Samsung’s foldables are ready for the mainstream. Are consumers?

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Samsung on Wednesday debuted its latest foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Galaxy Z Fold5 during a press event in Seoul, South Korea. And that’s exactly where I am this week: checking out the company’s latest and greatest and taking in the sights and sounds of Seoul.

Mostly, though, I’m wandering around Samsung’s research and manufacturing facilities and chatting with corporate personnel about the company’s phones.

The Google (GOOG, GOOGL) Android-powered Flip5 and Fold5 are, you guessed it, Samsung’s fifth generation of both device lines. Samsung is the world leader in the small but growing global foldable smartphone market. IDC analyst Ryan Reith says companies will ship some 20 million foldable phones this year versus 1.1 billion regular phones.

Competition, though, is heating up. While Samsung controlled 84% of the foldable phone market in 2021, that dropped to 65% as of Q1 2023, Reith said. That’s because manufacturers, including Chinese smartphone makers Oppo and Honor, not to mention Google and Motorola, have jumped into the race as well.

Apple is also reportedly gearing up for its own foldable. Though, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the company will kick things off with a foldable iPad before potentially launching a foldable iPhone.

Flipping and folding

Samsung’s new phones come in two varieties, the clamshell-style Z Flip5 and the book-style Z Fold5. I’ve seen more people using prior generation Z Flips than Z Folds, but both are surprisingly common here in Seoul.

Of the two new handsets, I’m an early fan of the Z Flip5. Starting at a pricey $999, the Z Flip5 has a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED display on its outside cover that Samsung calls the Flex Window. It’s a tiny screen if you compare it to your average phone display, but it’s actually larger than the cover displays found on prior versions of the Flip. And thanks to that, it’s a lot more useful.

You can run apps, including Calendar, Google Maps, Whatsapp, Samsung Pay, and others without having to flip the phone open. And that’s the Flip5’s biggest appeal — it’s incredibly compact compared to when it's unfolded, letting you slip it into your pocket or purse without much fuss.

Whip open the Flip5, though, and you’re met with a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED screen.

The Flip5’s hinge is also worth a quick shoutout. Rather than leaving a small gap between the top and bottom of the screen when it’s closed, the entire thing shuts flat, making it a hair slimmer, lighter, and more durable than before.

Speaking of the cameras, the Flip5 gets both a 12MP wide-angle lens and 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Inside, you get a 10MP selfie camera.

As far as performance, the Flip5 gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen. 2 chip and 8GB of RAM. You also get 256GB of storage or an option for 512GB.

Thankfully, the Flip5 is also water resistant up to 5 feet for 30 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about your $1,000 phone giving up the ghost when you spill your morning coffee on it.

Then there’s the pricier Z Fold5. At $1,799 it’s going to take a chunk out of your bank account. Up front, the device has a large 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED cover screen that you can use to do anything you would on a regular phone. Scroll Instagram and TikTok, check your texts and emails, browse the web, whatever.

Open the Fold, and you get access to a massive 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED display. The purpose of a tablet-size display on a smartphone? Watching movies, running multiple apps at once, playing games, anything you’d want to do on your big-screen device you can do here.

Since it’s the pricer of the phones, the Z Fold5 also gets a 50MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera around the back. Upfront you get a 10MP selfie camera. Inside, there’s a 4MP camera under the display.

Performance comes from the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen. 2 chip and 12GB of RAM. You’ve also got the choice of 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage.

And like the Flip5, the Fold5 is water resistant for up to 5 feet for 30 minutes. Not that I’d recommend taking it for a swim.

The Flip5 and Fold5 are impressive smartphones that build on Samsung’s expertise in foldables. The question remains, though, are consumers, especially those in the US, willing to make the switch to a new form factor?

For now, the market will remain relatively small compared to the broader smartphone industry, but as more companies begin to offer folding phones, it’s only a matter of time before more people contemplate switching. The biggest barrier to entry is price. If Samsung and its competitors can bring down the cost of foldables, then there’s little doubt they’ll become a far larger part of the market.

And with reports that Apple is working on a foldable popping up every few months, the category has the potential to explode in size.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off for some BBQ and soju.

Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. Follow him @DanielHowley.

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