Samsung’s Galaxy Fold has apparently sold 1 million units

1 million. That magical number that we all wish we had in our bank accounts. It also so happens to be the number of technology suckers that have actually bought a Samsung Galaxy Fold. Samsung revealed at TechCrunch’s Disrupt event in Berlin, that their much-maligned and problematic Galaxy Fold device has sold a million units since its release in September. At around $2000 each (R30000) means that there us a lot of money that people are willing to spend on a device that will likely need a lot of screen repairs in its lifetime.

Not that those numbers are massive for a company which is used to much bigger success when it releases new devices. Samsung is known for moving tens of millions of phones each quarter and so a million sales of this new cutting-edge device is not exactly a glowing sign of success for the company. That the device was problematic at launch and had such a poor reputation before launch though reveals the level of trust people have with the company, along with a willingness to be early adopters of new technology, even if said technology doesn’t work too well.

I think what those numbers perhaps reveal is that Samsung has a market for this device and even though they have many issues that they need to iron out and still improve upon, it might be worthwhile for them to keep at it and try to perfect the technology. The company has already spent many millions on the device though and it’s unlikely they’ve made their money back on it (especially with all the refunds from its first public test) so whether they have the appetite to keep pursuing the development of this device all depends on their appetite for further risk.

Huawei’s foldable phone is due out next year which could be the true test of whether people really want a device like this. Given that Huawei has delayed the release of their device several times, I’m not hopeful they’ve solved a lot of the same quality issues that Samsung has.

Last Updated: December 13, 2019