Samsung is being extra cautious with its tri-foldable, which may lead to you having to pay substantially more

The upcoming Samsung tri-foldable smartphone, likely to be called the Galaxy G Fold, is an even less ambitious experiment than initially reported. Contrary to earlier claims about 200,000 units in the works, a new report (translated source) reveals that Samsung is being extra cautious, and that the G Fold really is just an experiment.

Samsung will apparently only be manufacturing around 50,000 units of its tri-foldable. The phone will also be seeing a very limited release in a select few high-income markets, just so the company can gauge consumer interest in such a device.

However, there is a problem with producing such a small number of units: it’ll be super difficult to get your hands on one. As such, it’s very likely that the G Fold will actually become a scarce product, which will then be resold for much higher prices. Those who can afford it and really want it will probably get one, but most people will simply be priced out.

That might actually help Samsung understand consumer interest even better, but it’ll be at the detriment of said consumer. The report also alleges that the company does not want to draw attention away from the recently-released Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which has been performing exceptionally well.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an excellent phone with big sales to back it up. | Image credit — PhoneArena

Samsung’s approach for the G Fold is very similar to how it plans to handle the upcoming Project Moohan XR (Extended Reality) headset as well. While it may be more affordable than the Apple Vision Pro, Samsung plans to only produce a small number of units for some regions, also to gauge consumer interest.

Both tri-foldable phones and XR headsets are new categories that the company is interested in exploring, particularly because others — like Apple — are thinking about making AR smart glasses. But jumping in headfirst and expecting to sell a million units, as Apple did with the Vision Pro, would be ill-advised.

According to the report, the Galaxy G Fold could be announced as early as next month, but its very limited availability means that it will struggle, with or without consumer interest.

“Iconic Phones” is coming this Fall!

Good news everyone! Over the past year we’ve been working on an exciting passion project of ours and we’re thrilled to announce it will be ready to release in just a few short months.