year, and we expect more players to attempt to take share away from Samsung as the form factor grows in popularity,” he said.

But Apple may take longer to join the competition, according to Mr Fadaghi, making potential buyers wait long for a flexible iPhone.

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson travelled to New York as a guest of Samsung.

Originally published as Folding smartphones boom in Australia as Samsung to roll more models out