Samsung has not sold over a million Galaxy Fold devices (Update: more like wishful thinking)

[Humza]

In context: Samsung's first attempt at foldable phones was marred by so many issues that the company was forced to pull, redesign and relaunch the device months later. And while the idea of a $2,000 phone, admittedly a first-gen product, was never going to see skyrocketing sales, the fact that Samsung claimed to have sold a million Galaxy Folds was very surprising.

Update (12/16): In a statement to Korean's Yonhap News Agency, a Samsung spokesperson clarified that the company had not actually sold one million Galaxy Folds, contrary to the claims recently made by a company executive at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. As it turns out, the one million figure was Samsung's sales target for 2019, which Sohn may have confused with the actual number of devices sold. Yonhap further states the company spokesperson emphasized "that sales of the tech firm's first foldable handset have not reached 1 million units."

Due to the phone's delayed launch in September, Samsung updated its initial sales target to 500,000 units for the year, though it's more likely to have sold fewer units considering that the company's updated statement did not mention achieving this milestone nor revealed any actual sales figures for the device.

The original story follows below.

Samsung Electronics President Young Sohn was present at the TechCrunch Disrupt event in Berlin, where he revealed that the company had found a million buyers for the Galaxy Fold."There's a million people that want to use this product at $2,000," he said.

This number, of course, pales in comparison to sales figures for other Galaxy phones that Samsung is able to sell in a single quarter. However, even flagships like the S10 or Note 10 aren't as ambitious as the Galaxy Fold, which is still trying to prove and establish a new niche for itself.

The fact that a million users were willing to spend $2,000 on essentially beta testing the device is indicative of the demand for innovation in smartphone form factors, even after Samsung's problematic second attempt.

Sohn also stressed on the consumer feedback received for the foldable, which was only possible after releasing it to the public, and will help the company in making refinements to future models, such as going for a Razr-like clamshell design that could also end up being easier on the wallet, reportedly costing less than half of its predecessor when it arrives sometime next year.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/83178-samsung-claims-have-sold-over-1-million-galaxy.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Has to be world wide ..... maybe .....

 

[amghwk]

Really? There are so many suckers already?

 

[onestepforward]

One million sold - I doubt it. I sense a deception or a straight-out lie.

 

[netman]

One million for Two Folds...500K for One fold...!

 

[captaincranky]

Really? There are so many suckers already?

The saying, "there's a sucker born every minute", is often attributed, (perhaps incorrectly), to P.T. Barnum.

During the middle of Mr. Barnum's life (about 1850), the world's population was estimated to be somewhere in the area of 1.2 billion. With today's population somewhere north of 7 billion, I feel obligated to update the axiom to.....
................"There's a sucker born every 10 seconds".

 

[Hardware Geek]

These are the same people that paid 25k for a 50 inch flat screen when the tech was new. As production scales and the design of foldable screens is improved, the price will come down to affordable levels.

 

[Nobina]

They just forgot to mention all of 'em were returned.

 

[amghwk]

The saying, "there's a sucker born every minute", is often attributed, (perhaps incorrectly), to P.T. Barnum.

During the middle of Mr. Barnum's life (about 1850), the world's population was estimated to be somewhere in the area of 1.2 billion. With today's population somewhere north of 7 billion, I feel obligated to update the axiom to.....
................"There's a sucker born every 10 seconds".

I admire your knowledge and thanks to you, I started searching for P.T. Barnum and his biodata.

 

[erickmendes]

1 Million? On which planet? ...

 

[captaincranky]

1 Million? On which planet? ...

Well. "sold", doesn't necessarily mean, "built", shipped, "delivered" in the home with an individual happy with it, or "returned defective".

I guess to sum it up, "sold", doesn't necessarily equate to , "one million Happy customers".

Besides, I didn't think Amazon's, Walmart's, or Samsung's marketing reach had infested other planets as of yet.

One thing I am sure of, is when those businesses do arrive on other planets, M$ and Apple will be there waiting to greet them....

 

[red1776]

Really? There are so many suckers already?

Ha ha! suckers indeed.
I saved $1600 bucks and ordered the Escobar folding phone...

Yes sir, just waiting on delivery...should be here any day now...any day now.

 

[captaincranky]

*******

Ha ha! suckers indeed.
I saved $1600 bucks and ordered the Escobar folding phone...

Yes sir, just waiting on delivery...should be here any day now...any day now.

Not to mention the Escobar phone rolls up so you can store it in your nose!

Is there a "snorting emoji", or is that only on the dark web..?

 

[red1776]

*******
Not to mention the Escobar phone rolls up so you can store it in your nose!

Is there a "snorting emoji", or is that only on the dark web..?

Cool! Oled for the olefactory.

 

[Shadowboxer]

Comments section filled with people who don’t grasp that not everyone out there is poor. There are millions of millionaires out there who buy this sort of tech like its a disposable camera. $2000 is not even as much as a first class return flight between Hong Kong and London and those tickets are always booked out.

I didn’t buy one of these devices however, I’m steering clear of everything google as much as I possibly can.

 

[Paulos7]

Comments section filled with people who don’t grasp that not everyone out there is poor. There are millions of millionaires out there who buy this sort of tech like its a disposable camera. $2000 is not even as much as a first class return flight between Hong Kong and London and those tickets are always booked out.

I didn’t buy one of these devices however, I’m steering clear of everything google as much as I possibly can.

You appear to be the only person commenting here that mentioned poverty, or being poor, as the reason for not buying one of these phones. You're reading a bit much between the lines here, or you simply don't grasp what every person other than yourself is saying.

 

[red1776]

You appear to be the only person commenting here that mentioned poverty, or being poor, as the reason for not buying one of these phones. You're reading a bit much between the lines here, or you simply don't grasp what every person other than yourself is saying.

For example the reviews on this product have stated that 'early adopters be prepared to feel the pain of early adopters.

I remember reading about this as early as 2007, I wonder what took so long.

https://phys.org/news/2008-11-foldable-large-oled-screen.html

 

[Tams80]

Well, I bought one and am quite happy with it.
I only really miss the headphone jack and the Spen, but the latter is already very device specific, so I'm more accepting of that.

Is it something revolutionary that has changed my life? No. But it is fun to use and I could afford it.

 

[Uncle Al]

See, I told ya! There are NOT that many stupid people in the world ..... yet .....

 

[amghwk]

I think Techspot shouldn't have changed the thread title so blatantly.