Samsung’s Galaxy Fold hasn’t exactly set the smartphone world on fire, with the company reportedly on track to have sold around 500,000 or so of the much-maligned device by the end of this year. Nevertheless, Samsung has decided to go pedal to the metal when it comes to the company’s ambitions around foldable handsets, with Samsung reportedly planning to ramp up those efforts to try and sell 6 million foldables in 2020 — a 12-fold increase (no pun intended).
Is the company justified in thinking that goal is realistic? Well, consider that per Korean news outlet ETNews sources have said the company’s original target was 10 million foldables next year, and it’s unclear why the company decided to settle for the reduction to 6 million.
The Galaxy Fold 2 is definitely coming soon, and we’ve written extensively about how despite its myriad design and production troubles in this regard Samsung still remains intensely committed to the foldable smartphone form factor. Rumor is that the second-generation Galaxy Fold would land sometime in April and sport an 8.1-inch OLED panel, perhaps covered by a thin layer of glass to offer additional protection.
Additionally, Samsung is also one of several companies investigating the feasibility of putting camera technology under the front display that would eliminate the need for a notch or hole. Likewise powering the phone would be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865, in addition to the phone offering 5G support.
Would all that be enough to juice sales? Objectively, there’s just not enough evidence at this point to support such an argument. If there was this significant pent-up demand for a smartphone with an all-new form factor like foldability, we surely would have seen more excitement when the original Galaxy Fold was released. We should get our first official look at what the company has in mind relative to the Fold 2, meanwhile, at either the unveiling of the Galaxy S11 series in February or possibly at MWC 2020 in Barcelona later that same month.
