Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 are lagging behind last year’s models despite their impressive numbers.

Samsung officially announced the latest Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip devices on July 10 at the Galaxy Unpacked event. Namely the Z Flip6 and Z Fold6, Samsung’s flexible devices include some notable improvements like the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for the Galaxy, a new main camera and larger battery for the Z Flip6, and a new flatter design for the Galaxy Z Fold6.

However, these hardware upgrades don’t come for free. The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 are $100 more expensive than their predecessors. The Galaxy Z Fold6 starts at $1,899, compared to $1,799 for the Galaxy Z Fold5 (Buy on Amazon), while the Galaxy Z Flip6 will cost $1,099, compared to the Galaxy Z Fold5’s $999 starting price (Available on Amazon). Unfortunately, these price increases may have also contributed to a decline in pre-orders for Samsung’s latest foldable devices.

According to a report from ZDNet Korea, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 failed to reach the record number of pre-orders achieved by last year’s Galaxy foldable devices in Korea.

The pre-order numbers for the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6 in Korea are reported to have reached 910,000 during the pre-order period from July 12 to 18. While the numbers are impressive, they are 110,000 less than the 1.02 million pre-orders Samsung received for the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5 in its home market.

Additionally, it appears that Samsung managed to sell more units of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 than last year as the pre-order ratio for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 was 4:6 compared to 3:7 for the Galaxy Z Fold 5 vs. Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Samsung also expects sales to increase once the devices are officially available on store shelves as customer response has reportedly been positive.

While Samsung’s foldable devices may have strong domestic sales, growing competition from Chinese brands like Xiaomi will undoubtedly lead to lower sales globally unless Galaxy devices can offer better value for money. In the absence of any major hardware upgrades, Samsung is hoping that Galaxy AI will do the trick. We’ll have to wait and see if Galaxy AI is truly the answer.