- Samsung has increased the prices of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8
- This is likely largely due to increasing memory costs.
- However, prices in South Korea are significantly lower
As expected, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 cost more than their predecessors, with the Z Fold 8 Ultra starting price $100/£100/AU$100 more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and the Z Flip 8 being $100/£100/AU$150 more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7.
Given the rise in memory prices, that’s not entirely surprising, but what might surprise you is just how much better a deal South Korea is getting, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starting at just 2.58 million yen. As the Korea Times points out, this price is 20.4% lower than the American price and 44% lower than the European price.
The price difference for the standard Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is even bigger. We don’t have a previous model to compare (since the Z Fold 8 Ultra is the successor to the Z Fold 7), but this phone starts at $1,899.99 / £1,699 / AU$2,699, with that price in the US being 23.2% higher than in Korea, while in Europe buyers pay 48% more.
The table below details this generation’s total price increase, but in South Korea, people are paying less for the Z Fold 8 series than other places have paid, even for the Z Fold 7 series.
|
Phone |
256 GB |
512 GB |
1 TB |
|
Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra |
$2,099.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,999 |
$2,299.99 / £2,069 / AU$3,299 |
$2,699.99 / £2,409 / AU$3,899 |
|
Galaxy Z Fold 7 |
$1,999.99 / £1,799 / AU$2,899 |
$2,119 / £1,899 / AU$3,099 |
$2,419 / £2,149 / AU$3,549 |
|
Galaxy Z Flip 8 |
$1,199.99 / £1,149 / AU$1,949 |
$1,399.99 / £1,319 / AU$2,249 |
N / A |
|
Galaxy Z Flip 7 |
$1,099 / £1,049 / AU$1,799 |
$1,219 / £1,149 / AU$1,999 |
N / A |
Home advantage
So what’s going on here? Well, the Korea Times reports that during a press conference on the sidelines of the Galaxy Unpacked launch event, Samsung Electronics co-CEO Roh Tae-moon said: “The support, feedback and encouragement of Korean consumers have been the basis for strengthening the global competitiveness of the Galaxy brand. Recognizing the importance of the Korean market, we will continue to strive to offer Galaxy devices at the most competitive prices in Korea and maintain this policy in the future.
In other words, Samsung is rewarding its domestic market for supporting the company. But this explanation is unlikely to satisfy Samsung fans in other countries, given that it shows that Samsung could clearly charge less and still make a profit – after all, it won’t lose money on South Korean sales.
Now, there will be other factors in the price differences, such as different taxes, but while from one perspective this might look like a nice gesture on Samsung’s part, from another perspective it seems like most of the world is facing unfair pricing.
Regardless, another interesting detail from that press conference was Roh’s assertion that the three models offered this year are “the complete form” of Samsung’s foldable lineup, with two models no longer offering enough variety now that foldable phones are becoming more common.
I’m not sure what this says about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, if it’s not part of the “full form”, but it does suggest that there will be more Galaxy Z Flip models in the future, which goes against a rumor suggesting that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 would be the last one. So that’s at least good news.
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