OK. So here's the broader picture. The smartphone in your pocket hasn't changed for years. Sure, its camera and processor take better photos and are more powerful. But overall, it's still the same black rectangle that you've always had. And that's what Samsung is trying to change with its newest foldable phones. But changing people's habits can be difficult, especially when it comes to their most important gadget.

PATRICK MOORHEAD: Yeah, the biggest difficulty is a multi-trillion dollar company called Apple. It comes down to one application, iMessage. When Americans got hooked on iMessage, we just couldn't get off. But yeah, it's iMessage.

DAN HOWLEY: But there's reason to believe Samsung could be the company to inspire a larger move towards foldables, even if that ultimately means inspiring Apple to follow suit.

BOB O'DONNELL: I do think Apple is closely watching Samsung. I think they're closely watching foldable displays. And they're also waiting, quite honestly, until there's a manufacturer who can produce enough of them for Apple.

DAN HOWLEY: For years, Samsung has stayed ahead of the curve, outfitting their phones with wireless charging, massive displays well before Apple was doing any of that. And that history of innovation continues with the Z Flip and Z Fold lines, which are now and as important in their fifth generation. That kind of commitment by Samsung is worth noting, especially when you consider their global market share and influence.

A 15-hour flight is a good chance to talk through some numbers. According to Counterpoint Research, global smartphone revenue hit $409 billion in 2022, down from $450 billion in 2021. In Q1 2023, Samsung controlled 22% of the market-- a virtual tie with Apple's 21%. In the US, Apple dominates with 57% of the market. Samsung, according to Statcounter, has just 27%. But in South Korea, it's a different story.

Here in South Korea, Samsung controls 63% of the smartphone market. Apple just 31%. And it's pretty clear the moment you step off your plane, pretty much everyone is using a Samsung smartphone, kind of like a Samsung press event.

Yeah. So we're touring Samsung's facilities during the rainy season in South Korea. It also happens to be incredibly humid. I am acclimated to New York. So I'm basically just wet all the time. I'm a big, old, sweaty baby.

We're going to take a bus now over to Samsung's Digital City. It's basically a massive campus. I mean calling it a city is the right thing. Let's go.

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I've been to Google's campus, huge Apple's campus, huge. This is right up there with both of those. So I'm here at the tour of Samsung's facilities. We're going to go get a deeper look at some of their R&D stuff. And you can see these huge buildings behind me. These are all Samsung buildings. This is just part of the complex here. It's a big kind of to-do that we're getting this access to the facilities.

We won't be able to film the more sensitive areas. But still, we'll be able to get a look, and then I'll be able to write about it. So stay tuned. [BLEEP] We just got out of Samsung's quality assurance lab basically showing how they test all of their devices. We saw different types of machines that they kind of run the actual foldables through, as well as their watches.

Different types of drop tests, tumbler test, different types of ways they drop it on different surfaces, heat, humidity, cold, water submersion, anechoic chambers, I got to go in one, which is always fun. And really, this is a part of Samsung's broader push to show that these are the future for their smartphone line.

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I ran down on the subway. We're going to go check out Gangnam, where I also happen to be staying because I'm bougie like that. Which way? Are we going to get that? It's like 100,000% humidity I think. I've been on the train for five minutes, and I've already spotted five people with foldable phones, whether they're the Z Fold or the Z Flip. People are using them here a lot.

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[LAUGHS]

Hey.

We're going to go check out the new Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, get some hands on with those bad boys and see what they're all about.

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So this is what we're here for. This is the Galaxy Z Flip 5, and this is the Galaxy Z Fold 5. They're slick, fancy, have new hinges, but they're also pretty pricey. Starting at 999 for the flip, and 1,799 for the fold, they're also competing with Google's new Pixel Fold and Motorola's Razr plus, as well as a handful of Chinese foldables. As of now, Apple has yet to join the party.

But as you might expect, manufacturing something like this is a bit more complicated than your standard candy bar style smartphone.

So to see exactly how they're built, I got up at 5:00 AM to take a 3-hour bus ride from Seoul to Samsung's factory in Gumi. We're here on Samsung's Gumi campus. Basically, this is where they manufacture some of the biggest products that they sell, especially their smartphone line. You can hear the cicadas kind of going crazy in the background. But this is where they really do put together the smartphones that end up in people's hands.

So let me sketch out what I saw inside for you. Inside Samsung's Gumi factory, the company pumps out everything from earbuds to tablets to smartphones. On one floor, custom made robotic arms grab strips of printed circuit boards that are then filled with electronics components as small as 2 millimeters and passed through an oven to solder everything into place.

On a separate floor, an assembly line of yellow Samsung-branded arms put together the company's Galaxy S23, while another line builds the Galaxy Z Fold 5. But what I mostly saw inside the factory was Samsung's massive commitment to foldable phones as its future. And that dedication was even more apparent during the company's unpack event.

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Samsung's foldable strategy provides the company with two things-- a unique way to get consumers genuinely interested in smartphones again, and more importantly, a means to combat arch rival Apple. With its lineup of foldable phones, the company has something Apple doesn't, a new exciting form factor that gets people talking. Nearly everyone I showed a flip or fold to was immediately impressed with the phone's design and styling.

And the company isn't stopping there. Samsung executives hinted at further building out their foldable phones in the future. Unfortunately, as you might expect, they didn't offer any concrete plans.

After spending a week with Samsung, checking out its facilities, and speaking to some of its representatives, it's clear the company sees foldables as its future. But does that mean that a foldable is in your future? Will you give up that stale black rectangle for something that bends? It's too difficult to tell. While Samsung and its Chinese competitors have embraced the form factor, Motorola now has its Razr plus, and Google has the Pixel Fold. The one company that has yet to go for a foldable is Apple.

In 2021, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the company was exploring the kind of technology to make a foldable iPhone. More recently, though, he said they're focusing on an iPad. If, however, Apple does come out with a foldable iPhone, and Samsung is still rocking it, then foldables may be the future. And that square rectangle in your pocket just might not be that long for this world.