Samsung has revealed that its foldable smartphones are hotting up in the enterprise sector thanks to their large displays, making work easier to do on the go. The number of shipped Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip phones have more than doubled year-on-year. Samsung looked at the period between January to October this year and compared it to the same months the year before – foldable phones that were contracted to businesses rose by 105%.
Foldables are still quite pricey when compared to other devices, and apps are still being optimized to the radically new form factor. Nevertheless, Samsung says foldable shipments are expected to hit 16 million units worldwide, a 73% increase year-on-year. In 2023, shipments are set to hit 26 million, pushing the form factor into the mainstream.
“Samsung Galaxy foldable smartphones were created to open up opportunities for new ways to work and explore creativity,” said KC Choi, EVP and Head of Global Mobile B2B Team, MX Business at Samsung Electronics. “This rapid growth in investment demonstrates our enterprise customers’ need for meaningful innovations to enhance workforce productivity.”
The financial services sector has been most drawn to foldables so far, according to Samsung. This could be due to the fact that about 74% of people in that sector (based on a sample group) need to stay connected through mobile apps, and the larger screen space makes apps easier to use.
Samsung hasn't been slow to notice the adoption of these foldables by enterprise customers. To push along the adoption rate, Samsung has collaborated with Bloomberg, DocuSign, and IBM to optimize their apps for the form factor. Bloomberg has an app called Bloomberg Professional that’s used by investment professional and now that it’s adapted to the larger form factor, the app is more intuitive and immersive.
DocuSign allows businesses to digitally sign documents and is used by 24 of the top 25 Fortune 500 Financial companies. Now that it’s optimized for Samsung devices, users can use the app hassle-free on foldables and there’s S Pen support to drag and drop email attachments and sign documents. Samsung has also worked with IBM to make its apps compatible with the form factor and the S Pen.
The current line-up of foldables from Samsung are the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4. They were unveiled by the Korean company in August and cost $1,799 and $999.99, respectively, though, you can now find refurbs at significantly discounted prices if you look hard enough.
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