Rivals Launch Foldable Smartphones To Compete With Samsung As Apple Rumors Swirl

Foldable smartphones - smartphones with bendable screens - seem to be the trend this year.

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The international market has seen a slew of foldable devices this year, as electronics giants, primarily Chinese companies, look to catch up to Samsung in a category of smartphones that Samsung helped develop.

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Given the high price of these devices and the lack of clear use cases right now, analysts have questioned how big the foldable category can actually become in the future.

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I think they are all very nice, and we are all very excited about them, but do we really know how big the market for these is? ” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told Trade Algo via email.

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“Foldable stories are still in the early stages of development; they are far from mature."

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Foldables hit the global market

With the launch of its first foldable phone in 2019, Samsung has really created a category of smartphones that is unlike any other. With these devices, there is only one screen that can bend, allowing users to have a larger display surface on a device they can carry around in their pockets while still being able to have a much bigger screen.

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The Samsung Galaxy Fold has been launched around four years ago, and since that time, the South Korean giant has released a number of other devices as well. The Galaxy Fold series of phones opens outwards like a book, while the Galaxy Z Flip series of phones opens up like a traditional flip phone.

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It has been estimated that Samsung will account for 80% of global foldable shipments in 2022, according to Canalys. In 2023, the market is expecting foldable phone shipments to increase by 111% year-on-year to reach 30 million units.

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In spite of this, according to IDC data, these devices account for just over 1% of the global smartphone market.

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In an attempt to catch up with Samsung, other companies are pursuing that potential growth as a way to remain competitive.

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The Chinese vendor Oppo launched the Find N2 Flip at the end of last month, and Honor, the spin-off brand of Huawei, unveiled its Magic Vs for international markets a week later.

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The CEO of Lenovo Yuanqing Yang said in an interview with Trade Algo Wednesday that Motorola will release a new version of its foldable Razr device at the end of the year. Motorola is owned by Lenovo.

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Apple is rumored to be preparing to launch a foldable device, though it might be an iPad rather than a smartphone.

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It's hard to be impressed by foldable phones anymore

The Honor CEO George Zhao told Trade Algo in an interview last week that foldable devices still have a lot of challenges to overcome, particularly in terms of battery life, the weight of the devices, and their high cost as well. It is estimated that Honor's Magic Vs will cost more than $1,600.

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Samsung and Apple dominate the premium end of the smartphone market, which is why electronics companies are pushing for foldables.

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As of 2022, high-end smartphones made up 18% of the total handset market, up from 11% in 2020, according to Canalys data.

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“As far as I see foldable devices, I see them as more of an attempt to improve a company's image through showcasing innovation rather than selling large volumes”, Runar Bjrhovde, an analyst at Canalys, told Trade Algo in an email.

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After years of Samsung folding smartphones being available on the market, Bjrhovde believes that the "wow factor" may have worn off for consumers now that they've been available for a few years. The analyst believes that rivals will, in the end, have to lower their prices in order to compete with Samsung.

As a result of Samsung's big marketing investments, the foldable phone "no longer seems surprising or unexpected," according to the analyst.

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Moving forward, he added, it will likely be nearly impossible to revolutionize foldables in the near future.

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"There will be a gradual evolution of the technology as well as a reduction of price points in future developments. For vendors who wish to challenge Samsung's dominance, lower price points will be one of the keys to their success," Bjrhovde commented.