Foldable phones may be settling into their fourth generation but it’s still pretty rare to see one in out in the wild.

However, that could all potentially change this year as South Korea’s Samsung, the company that’s largely unopposed in the foldy phones space, amps up its promotional efforts into overdrive and narrows in on the fashion-conscious Gen Z and status-minded executive markets. That includes everything from influencer tie-ups to pre-order sweeteners.

But can the marketing blitz succeed in making foldable phones a thing?

The Galaxy Z Fold4 is aimed at a fashion-conscious audience.

The Galaxy Z Flip4, with its nostalgic clamshell fold and bright colours, is a clear play for a younger and fashion-forward demographic. Samsung launched the phone with a campaign featuring boy band BTS, and the Flip3 is frequently featured on the current season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, which Samsung sponsors.

Not only does the Flip feature on the feeds of many influencers; it’s also marketed to them. A key feature is the ability to prop the phone up half-folded to get a video or livestream preview on the top half and controls on the bottom, for hands-free shooting.

And for extra style points, you can even order a custom Flip4 with differently coloured upper and lower panels.

The bigger Z Fold4, meanwhile, is positioned as a multitasking powerhouse for customers with busy work lives and very deep pockets. When closed it resembles a thick but normally proportioned smartphone, but when unfolded it becomes a tablet with special controls for operating multiple apps at once and compatibility with Samsung’s S-Pen stylus.

The larger Z Fold4 is aimed at power users and multitaskers.

But while you may increasingly see folding phones on your Instagram feeds (or even in LinkedIn posts), Samsung still has to turn that hype into actual sales.

“Worldwide, Samsung reportedly sold around eight million foldable phones last year and is projected to double this in 2022,” said Chris Jager, shopping expert at comparison site Finder.

“To put that number into perspective, overall phone sales in 2021 were approximately 1.5 billion. So it’s still a drop in the ocean compared to conventional handsets.”

Market research from Telsyte suggests foldables accounted for around 10 per cent of Samsung Australia’s smartphone sales for the second half of 2021. That would be equal to around 162,000 units for the half.

Samsung markets the Flip4 at, and with, influencers.

An obvious barrier for most people is price. The Flip4 starts at $1500, and the Fold4 $2500. This isn’t necessarily much more than the highest of high-end iPhone Pros or Galaxy S Ultras, but combined with the unfamiliar form factor it can be a tough ask.

You can get the phones on plans from the major telcos, but the absolute minimum you’ll pay for a Flip4 and mobile plan combined is $100 per month over 24 months. For the Z Fold4, it’s more like $150 per month.

Another sticking point is software; potential buyers aren’t convinced every app will work well with the unconventional screen sizes.

“The Galaxy Z range is still in need of a killer, must-have application, but there are definitely glimmers of potential,” Jager said.

“As the foldable market grows, you can expect more major developers to invest in dedicated apps.”

The phones have reviewed increasingly well since the original Fold was met with some lukewarm reactions in 2019, and Samsung is also known to offer deep discounts to staff of stores like JB Hi-fi, effectively getting the new and improved devices in front of people who are likely to be recommending phones to others.

The cover screen on the Flip4 shows notifications or camera previews.

Anisha Bhatia, senior analyst at GlobalData, said Samsung had gone from strength to strength in foldables.

“Samsung is on its fourth generation of folding phones, with solid improvements in each iteration and an effort to make pricing palatable to consumers,” she said.

“The Z Flip4 is more at the same price. The Flip series has already pushed folding phones onto the mainstream stage, and [pre-order offers] will only aid consumer adoption.”

Indeed, Samsung has once again ensured some strong incentives for ordering foldy phones ahead of time this year. Any pre-order before August 31 comes with a free storage upgrade (so for example if you pay the price for a 128 GB phone, you get the 256 GB model), and then there are additional incentives at each major telco.

Ordering at Telstra gets customers a free Galaxy Watch 5 valued at up to $649, and Optus is giving away Samsung tablets worth $529. Meanwhile, Vodafone throws in a $160 wireless charger, but also up to $700 bonus credit if you trade in your old (but not too old) phone.

“Phones with folding displays continue to whet consumer appetites in a stagnating smartphone market,” Bhatia said, noting that the only real rival to Samsung’s phones was the Motorola Razer made by Lenovo, which is significantly less powerful.

“Apple is entirely absent in this segment and Huawei’s smartphone woes have forced it to take a back seat. Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have barely scratched the surface of this market. With practically no viable competitor, this category is wide open for Samsung to shape.”

The company has worked out its hardware kinks and is showing promise in terms of software support. It’s making strong pitches to both trend-setters and power users, and is increasing visibility of its foldable offerings. The only thing left to determine is whether regular users actually find any utility in phones that fold.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung Australia thinks they will, and that this generation of phones will be the one that takes foldables mainstream.

“Adoption cues are steadily growing from the volume of foldable devices in the wild, increasing consumer online search trends, indication of purchase intent, app optimisation and more,” said VP Garry McGregor.

“We know there’s been a doubling in consideration for foldables among 18- to 45-year-olds and Gen-Z specifically, showing a colossal 273 per cent increase since last year.”

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