Question 3

Blown away by innovation or price? Samsung's Galaxy Fold phone opens up debate

Samsung Electronics has wowed the smartphone industry with the first mainstream foldable screen, accompanied by a nearly US$2,000 price tag.

The South Korean tech giant unveiled the Galaxy Fold which resembles a conventional smartphone, but which opens like a book to reveal a second display the size of a small tablet at 18.5cm. It will go on sale on Apr 26.

At its launch event in San Francisco on Feb 20, Samsung upped the surprise factor by briefing analysts and journalists on widely anticipated features ahead of time. "I am blown away," said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy, adding the phone could help Samsung rejuvenate its mobile business, whose lead is under attack from China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

The phone, which can operate three apps simultaneously and boasts six cameras, also challenges the notion of what a phone can cost, debuting at nearly twice the price of current top-of-the-line models from Apple and Samsung itself.

Samsung is using a new 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Display that allows the phone itself to have a tablet-sized screen that can be folded to fit into a pocket. The main display is QXGA+ resolution, and when it's folded, a smaller 4.6-inch HD+ display is used for the phone mode. Samsung is using 512GB of Universal Flash Storage 3.0 for fast speeds, alongside a Qualcomm 7nm octa-core processor and 12GB of RAM. The Galaxy Fold has two batteries, combined in the Android operating system to represent a total of 4,380 mAh.

There is a sturdy backbone to the device, with a hinge system that has multiple interlocking gears. The device is able to fold at least 200,000 times, which works out to over 5 years if you fold it 100 times a day. At the rear of the device there is also a triple- camera system that will be used for both tablet and phone modes. There's a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera, alongside 12-megapixel wide-angle and telephoto cameras at the rear, and a 10-megapixel cover camera for selfies.

(Adapted from: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/blown-away-by- innovation-or-price-samsung-galaxy-fold-phone-11275128 and https://www.theverge. /2019/2/20/18231249/samsung-galaxy-fold-folding-phone-features-screen-photos- size-announcement)

(a) Differentiate the concepts of points-of-parity and points-of- difference and apply them to the Samsung Galaxy Fold phone.

(b) (i) (10 marks) Based on the case study, identify and describe the stage of the product life cycle that the Samsung Galaxy Fold phone is in. (5 marks)

(ii) Propose two (2) suitable marketing strategies that can be implemented at the stage of the PLC identified in (b)(i) above. (5 marks)

(c) Discuss one (1) social and one (1) personal factor each could influence a consumer to purchase a Samsung Galaxy Fold phone. (6 marks)

(d) Apply one (1) suitable pricing objective that Samsung would have considered when setting the price for the Samsung Galaxy Fold phone. (4 marks)