More Competition Is Great News For Consumers: Samsung To Rivals In Foldable Segment – News18

Samsung has launched the new Galaxy Z foldable devices in India, which the company claims has a huge demand in the country. The company’s fifth-gen foldables should ideally be head and shoulders above the competition but as most of you know, there aren’t many rivals for the South Korean brand so far.

All that could change with more brands entering the segment, but Samsung is ready to compete and in fact welcome them to the market, which only gives consumers more options.

Speaking to News18 Tech, Aditya Babbar, Senior Director, Mobile Business Samsung India said that having more foldable brands in the market is “great news for consumers as they will have more choices.” He also highlighted the advantage that Samsung has over the Chinese brands by launching five-gen products is that it gives them a better on-ground experience, trained staff and distribution that is unmatched.

So as you might have figured by his statement and not being concerned about the future, he walked us through the numbers for this year’s foldables, as the company has got 1.5 lakh pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Galaxy Z Fip 5 in India.

When quizzed about the reason for such a number, Babbar said, “pre-orders have become appealing because of different offers and upgrade schemes.” By which he refers to the Samsung Finance+ which helps people to buy these premium devices without splurging money.

He even mentioned that “50 percent the buyers taking the finance option are new to the credit system.” Samsung is offering people the option to buy phones with EMIs up to 24 months, which is not the case with other brands or finance schemes, who only offer up to 9 months.

But the biggest takeaway from this interaction was that the demand for foldables is not just limited to the top tier cities anymore. “In fact, we have increased the availability of these devices in tier II and III cities by 50 per cent this year, because Bharat is where the growth is currently, especially when you compare it with urban parts of the country,” Babbar highlighted. That’s not all, he even mentioned that most people buying the Flip are young and first time Samsung users, which explains their fascination to use the form factor.

Selling premium foldables is one thing, but how does the company focus on the after-sale part for these products? “The people who buy the fold can take appointment to visit the service centre if they have any issues, you can even say what time you want to come. We also offer home pick up, reserving slot and standby phone for the flagship and foldable devices.”

Samsung is also giving a free screen replacement for the foldable if bubble comes on the screen. “You can get the film replaced free of cost because we understand people take time to get used to any new tech,” Babbar adds.

Now that Samsung has assured that it is not worried about the possible rivalry, how does it plan to evolve with its products in this segment? “We learn from consumers, we will see what they want and work on it,” Babbar giving a strong indication that Samsung will continue to work in its direction, rather than follow someone else.