According to new reports, Samsung is changing its 2025 foldable phone plans after the poor performance of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. Several generations of foldable phones have been on the market, but demand does not appear to be as high as companies such as Samsung, Google, and OnePlus had hoped.

ETNews (via @Jukanlosreve) reports that Samsung plans to reduce its foldable phone production to about 5 million units (3 million Galaxy Z Flip 7 and 2 million Z Fold 7). This drop is significant compared to the current total of 8.2 million Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 units. Overall, the company expects to manufacture 39% fewer phones.

While it is frightening to hear that Samsung will cut back on phone production, it is better for the company to get ahead of the curve and reduce the number of phones than to make more than it needs.

The drop in folding demand is affecting more than just Samsung. According to analyst Ross Young, other folding brands in China are also reducing their production plans, indicating that the market as a whole is not ready to dive headfirst into alternative phone designs.

According to market research firm TrendForce, foldable phones are expected to account for just 1.5% of the total smartphone market by the end of 2024. And it predicts that share will grow to 4.8% by 2028.

Seeing how the market is changing will be interesting for companies like Apple, which has not yet entered the foldable phone market. The company is speculated to be developing a foldable phone, but no concrete information is available yet. Apple may be a breath of fresh air in this field, or it may back out if there is not enough demand.

It's not all bad news for Samsung. According to another report, Samsung intends to increase Galaxy S series production to 37.4 million units, up about 7% from the Galaxy S24 series. Perhaps prohibitively high prices are preventing a shift to folding phones, or perhaps buyers simply prefer a phone with a familiar design.