Display Supply Chain Consultant DSCC (Display Supply Chain Consultant)Earlier release reportThe Chinese finger said,Apple's foldable phoneIt is expected to enter the market in the second quarter of 2026, thereby drivingMore foldable screen mobile phone productsDemand is rising, and more brands are expected to launch foldable-screen laptops in 2026.
The report pointed out that although the shipment volume of mobile phones with foldable screens has increased year by year since 2020, the shipment growth rate has slowed significantly from 2023 to 2024, and is expected to start declining in 2025.
Among them, Samsung is expected to continue to play a leading role in the market. Although Chinese brands such as Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, OnePlus, vivo, ZTE, Tecno, etc. have also joined the competition of foldable screen mobile phone products in large numbers in the past few years, most of them have slowed down the development proportion of such products. Therefore, except for Motorola, Xiaomi, and Honor, which still have significant shipment performance in the international market in the third quarter of this year, the shipments of other brands are mostly concentrated in the fourth quarter of 2023 or the first quarter of 2024.
Looking at the shipment performance of retractable display panels, DSCC indicates that the overall market will maintain approximately 2023% annual shipment growth until 40, but forecasts only 5% growth this year, and even a 2025% decline in 5. Furthermore, given that retractable display panel shipments decreased by 38% year-over-year in the third quarter of this year, it is expected that at least four of the next five consecutive quarters will experience a year-over-year decline.
However, DSCC expects this situation to change after Apple officially launches its iPhone model with a foldable screen. It even believes that Apple will launch this product as early as the second half of 2026, and it will drive sales momentum of foldable screen mobile phone products at that time, thereby driving more shipments of foldable displays.
Related analysis also predicts that with the launch of the iPhone with a foldable screen design, the appearance, functionality and durability of such products will be greatly improved. At the same time, they will also appear in various application scenarios, thereby driving greater market demand. Therefore, it is expected that there will be a large-scale shipment performance of foldable screen mobile phones in 2026, with a growth rate expected to exceed 30%, and even in 2027 and 2028, there will be a shipment growth rate of more than 20%.
Currently, most foldable phone designs on the market, with the exception of Huawei's unique three-sided foldable Mate XT, largely follow Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold series, which opens sideways or horizontally, or adopt the straight-folding Galaxy Z Flip design. Only the weight, thickness, and hinge mechanisms have been refined, but the overall user experience has remained largely unchanged.
However, market rumors indicate that Samsung is expected to launch a new form of foldable screen phone. Brands including Honor, Huawei, and Xiaomi are also planning to create different forms of foldable screen phones, indicating that this market may still drive the development of the overall mobile phone product market.
As for foldable-screen laptops, their market share is still relatively low, with only a handful of brands launching such products. However, as foldable-screen phones become more common, this is expected to drive the development of such products.
