The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is here, and to put it simply it’s a knockout – our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review calls the latest in this line of foldable devices “the nearly perfect foldable phone”.
That’s for good reason: the Galaxy Z Fold 7 feels like a true overhaul after years of incremental updates, sporting larger displays, new software, a better main camera, and a more powerful chipset, all contained in a thinner design that rivals the likes of the Oppo Find N5.
However, all of this comes with a higher price tag. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999 / £1,899 / AU$2,899 – it is the most expensive widely available smartphone.
I recently wrote that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is simply too expensive for me to consider buying one. A dollar off $2,000 is just too much money to part with in my opinion – the Galaxy Z Fold 6 was already uber-pricey at $1,899 / £1,799 / AU$2,749, and more expensive than the rival Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (which launched at $1,799 / £1,799 / AU$2,699).
But with that said, I think the Galaxy Z Fold 7 launching at such a high price has the potential to do good things for the folding phone industry as a whole, even if it’s rough on individual customers’ pockets.
Price and possibility
Now, before I explain myself, let me just say that I’m not giving phone makers carte blanche to raise prices as they see fit. Price hikes feel especially thorny in the current environment of tariffs and turbulence, and like everyone at TechRadar I want to see the everyday customer get the best deal possible.
With that said, prices are going to rise over time, even if slowly – and in the case of the folding phone market, I think this creates an opportunity for real improvement – if phone makers take that opportunity responsibly.
Think back to the launch of the iPhone X in 2017. Apple’s all-screen handset was the first widely available phone to launch at a starting price of $999 / £999 / AU$1,579 – for general audiences, it was the first thousand dollar phone.
For reference, the Samsung Galaxy S8 also launched in 2017 at a starting price of $750 / £689 / $1,079, and the previous generation iPhone 7 started at $649 / £599 / AU$1,079. This was a proportionally greater price increase than we’ve seen with the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
This felt like a huge hike at the time, but it didn’t take long for phone makers to follow Apple’s example, pushing flagship phone prices towards, and eventually beyond, the thousand-dollar mark. This put more pressure on consumers, sure, but also gave phone makers more resources to improve the models at the top-end of their lineups.
Just look at today’s very best slab phones, like the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Google Pixel 9 Pro XL – these are phones with huge, beautiful displays, three or four high-quality cameras each, and enough internal power to make a mid-range PC jealous. A hard limit of $1,000 would give phone makers less flexibility and, frankly, less incentive to make such powerful devices.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that, ultimately, breaking the $1,000 barrier was good for the phone industry as a whole. Having used some of the best phones on the market, I think the trade off was worth it.
That’s especially true when you consider that a highly competitive mid-range segment has emerged as the prices of premium and cheap phones have diverged, populated by excellent handsets like the OnePlus 13R and Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, phones that offer a near-flagship grade experience for substantially less money.
These mid-range phones cost around the same, or even less, than flagships did before the entrance of premium models like the iPhone X. The Samsung Galaxy S24 FE, for example, starts at $649.99 / £649 / AU$1,099, while the OnePlus 13R comes in at a very respectable $599 / £679.
The future of folding phones
Let’s bring it back to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 – folding phones are still what I’d call an emerging technology. I don’t think we’ve reached the point where folding phones are easy to recommend against traditional smartphones for the everyday person.
Having tested several folding phones, I can say with confidence that there’s still work to do when it comes to ergonomics, durability, and camera quality. Price increases, while hard to swallow, could give folding phone makers the resources to implement these improvements.
Speculatively, we might even see the emergence of a mid-range folding phone market. The launch of the Galaxy Flip 7 FE suggests that Samsung senses some interest in moderately-priced folding phones. If the iPhone X paved the way for the OnePlus 13R, perhaps the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 can pave the way for the first true mid-range booklet foldable, at a similar price to a high-end premium flagship.
Naturally, this all relies on users to still want to purchase pricier devices, and on phone makers to use any additional revenue to invest in their product, rather than just pocketing the difference as profit. That’ll determine whether pushing past the $2,000 barrier is worth it.
You might also like
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/bbt42jE3HjkgqDu5qyuCD8.jpg
Source link
jamie.richards@futurenet.com (Jamie Richards)
