Interest in Foldable Smartphones Doubles up in Kenya

The Foldables market has grown and so has its interest in the Kenyan market. Foldables, which when opened act like tablets and when closed switch up to be regular phones, have seen significant leaps in tech to make them more appealing to the broader market and for the most part – it has worked.

Samsung recently released its Foldables in the Z line in the country including the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4. The two Foldables had been on pre-order for the past few weeks and have seen interest double up as the company reported a 50% increase in pre-orders compared to pre-orders for the previous Foldable series – the Z Flip 3 and the Z Fold 3.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4

Samsung Z Flip 4 is the company’s fashion-focussed smartphone that ships with a 1.9″ cover screen and a relatively flatter hinge coming in various colours including blue, pink-gold, graphite and bora purple. There’s a bespoke version that allows you to mix and match the colours.

It has a 6.7″ main screen rocking a 120Hz variable refresh rate. Samsung says that they’ve reinforced the display material with a new stronger ultrathin glass.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 runs on Qualcomm’s latest processor – the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 coupled with 8GB of RAM. It comes running on Android 12 and One UI 4.1.1.

For cameras, the Z Flip 4 has a dual main camera setup comprising two 12MP sensors – Wide(1.8μm) and UltraWide. For selfies, we have a 10MP. We get optical stabilization for both photo and video(VDIS).

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 gets a bigger battery at 3700mAh with support for 25W fast wired charging and 10W wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is lighter and slimmer – now at 15.8mm thick at the hinge weighing 263g which is now much firmer.

The cover screen comes at 6.2″ while the main screen is at 6.7″. These are OLED displays rocking 120Hz variable refresh rate. No S-Pens come included but the Fold 4 is compatible with the stylus for both its main and cover screen.

We have a 4MP under-display screen that Samsung says they hid it a little bit better.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 rocks the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor paired with 12GB of RAM with storage options starting at 256GB. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 comes powered by Android 12L and One UI 4.1.1.

This is Samsung’s first device to ship with Android 12L, a special version of Android created by Google for large-screen experiences, including foldables. The new Taskbar provides a layout similar to your PC, offering access to your favorite and recent apps.

Samsung’s partnerships with Google and Microsoft take multitasking to the next level. Google apps, including Chrome and Gmail now support drag-and-drop. Microsoft’s full Office suite and Outlook take advantage of the foldable display, providing more information on the screen and faster ways to interact with the content.

Samsung upgraded the optics with a new 50MP main, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom and a 10MP selfie camera.

“Kenyans are what we like to call early adopters, they are quick to take up new trends and as Samsung, we are reaping the benefits of this fully. This year we have seen the Samsung Galaxy Foldable do quite well during the pre-order period,” said Charles Kimari, Director of Mobile Experience Division, Samsung Electronics East Africa Limited.

The growing interest made the company extend the pre-order period from August 31st to September 4th due to increasing demand.

Samsung was offering additional gifts with each pre-order where you got a Phone Cover, S-Pen, Samsung Care Plus, 24-month Warranty and trade-in service with Badili Africa where Kshs 25,000 will be topped up on Galaxy Z Fold 4 over the traded-in phone value.

You got a Clear Slim Phone Cover, Samsung Care Plus, 24-month Warranty, and trade-in service with Badili where Kshs 20,000 will be topped up on the Galaxy Z Flip 4 over the traded-in phone value.

Top business position holders in the C-Suite drove up pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Samsung’s partnership with Badili and Aspira also increased pre-orders.

Pricing and Availability

Aspira’s partnership with Samsung lets consumers acquire the Foldables and pay within 6 months attracting 0% interest. Payment plans included a 20% deposit as a down payment then pay Kshs 19,100 monthly on Galaxy Z Flip 4 or Kshs 34,270 monthly on Galaxy Z Fold 4 for a period of 6 months.

Now that the pre-order period has ended, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 are available for purchase at all Samsung experience stores and official dealer stores countrywide. Both foldables come with Samsung Care+ which allows for one free screen replacement on accidental damage as well as device maintenance for any other issue that might occur.

Our full review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is coming soon!!