It’s been simple to dismiss folding telephones because the stuff of science fiction, even after they turned a actuality two years in the past. They have been too costly, too giant, too compromised to make sense for many. Some flips immediately flopped. But in 2021, a folding cellphone seems to have simply killed off Samsung’s long-running Galaxy Note — and I’m beginning to surprise in the event that they’ll destroy the flagship Galaxy S as properly.

That’s as a result of final month, Samsung promised to make foldables mainstream. And at $999, with fewer compromises than ever, Samsung’s new Z Flip 3 sounds dangerously shut to a whole alternative for Samsung’s $999 Galaxy S21 Plus. For the identical worth, they’ve each bought 6.7-inch 120Hz AMOLED screens, the newest Snapdragon 888 processors, the identical reminiscence and storage choices, the identical water resistance, and roughly the identical dimensions, simply with a barely lighter body and smaller battery, and one fewer digicam round again.

Except one of those telephones awesomely folds right down to half its dimension, and the opposite one doesn’t. Assuming Samsung’s new sturdiness enhancements aren’t simply speak and the plastic-covered display screen doesn’t really feel bizarre, I do know which one I’d choose!

Would Samsung actually axe its flatscreen Galaxy S in favor of foldables, although? It’s not as far-fetched as you may assume — as a result of after two years promoting a ridiculous variety of “flagship” telephones, the Galaxy S handsets are getting hemmed in on all sides.

In 2019, the corporate tried to promote as many as 10 totally different flagship telephones around the globe, together with 4 totally different Galaxy S10s and 4 totally different Galaxy Notes with largely an identical core specs. 2020 introduced 11 totally different flagships, in case you rely the Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite. Five flagship telephones should still be too many in 2021, if three of them aren’t promoting notably properly.

It’s not like Samsung can be killing off its bestselling handsets by ditching the Galaxy S, by the way in which. The firm’s midrange A-series telephones are literally its gross sales champs, after Samsung declared it will prioritize these handsets in 2018. Meanwhile, gross sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S telephones have reportedly plummeted 47 percent over the past two generations, with the Galaxy S21 on observe to be much more of a disappointment than the Galaxy S20 was the yr earlier than.

Does Samsung want the Galaxy S any greater than it wants the Galaxy Note? For smartphone lovers who need the most effective of all the things — now together with the flexibility to fold out right into a pill — the Z Fold is already taking the place of the Note. Next yr, with some digicam upgrades, it may theoretically dethrone Samsung’s “Ultra” telephones, too. That may go away room for the Flip to develop into Samsung’s new default flagship, with folding because the “Next Big Thing” that Apple doesn’t supply its clients (a minimum of not but). For everybody else, there’s Samsung’s more and more highly effective Galaxy A sequence, which can probably get much more aggressive now that Xiaomi has overtaken Samsung in Europe.

If it occurs, I’d count on a transition interval: the flagship cellphone class nonetheless begins round $700, not the $1,000 that Samsung is asking for the Flip 3, so the corporate would in all probability preserve round a Galaxy S22 FE at a minimal. (The Galaxy S21 FE continues to be pending.)

And even when Samsung does determine to deemphasize flatscreen flagships, that doesn’t imply the Galaxy S title will essentially go away. It may simply develop into what Samsung calls its folding telephones sometime. Galaxy S is the model that introduced Samsung into the highlight over the previous decade, so there’s worth and precedent to switch the title to a brand new design: when Samsung first started experimenting with curved glass screens, it began because the Galaxy Edge, however these curves turned the norm with the Galaxy S8. If Samsung makes foldables the brand new regular, we would see the identical.

All I do know for certain: Samsung’s bloated lineup of flagships was getting fairly ridiculous — bear in mind the Note 10 particularly for blockchain? — and it doesn’t have to be that means.

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