Go back 8 or 9 years and the idea of a foldable phone was incredibly exciting. It was a phone that could fold in on itself, effectively making itself smaller in the process.
However, the reality of foldable phones wasn't quite there.
They were most expensive than most other phones, and performance wasn't anything close to matching what people are being asked to pay. Crucially, seven years after the first foldable phone was released, very little has changed.
So it's no real surprise that Samsung has reportedly cut production of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 by as much as 40%. Apparently Samsung isn't the only company to face these kinds of decisions either.
But my question is, if foldable phone sales are bad enough to warrant such a drastic cut, why is Samsung still going ahead with an even flashier (and presumably more expensive) foldable like the Galaxy G Fold?
The foldable phone problem
The main issue with foldable phones isn't that they're bad phones. In fact it only takes a brief glimpse at our reviews of the best foldable phones to see that they have their uses.
Foldable phones give you the option to have more in less space, either with a clamshell style, or a book-style design that reduces a tablet-sized device into a pocket-friendly shape — with no need to carry a bag around.
The biggest problem is the price tag. Brand new book-style foldables typically start at $1,700, or almost double the price of regular non-folding flagships. That is prohibitively expensive, even if you spread that cost over multiple years, and well beyond the reach of a lot of people.
Clamshell foldables don't carry quite such extreme price tags, but even the cheapest models, like the Motorola Razr 2025, still cost several hundred dollars. And for that price you're more keenly aware of the other major problem with a lot of foldables — lack of true parity with non-folding devices.
Things have improved a lot in recent years, and foldable phones are inching closer to offering similar specs to other flagship devices. But not quite, and Samsung's 200MP camera lens is a good example of that.
First released back in 2023 on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the 200MP lens has been a glaring absence from the Z Fold series in the years since. So far this lens has only appeared on the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, which got a limited release last year. Every other Z Fold camera has maxed out at 50MP.
So not only have foldable owners missed out on 200MP photography, they also missed out on the 108MP main lens that debuted back on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Rumor has it this will change, with the 200MP lens tipped to come to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but it doesn't change the fact that the foldables have been lagging behind for almost their entire existence.
It's hard to justify spending foldable levels of money when the non-folding models offer more for less. And so far that seems to be reflected in how well foldables are selling. Back in 2023 foldable phones only held 1.6% of the global mobile market share — a figure that's predicted to rise to 5% in 2028. They may be selling better than they were, but that doesn't mean they're selling well.
Why is the Galaxy G Fold even coming?
When you consider the problems foldables have in actually getting sold, it makes you wonder why Samsung is even making the G Fold in the first place. If an ordinary dual-screen foldable phone is going to have trouble selling, why double down and make an even more extravagant version?
Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see a time where the G Fold doesn't have all the same problems as a Z Fold — but ramped up to 11. To the point
Adding a second hinge and third segment to the foldable display isn't going to make the price any cheaper. With the Galaxy Z Fold 6 starting at $1,900, and the tri-fold Huawei Mate XT costing close to $3,000, the G Fold could easily be Samsung's first most expensive phone to date.
If you're going to have to spend all that money on a new phone, then it needs to be able to justify that price tag. In a way that the current wave of foldable phones hasn't really been able to do on a large scale.
At the very least this phone is going to need to have camera, performance and battery life on a par with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, not to mention all the other extra features like fast charging, S Pen support, and Qi2 wireless charging. I can't say whether that will happen or not, but Samsung's earlier attempts at foldables don't fill me with much confidence.
When it comes down to it, this is a phone that has an incredibly niche target audience — even more so than that of a typical foldable phone. To the point where Samsung can't seriously expect to sell that many G Fold phones.
Maybe that explains reports that it may not be as widely available as Z Fold devices.
Bottom Line
I have few doubts about the quality of what the Galaxy G Fold will inevitably have to offer. We're long past the disastrous launch of the original Galaxy Fold, and I refuse to believe Samsung would make the same kind of mistakes again. Whatever faults it may end up having, I expect that the G Fold will be a well constructed foldable that lives up to the Galaxy Fold name.
Foldable phones do not sell as well as non-folding phones, and there are some pretty solid reasons why people would want to avoid them. Throwing an extra folding screen into the mix is not going to magically make people jump on the bandwagon in great enough numbers. Especially if the price is what everyone fears it could be.
It makes me wonder whether Samsung is actually making the phone to make money, or if this is all an exercise in PR, so Samsung can maintain some bragging rights and show it won't be outdone by Chinese rivals.
With rumors circulating that Samsung could release the Galaxy G Fold later this year, we probably don't have too long to wait and see how this plays out.
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