Electronics

The new trend of international trade is that the screen size of the straight smart phone is close to the limit, and the contradiction between the screen size and the convenience and portability of one-hand operation is increasingly serious. With the rapid development of key technologies such as OLED film packaging, hinge design and application ecology, the market of folding screen mobile phones is rapidly maturing.

Counterpoint Research predicts that the global shipments of foldable mobile phones will reach 14.9 million in 2022. According to the recently released tracking report on the global collapsible smartphone market in the third quarter of 2022, the cumulative shipments from the first quarter to the third quarter of 2022 increased by 90% to 9.5 million units year-on-year. It is estimated that the global shipments of foldable smart phones will increase by 52% year-on-year to 22.7 million units in 2023.

Tarun Pathak, director of Counterpoint, said that although the above data were very small compared with other industries, in the broader market context, we saw that folding products were gradually gaining ground.

The new trend of international trade, driven by Huawei, Samsung and other manufacturers, has experienced several years of iterative optimization, and has become the representative of new flagship models of various brands. Especially in terms of durability, dust prevention, waterproof and other functions, it has become the focus of research and development of various brand manufacturers. On the basis of satisfying the hardware development of folding screen mobile phones, software application has become the key factor for the popularity of folding screen mobile phones. In 2019, Huawei joined hands with the Software Green Alliance to establish the first folding screen application ecological alliance. In 2020, Huawei released the design and development guide for the human-computer interface of the folding screen mobile intelligent terminal. Up to now, Huawei's Hongmeng operating system has launched system optimization and development guidance for folding screen mobile phones, and has helped many domestic applications achieve 100% large-screen adaptation.

The new trend of international trade, with more Chinese OEMs entering this field, the global folding market may face more fierce competition in 2023. But the view is that Samsung will continue to lead the market. Glory, Motorola and Xiaomi are expected to officially enter the foldable smartphone market outside China. At the same time, Huawei, OPPO and Vivo are expected to launch new foldable products in 2023. Due to the intensified competition in the foldable smartphone market, the price is expected to decline in 2023. High price is a major obstacle to the popularity of foldable devices.

According to the new trend of international trade, Jene Park, a senior analyst, in 2023, with the increase in the number of OEMs involved, the competition in the global folding smart phone market will become more intense. Samsung will launch new products to meet the strong folding demand in China, while Chinese OEMs are expanding to the Western European market. Therefore, the folding market in China and Western Europe may become the center of a fierce competition.

As for the new trend of international trade, when Apple will launch the foldable screen products, JenePark said that it may be difficult to achieve in the short term. "Apple has always been known for 'taking your time'. At present, there are still many rumors about Apple's folding screen phones in the market."