Samsung’s newest batch of foldable phones doesn’t officially launch until Aug. 7, but they’re evidently doing quite well for themselves already.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Flip 8, and Z Fold 8 Ultra are breaking the company’s pre-order records for foldables, according to data that Samsung shared with Mashable. Samsung confirmed that pre-orders in the United States are outpacing the previous Z series record by 30 percent, with the Z Fold 8 (the newest member of the lineup) accounting for nearly half of all pre-orders.
The numbers suggest that foldable phones could finally be ready to break through to the mainstream. Interestingly, the Z Fold 8 is the wider design that matches the rumored shape of the unconfirmed iPhone Ultra Fold. With the apparent success of the Z Fold 8 and Apple set to join the market with a similar device, the smartphone market could soon get a major shakeup.
Samsung also noted that three times as many Flip users are switching to the larger Fold phones than in previous generations. Considering the nearly $1,900 price tag for the Fold 8 and the $2,100 price of the Z Fold 8 Ultra, that’s significant. (Yes, the prices are high, but hey, that’s true of everything in tech right now.)
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This trend appears to be consistent outside of the US, too.
South Korean customers pre-ordered 1.44 million units over a seven-day period prior to launch, while SamMobile reported that pre-orders are higher than ever in Europe, too. People are clearly vibing with what Samsung is doing.
It’s quite the development for the foldable phone market, which first emerged less than a decade ago. Early versions of these phones were expensive, sometimes gimmicky, and featured extremely visible creases in the displays. However, in recent years, foldables have gotten a lot better, and early adopters have identified lots of use cases for folding displays that go beyond gimmicks. Despite this, foldables have mostly remained a niche product.
You have two more days to pre-order the new Galaxy Z Series, which will be officially released in the US on Friday.
