In recent years, with the maturity of flexible OLED technology, the plasticity of the panel shape has been enhanced, bringing opportunities for the change of the shape of the smartphone, and major smartphone terminal manufacturers around the world have begun to gradually penetrate into the field of folding-screen phones.
In 2021, Samsung canceled its Galaxy Note product line and shifted the focus of its highest-end flagship to the Galaxy Z series of folding-screen phones; Huawei, although affected by external factors, has dropped sharply in shipments, but in order to maintain its high-end image, it has maintained its position in folding-screen phones.
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Market position, it has iterated the series of folding screen mobile phones normally and released its first “shell-type” folding screen mobile phone P50 Pocket. Xiaomi entered the folding screen mobile phone market in March 2021, released its first folding screen mobile phone Mix Fold, and set the starting price of folding screen mobile phones to less than 10,000 yuan.
In addition to Samsung, Huawei, and Xiaomi, mainstream manufacturers such as OPPO, Vivo, and Honor have followed, and this once blue ocean market is becoming crowded. In the core form design, a relatively complete design idea has evolved, and various solutions such as inner fold, outer fold, and double-fold have begun to appear.
According to the survey data of Sigmaintell, the global shipment of foldable smartphones in 2021 will be about 7.21 million units, a year-on-year increase of about 171.9%. The maturity of technology and the decline in prices drive the folding screen mobile phone market to continue to heat up.
With the further maturity of folding upstream devices, terminal manufacturers have also begun to pre-research various forms of smartphones. For the folding screen mobile phone market, the upgrade of technology and user experience brings market demand, and the price drop will help expand the market scale.
With the maturity of the supply chain, the cost of folding screen mobile phones still has a certain room for decline. The positioning of folding screen mobile phones will also gradually change from super flagship to mainstream flagship.
According to the latest data from Sigmaintell, it is estimated that the global shipment of foldable smartphones will reach about 14.4 million units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of about 99.6%. It is estimated that in 2025 The annual number will exceed 70 million.
Qi Yingnan, deputy research director of Counterpoint Research, pointed out that domestic top brands will continue to “impact” the high-end market from three aspects: First, in 2021, more domestic brands will join the new track of folding screens.
In 2022, domestic Android manufacturers will bring to develop a richer portfolio of flagship products, and take advantage of the first-mover advantage in folding screens to grab more high-end market share from Apple.
Moreover, launch self-developed chips to strengthen differentiation, and combine its own research and development capabilities and product features to enhance high-end market share product competitiveness has shifted from marketing-oriented to high-end technology-oriented; thirdly, around the full-scenario solution centered on smartphones, paving the way for a digital and intelligent lifestyle.
Qi Yingnan believes that the active participation and promotion of Chinese manufacturers in foldable mobile phones is already a new driving force in this field and will usher in a sales explosion.
Peter Richardson, partner, and research vice president at Counterpoint Research said that it will take time for the overall share of foldable phones to grow, prices will remain fairly high in the medium term, and foldable phones will account for the high-end market by 2025. 40%-50%.
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