Samsung’s new foldable phones are up to 48% cheaper in South Korea, and that’s no accident

• Samsung has raised prices for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8
• This is likely in large part due to rising memory costs
• However, prices in South Korea are substantially 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’s starting price being $100 / £100 / AU$100 higher than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7’s, and the Z Flip 8’s being $100 / £100 / AU$150 more than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7’s.

Given the rising prices of memory, that’s not entirely surprising, but what you might be surprised by is just how much of a better deal South Korea is getting, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starting at just ₩2.58 million there. As the Korea Times points out, that’s 20.4% lower than the US price and a whopping 44% lower than the European price.

The difference in pricing for the standard Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is even greater. We don’t have a previous model of this to compare to (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 US price being 23.2% higher than Korea’s, while in Europe, buyers are paying 48% more.

The table below details the full price rises this generation, but in South Korea, people are paying less for the Z Fold 8 series than other places were charged for even the Z Fold 7 series.

Home-field 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 from Korean consumers have been the foundation for strengthening the Galaxy brand's global competitiveness. In recognition of the importance of the Korean market, we will continue striving to offer Galaxy devices at the most competitive prices in Korea and maintain that policy going forward.”

So, in other words, Samsung is rewarding its home market for supporting the company. But that explanation is unlikely to satisfy Samsung fans from other countries, given that this shows Samsung could clearly charge less and still turn a profit — after all, it’s not going to be losing money on South Korean sales.

Now, there will be other factors in the differing prices, such as different taxes, but while from one perspective this could look like a nice gesture from Samsung, from another it looks like most of the world is facing unfair prices.

In any case, one other interesting detail from this press conference was Roh’s claim that the three models offered this year are “the complete form" of Samsung’s foldable line, with two models no longer offering enough variety now that foldable phones are becoming more mainstream.

I’m not sure what that says about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, if that’s not part of the “complete form”, but it does suggest there will be more Galaxy Z Flip models in the future, which goes against a rumor hinting that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 would be the last one. So, that’s some good news at least.