A dedicated S Pen slot is reportedly part of Samsung’s elaborate foldable strategy for the coming years. According to The Elec, the company held a meeting with its suppliers a couple of weeks back to discuss the future of foldables. Folding devices currently only account for one percent of the global smartphone market. But the Korean firm expects it to grow exponentially in the coming years. It told suppliers that the shipment of foldables is projected to see a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 80 percent through 2025. Samsung’s Fold and Flip series foldables are already attracting rival customers. Moreover, about 90 percent of foldable users are likely to upgrade to a foldable as their next device. So there’s plenty of opportunity for growth. However, the competition is growing too. Apple could launch folding notebooks and tablets by 2024, while multiple OEMs are already preparing to launch foldable smartphones next year. Samsung believes innovation is the only way to fend off competition.
Samsung wants to ship its foldable smartphones with a built-in S Pen slot
During the meeting, Samsung talked about various ways of improving its foldables. A thinner and lighter body is one of the ways to go about it. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 weighs 263 grams and is almost 16mm thick. Regular smartphones mostly weigh around 200 grams and are less than 10mm thick. Samsung says it needs to develop new materials to reduce weight. It can also cut some weight on internal components, such as the vibration motor. But this can’t come at the expense of durability. Samsung says it needs to further improve the durability of its foldables. The Korean firm has already achieved waterproofing in these devices but there’s always room for improvement. The folding screen still scratches too easily. The crease in the middle of the folding screen is another disadvantage of foldable smartphones. It often comes in the way of content, and that isn’t something you want on a premium smartphone. Software optimization is another thing Samsung discussed during the meeting. Last but not least, the company sees a dedicated S Pen slot as a critical innovation to drive the growth of foldables. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 already supports the stylus pen but doesn’t have a built-in silo to keep it. Users need to separately purchase the accessory and a storage case. It remains to be seen how many of these proposed improvements we will see on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 next year.
