Samsung has confirmed it will host its next Galaxy Unpacked event on its home turf in South Korea, for the first time. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. will unveil its next-generation foldable smartphones at Galaxy Unpacked in late July in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, the smartphone major officially announced on Wednesday.
The Galaxy Unpacked event will take place at COEX in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, an intersection where Teheran-ro, a hub for domestic innovative startups, and Bongeunsa, a millennial Buddhist temple, converge.
“The foldable category embodies Samsung’s philosophy of delivering breakthrough innovation that pushes boundaries to reshape the future of mobile experiences,” TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.
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“Hosting Unpacked in Seoul holds great significance both as it is a city that has become an emerging epicenter of innovation and culture as well as the foldable category.”
For over a decade, the South Korean tech giant has been hosting Unpacked in key cities around the world. Starting with the first Unpacked in March 2010 in Las Vegas, the company has hosted its flagship Galaxy Unpacked in New York, London, Berlin and Barcelona. The upcoming 27th Unpacked in Seoul, Samsung is shifting its direction for Unpacked for foldable devices to focus on different trend-leading cultural cities around the globe that closely align with the designated theme of each event.
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This year, Seoul was selected because of its role in influencing global trends with its dynamic culture and innovation, while it also reflects Samsung’s strong confidence in the foldable category, the company mentioned.
It should be noted that the growth of foldables Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold for enterprise use more than doubled year on year (YoY) in 2022, in the wake of enterprises shifting towards work-from-anywhere policies; they are looking for new ways to maximise productivity.
Foldable smartphone shipments are expected to reach 16 million units worldwide — an increase of 73 per cent year on year — as the form factor is rapidly becoming mainstream. Shipments of foldables are expected to grow to 26 million units this year, according to a report by market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research.
Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy Fold 5 and Galaxy Flip 5 this year as successors to last year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (read our review here) and Flip 4 that were unveiled in India in August. The latest Galaxy Z series devices are the toughest foldables ever made, Samsung also claimed.
It is pertinent to note that Samsung introduced the world’s first foldable smartphone in 2019 and brands like Oppo, Tecno and Vivo followed suit. Tecno unveiled its first foldable under Rs 1 lakh at MWC 2023. Handset maker OnePlus also announced at MWC in Barcelona that it will launch its foldable device in the second half of this year.