Foldable smartphone market in India is witnessing heightened competition. In 2023, many new market entrants have emerged, with some even aggressively innovating on the hardware front
Samsung, during the Galaxy Unpacked launch event on Wednesday, claimed that their Galaxy smartphone users in India are doing, ‘Circle to Search’ 3,40,000 times per day, using ‘Call Assist’ 48,000 daily and ‘Photo Assist’ feature 55,000 times each day, emphasising the growing number of generative AI use cases in the country. These generative AI users in India now have the chance to experience Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 foldable smartphones that come with nearly 25 unique Galaxy AI features, the South Korean electronics major asserted.
The sixth generation of Samsung’s foldable and flip smartphones compete against Vivo’s X Fold 3 Pro and Motorola’s Razr 50 Ultra in India.
On the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 series launch, she added, “The new devices launched are a modest increment to the previous generation devices with emphasis on Galaxy AI enabled features, raising the overall experience and use cases of the devices. This also sets a narrative around the importance of AI on device for phones in the upcoming quarters.”
On LLMs being used in the latest Galaxy fold and flip phones, Samsung said they are using a collaborative model which is primarily based on its partnership with Google. Samsung calls it ‘Galaxy AI’.
“The foldable form factor market in India smartphone domain was around a million shipments in CY2023, of which more than 70% share is helped by Samsung alone,” said Upasana Joshi, Senior Research Manager, IDC India.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 offer mostly incremental upgrades over their predecessors. It has chosen to double-down on infusing Galaxy AI features across its product line-up. However, effectively communicating the benefits of the new Galaxy AI features to mainstream consumers is crucial for market success,” said Prabhu Ram, Head-IIG, CMR.
Samsung introduced various gen AI features like Note Assist, for translation, summaries, and auto-formatting for notes. Plus, a newly embedded transcript feature enables transcription, translation, and summarising of voice recordings directly in Notes.
It added a new Composer from Samsung Keyboard that generates suggested text based on simple keywords for email and supported social media apps. It has the capability to create text specifically for social media, by analysing previous posts.
Operating on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, Samsung said that Z Flip 6 now has a vapour chamber for the first time, and the Z Fold 6 has got 1.6x improvement against its predecessor.
Samsung has retained the same optical set up in Galaxy Z Fold 6 which was available in Fold 5 but has changed the main lens in Flip 6 to a 50MP from a 12MP sensor in Flip 5.
Battery in Flip 6 has been revised to a 4,000mAh from 3,700mAh in Flip 5, while the Fold 6 continues with the same battery as Fold 5.
Samsung has tweaked the Fold 6 display refresh rate from 1 to 120Hz which was 60-120Hz earlier in Fold 5. Peak brightness has gone up to 2,600 nits. Cover screen has been stretched by an inch. However, the Flip 6 displays remain same in sizes but go up in brightness.
However, Samsung has increased the pricing of the new foldable and flip phones. Last year, Z Flip 5 was launched at ₹99,999 for the 8GB/256GB variant which now costs ₹1,09,999 but for 12GB/256GB starting variant. Samsung has ditched the 8GB variant in Flip 6 series.
Similarly, the Z Fold 5 was priced at ₹1,54,999 for 12GB/256GB version in 2023, and this year, it starts at ₹1,64,999 for same RAM/ROM option. And, for the first time, Samsung breached ₹2 lakh milestone by pricing the 12GB/1TB version of Fold 6 at ₹2,00,999.
“Despite higher prices, the foldable form factor has a certain niche and the additional feature enhancement justifies it,” said Joshi.
Foldable smartphone market in India is witnessing heightened competition. In 2023, many new market entrants have emerged, with some even aggressively innovating on the hardware front.
“This hyper-competitive landscape puts pressure on Samsung to maintain its foldable market leadership,” feels Prabhu.
The S-Pen has been updated with the new sketch-to-image feature that allows users to create more sophisticated art pieces by generating image options when sketching or drawing on the photos in Gallery or Note screen.
For Flip 6, with Galaxy AI, users can also make use of the Interpreter that now comes with a new conversation mode that enables both parties to conveniently view translations on the main and cover screens for more natural interactions.
There is Google’s Gemini overlay and Circle to Search as well that works in viewfinder itself.
Live Translate now works with major third-party apps. Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with an advanced editing experience with Photo Assist. Portrait Studio can now be used to create different portrait styles such as 3D cartoons or watercolours.
Samsung also said to label the AI-generated images to stop the misuse.
“Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 take the premium to next level where we see blend of durable fold form factor and artificial intelligence. This places Samsung ahead of others in the market who either play on foldable form factor or AI,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Founder of Techarc.
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