Samsung reportedly begins mass production of new foldable flagships parts

17 May 2022

Samsung’s next two foldable smartphones will arrive sometime in the second half of the year, and the latest report from The Elec cites industry sources that Samsung Electronics has begun mass production of core components for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4 (both tentative names). In addition, Samsung will reportedly begin producing the foldables as soon as mid-June.

Reports estimate that Samsung is expecting to produce more than 10 million combined foldable units between the Flip and Fold series by the end of the year. It is reported that 70% of these could be the Flip series while 30% of that figure is to be comprised of the incoming Galaxy Fold device. This is only speculation as the actual production estimates won’t be released until July. For reference, 2021’s Z Flip3 accounted for 65% of Samsung foldables while 35% was the Z Fold3.

Samsung Display will also boost its manufacturing capacity for foldable display modules. Samsung will expand from 7 to 10 production lines at its Vietnamese factory in hopes of producing 2 million display modules per month compared to the 1.4-1.5 million units produced previously. It’s expected that the Z Fold4 and Z Flip4’s display outputs will reach 1 million units per month by Q3.

Samsung will reach a 1% penetration rate of global smartphone sales for its foldables for the first time this year if it manages to ship 10 million units by the end of this year.

Finally, it’s estimated that the new Galaxy foldables will have a 15% profit margin compared to the approximate 20% of margin set of the current generation foldables. This is done to keep pricing within reach of consumers.

Source (Korean)