Samsung Galaxy S27, Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8 affected differently by component shortage

Just a few weeks ago, a previously almost unthinkable piece of news broke: For the first time, Samsung may install a BOE display from China — rather than one from its own factories — in one of its Galaxy S-series flagship models. Whether this will actually transpire remains to be seen, but it certainly aligns with recent news from the supply chain, shared by Korean blogger Yeux1122. He states that global shortage of various components, particularly DRAM and memory, is already forcing Samsung to make compromises in the development of the Galaxy S27 generation.

Specifically, the feature set of the Galaxy S27 base model has apparently been put on ice, at least regarding the display. Other industry sources report that a camera upgrade, like the one expected on the Galaxy S27 Ultra or the new Galaxy S27 Pro, is very unlikely for the most affordable Galaxy S27 model. At the very least, there are no indications of this in the supply chain. So it currently looks as though the two most expensive Galaxy S27 models will mostly benefit from new components.

Moreover, the Samsung foldables launching in July will also suffer from the shortage of essential components, primarily caused by the expansion of AI data centers as well as the consumers interested in them. European and Asian sales channels have privately expressed pessimism regarding the expected sales prices of the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Price increases, at least for the higher-end storage options, are reportedly unavoidable, even if there are attractive pre-order deals and trade-in offers for older hardware at launch.