Samsung’s new phones test consumer demand for pricey gadgets

Samsung aims to lift its sinking smartphone sales with three new models that will test consumer willingness to buy highpriced gadgets during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The latest Galaxy phones, unveiled Wednesday during an online showcase, will cost $1,000 to $1,300. Such prices are have become standard for top-of-theline phones in recent years. But they might cause sticker shock at a time of double-digit unemployment as the global economy struggles to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Samsung is touting the fancy phones, called the Galaxy Note20 and the Note20 Ultra, at a time that Apple is enjoying success with a $399 iPhone released in April. Google is also rolling out a $349 Pixel phone that has many of the same features as its more expensive model. Such phones are intended for buyers who are strapped for cash or unwilling to pay for pricey phones that don’t offer big advances over their predecessors. Samsung also gave a glimpse of its second attempt at a phone with a foldable screen, but said it won’t have details on pricing and availability until Sept. 1. That phone, called the Z Fold2, is expected to cost in the range of $1,500 to $2,000, based on the price for last year’s first-generation model.

Samsung is already struggling with an unsettling downturn. Its smartphone shipments plunged 29% from last year in the AprilJune quarter, according to the research firm International Data Corp. That drop helped China’s Huawei at least temporarily surpass Samsung as the world’s top seller of smartphones while Apple remained in third place.

Like other phone manufacturers, Samsung is hoping that a transition to new ultrafast “5G” wireless networks will drive demand for new phones; its latest models are 5G-compatible. In other respects, however, smartphone innovation has largely stalled, a trend that predated the pandemic shock.

Samsung also announced its next generation tablet, smartwatch and wireless earbuds.