Market research firm CounterpointStatisticsThe report shows that the market for foldable phones has seen double-digit growth in most regions, with growth reaching 117% in China and an astonishing 967% in India. However, due to factors such as war and exchange rates, demand for foldable phones in Eastern Europe has declined, showing a 29% decline.
In the first quarter of this year, approximately 250 million foldable phones were shipped worldwide, representing a 64% year-over-year increase. China accounted for the majority of shipments, with a 117% increase. However, in terms of growth, India led the way with a 967% increase, followed by the MEA market, encompassing Central Europe and Africa, with a 197% increase, and North America with a 43% increase.
However, judging by overall shipments, the Chinese market remains the largest region for foldable-screen phones. Brands including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Honor have all released a number of foldable-screen phones. Significant shipments are also seen in Western Europe and the Asia-Pacific market, but still less than half of the Chinese market.
Compared to the same period last year, Huawei was the largest shipper of foldable phones, accounting for approximately 57%, followed by OPPO with 18%, and Samsung with only 6%. In the first quarter of this year, OPPO's share increased to 27%, Samsung's share also increased to 26%, while Huawei's share decreased to 27%. In addition, the share of foldable phone shipments of vivo and Honor also increased, while Xiaomi's share decreased relatively.
Samsung will launch a new phone with a foldable screenGalaxy Z Fold5 vs. Galaxy Z Flip5It is expected that this will increase the proportion of mobile phones with foldable screens, and may also prompt Chinese brands to follow suit and launch more mobile phones with foldable screens at affordable prices, thereby making such products more popular.
Google will launch the Pixel brand's first foldable phone at Google I/O 2023.Pixel FoldAfterwards, there were also reports that Google will continue to launch more foldable screen mobile phones. Therefore, it is expected that more foldable screen mobile phones will be launched in the market in the future, and the popularization and application of such products will be accelerated.
