Samsung is making significant adjustments to its 2025 smartphone strategy, dialing back overall foldable phone production while simultaneously boosting its focus on the United States market. This pivot comes amidst a challenging global market forecast for foldables and disappointing sales for the new Galaxy S25 Edge model.
While the global foldable phone market is expected to face headwinds and potentially see negative growth in 2025, Samsung sees opportunity in the US. According to recent reports, the tech giant is increasing its target for US foldable phone shipments in June 2025 to 600,000 units, up from an earlier target of 400,000.
This heightened focus on the US market is reportedly part of Samsung’s plan to navigate potential US tariffs and launch the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip7 and Z Fold7 models without increasing prices. Samsung intends to hold the prices steady at $1,099 for the Z Flip7 and $1,899 for the Z Fold7, despite tariff concerns.
Production Cuts for Galaxy Z7 Series
Despite the increased US target, Samsung is generally cutting production targets for its next-generation foldable lineup. The company now plans to produce approximately 1.34 million Galaxy Z7 series units in June, a reduction from previous goals. This total includes 550,000 Galaxy Z Flip 7 units, 160,000 Z Flip 7 FE units, and 630,000 Z Fold 7 units.
These adjustments follow the performance of the previous generation, the Galaxy Z Flip6 and Z Fold6, which saw combined sales of around 4.9 million units – considered lackluster compared to expectations. Notably, the sales split between the Flip and Fold models shifted significantly in 2024, moving to a near 50:50 ratio from the previous typical 65:35 split favoring the Flip model.
S25 Series Performance: Highs and Lows
In contrast to the challenging foldable landscape, Samsung’s traditional Galaxy S25 series, launched in January 2025, is seeing more stable overall sales. The Galaxy S25 Ultra remains the top performer in the lineup, followed by the base Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus models.
However, the newly introduced Galaxy S25 Edge model is reportedly struggling with poor sales. As a direct result of its lackluster performance, Samsung is implementing production cuts specifically for the S25 Edge.
Looking ahead, Samsung is bolstering production for the entire S25 series, increasing the target to 37.4 million units, a 7% rise compared to the Galaxy S24 lineup’s production. Despite the S25 Edge’s current struggles, there are even whispers about Samsung potentially replacing the Galaxy S26 Plus model with an Edge variant in the 2026 lineup.
Samsung’s strategic decisions for 2025 highlight the complexities of the current smartphone market – balancing investment in emerging form factors like foldables with the consistent performance of traditional flagships, all while navigating global economic factors and regional market dynamics.
