Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 out-of-stock in India: Is a foldable finally mainstreaming in India?

In just three weeks of its announcement, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 has run out of stock in certain regions of the country. This is the first time that within weeks of its product launch, its Galaxy phone has completely gone off the shelves due to increasing demand.

A company spokesperson told Fortune India that of the 700-800 stores spread across the country, over 60% have reported going out of stock with the latest foldable. Most of these stores are spread across the Tier-1 cities of the country including Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

“We are aware that many markets in the country are facing a shortfall due to huge demand. We are working overtime to ensure adequate supplies of our most advanced smartphone, to enable customers to enjoy the Galaxy Z Fold7 at the earliest. The strong demand is coming from both retail markets and online platforms,” said Raju Pullan, Senior Vice President, MX Business, Samsung India, in a statement.

The company has been taking the needed measures to ramp up its manufacturing efforts in the Noida factory to meet the first-ever demand boom for Samsung’s foldable.

For years, Samsung had been subject to popular backlash for not being able to crack the foldables market despite launching its sixth generation in the segment across its Fold and Flip models. And finally, it seems the consumer tech giant has cracked the curious case of foldables, as its Chinese peers still try to gain a significant market share in the small but growing pie of foldables.

The Indian subsidiary of the consumer electronics brand had announced earlier that it had received as many as 2.1 lakh pre-orders for its seventh generation foldables including Galaxy Z Fold7, Galaxy ZFlip7 and Galaxy Z Flip7 FE in just 48 hours in India. While the spokesperson did not confirm if the same is the case around the globe, from public responses on social media, it seems this is a rosy moment for the company.

“Samsung’s seventh generation of foldable smartphones, especially the Galaxy Z Fold7, has been performing exceptionally well across our stores. We have witnessed extraordinary demand, with most of our top outlets in key cities already running out of stock,” said Nilesh Gupta, Director at Vijay Sales, a key retail partner for the smartphone across India, in a statement.

What does this mean for the overall foldable market in India?

Aside from the positive customer reception for the company, this also indicates the demand for foldables that had receded last year is expected to see a big uptick in the upcoming calendar years.

“As foldables become more productivity-focused, especially with book-type designs that unfold into larger screens, we expect them to resonate more with users in regions where digital productivity and content consumption are rising,” a Counterpoint Research states.

Especially when foldables were down 12% last year, Tarun Pathak, research director, Counterpoint Research tells Fortune India that, the market intelligence firm has raised the foldable forecast by 8-10% just because of strong demand of Galaxy ZFold 7. Pathak says the segment is expected to grow at 20-25% in CY25 in India.

What makes Galaxy Z Fold7 special?

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold7 is its thinnest and lightest foldable yet, weighing just 215 grams and measuring 8.9 mm when folded and 4.2 mm when open. It comes in four colour options — Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Mint, and Jet Black.

Prices starting from ₹1.79 lakh, the device features a redesigned FlexHinge with a slimmer, multi-rail structure to reduce creasing, and uses Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 and Armor Aluminium for added durability. A titanium plate layer and 50% thicker Ultra-Thin Glass further reinforce the main display.

“Smartphone premiumisation is clearly underway, with strong demand for devices that double as lifestyle statements. The Galaxy Z Fold7, with its enhanced hinge and slimmer form factor, has seen robust traction among Samsung loyalists. While the outlook for the Fold7 remains strong, foldables continue to be a niche segment, trailing far behind traditional slab smartphones in scale,” Prabhu Ram, VP - Industry Research Group (IRG), CyberMedia Research (CMR), told Fortune India.

As of the first half of 2025, the Rest of APAC market shows stable demand in the premium segment, with devices priced above $600 accounting for 11% of shipments. The upper-midrange segment, priced between $399 and $599, holds a 4% share.

The Fold7 runs on One UI 8, which integrates AI tools for large-screen multitasking and contextual interactions through Google’s Gemini Live. The interface includes enhanced privacy features like Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection, which isolates app-specific data within secure storage. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, the phone delivers performance improvements across CPU, GPU, and NPU, enabling more AI tasks to run on-device. The camera system includes a 200MP wide-angle lens and an upgraded ProVisual Engine for improved image clarity and brightness.