Samsung Electronics’ 15-year journey of writing a new myth with ‘Galaxy’ after leaving behind the glory of ‘Anycall’ is being revisited. As the company prepares to open the ‘Foldable 2.0’ era by unveiling a new foldable phone form factor for the first time in seven years at ‘Galaxy Unpacked 2026’ on the 22nd, the industry is focusing on Samsung’s bold decisions and crisis-overcoming DNA that allowed it to dismantle its own feature phone throne and seize smartphone supremacy.

Facing the smartphone paradigm tsunami triggered by Apple’s iPhone launch in 2007, Samsung Electronics, which dominated the feature phone market with ‘Anycall Haptic’ and ‘AMOLED,’ faced a critical crisis. Samsung made the drastic move of boldly discarding the ‘Anycall’ brand, which seemed like an impregnable fortress with the top market share in South Korea. In 2010, it rewrote its success formula from scratch by launching its first smartphone, the ‘Galaxy S,’ under the slogan ‘SUPER SMART.’ After a transitional period using the name ‘Anycall Galaxy S’ initially, Samsung wasted no time erasing the Anycall name as soon as the Galaxy series took hold—a business decision to change the game without leaning on its feature phone success.

Samsung Electronics’ core weapon against the iPhone was its vertical integration spanning from components to assembly and its supply chain management (SCM) capabilities. Component competitiveness that rivals couldn’t match, such as ‘Super AMOLED displays’ and its own application processors (AP), led to overwhelming cost reduction and supply speed. This strategy was immediately proven by results. Buoyed by the consecutive mega-hits of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S2, the IM (now MX) division, which handled the smartphone business at the time, posted an operating profit of 1.43 trillion won (approximately $956.9 million) in the first quarter of 2011, marking the first time quarterly operating profit surpassed 1 trillion won (approximately $669.1 million). It achieved 1.67 trillion won (approximately $1.1 billion) in the second quarter, establishing itself as Samsung Electronics’ core cash cow.

Another pillar of the Galaxy myth was a paradigm shift that shattered the ‘3.5-inch screen’ dogma defined by the late Steve Jobs. Apple’s co-founder asserted that “3.5 inches is the limit for a screen that can be operated with one hand due to human hand structure,” and most manufacturers were trapped in this framework. However, Samsung Electronics foresaw that smartphones would evolve beyond calling devices into media devices for consuming video and text. In 2011, when it launched the ‘Galaxy Note’ combining a 5.3-inch large screen with the S Pen, foreign media criticized it harshly, saying, “A phone that can’t be held in one hand will fail.” But the market reaction was the opposite. The Galaxy Note series attracted a flood of consumers craving large screens, dramatically raising the IM division’s average selling price (ASP). As a result, the IM division recorded an operating profit of 24.94 trillion won (approximately $16.7 billion) in 2013, accounting for two-thirds of Samsung Electronics’ total operating profit (36.78 trillion won). This challenge, which eventually even forced Apple to enlarge the iPhone display, is considered one of the most revolutionary attempts in smartphone history.

Even the triumphant Galaxy faced a painful ordeal. In 2016, the ambitiously launched Galaxy Note 7 suffered an unprecedented crisis as battery defects caused fires worldwide. Airlines banned the device from carry-on luggage entirely, and brand credibility plummeted. It was the biggest crisis in Samsung mobile history, resulting in astronomical losses of around 5 trillion won (approximately $3.3 billion). Amid this crisis, Lee Jae-yong, then Vice Chairman (now Executive Chairman), demonstrated leadership by not shirking responsibility through a public apology. Instead of making excuses, Samsung Electronics resurrected its relentless ‘quality DNA’—the same spirit that saw 150,000 defective phones burned at its Gumi plant in 1995. It transparently disclosed the cause of the fires and introduced a company-wide ‘8-point battery safety check process,’ staking its survival on restoring trust even at the cost of a short-term earnings plunge. This obsession with quality led to the consecutive successes of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 just a year later in 2017, demonstrating the resilience to reclaim the top spot in global market share.

Now, Samsung Electronics stands at an inflection point for a new challenge. At ‘Galaxy Unpacked 2026’ in London on the 22nd, alongside the existing Galaxy Z Fold and Flip series, it will unveil the ‘Wide Fold,’ heralding a major form factor transformation seven years after its first foldable phone launch in 2019. The Wide Fold features a wider horizontal width and reduced vertical length compared to the existing Fold, changing the aspect ratio to ‘4:3.’ It also incorporates the Snapdragon 8.5th Gen AP featured in the Galaxy S26 and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, elevating camera performance—a noted weakness of foldable phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 maximizes portability with a thickness of 6.1mm, thinner than its predecessor (6.6mm), and a weight of 180g.

This Unpacked event will also unveil the Galaxy Watch, featuring significantly enhanced health management functions, and ‘Galaxy Glass,’ smart glasses based on the Android XR operating system equipped with Google Gemini. The new watch is expected to serve as a more advanced health assistant by analyzing biometric signs such as heart rate during sleep, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, skin temperature, and blood oxygen saturation to calculate a cardiovascular health score and suggest exercise intensity and recovery time. This is part of a strategy to build a ‘Galaxy ecosystem’ that strengthens connectivity between wearable devices beyond smartphones.

Meanwhile, competition in the foldable phone market is expected to intensify. Apple also plans to launch its first foldable phone with a similar ‘passport-type’ design this September. According to information leaked on social media, Apple’s foldable phone is expected to feature an approximately 7.8-inch internal screen and a large 5500mAh battery. Market research firm Counterpoint Research predicts that Apple will capture a 29% share of the global foldable phone market in its launch year, closely trailing market leader Samsung Electronics (31%).

An industry insider analyzed, “The strength to boldly tear down the impregnable fortress it built itself and turn even painful failures into nourishment for innovation is what created today’s Samsung Electronics. Its fierce history of constantly pushing limits and its relentless quality DNA will remain its most powerful weapons for maintaining market leadership going forward.”