Every massive smartphone maker besides Apple is betting that “foldable” telephones will assist revive a lackluster cell market, regardless of the units still largely failing to entice mainstream customers.
Foldables, which have a display that opens like a guide or compact mirror, barely exceed a 1 per cent market share of all smartphones offered globally nearly 5 years after they had been first launched.
But Samsung has doubled down on the product, investing closely in advertising this yr. In July, the Korean group launched its 5G Galaxy Z collection.
The world’s largest smartphone producer factors to estimates from Counterpoint Research that foldable units could surpass a third of all smartphones costing greater than $600 by 2027.
“We will continue to position our foldables as a key engine for our flagship growth with the clear differentiation, experience and flexibility these devices have to offer,” mentioned Samsung.
Other handset makers similar to Motorola, China’s Huawei and its spin-off Honor are additionally pinning their hopes on the product serving to to revive a market that suffered its worst yr for greater than a decade.
“This is the year people [in the industry] really dived in,” mentioned Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. “Everybody now is betting on this, except Apple.”
The iPhone-maker has but to present any curiosity within the class, although patent filings counsel it could sooner or later introduce an iPad that folds in half. Every different massive smartphone maker has adopted Samsung into the market, together with Google’s Pixel Fold and Chinese alternate options from Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi.
“We believe foldables are the future of smartphone devices, just like electric cars were to the auto industry,” mentioned Bond Zhang, UK chief govt of Honor. “We’re approaching a crucial tipping point where foldables may soon become mainstream.”
But market information exhibits foldables are still removed from mainstream. Counterpoint Research estimates about 16 million foldable telephones will likely be offered this yr, simply 1.3 per cent of the 1.2 billion smartphone market complete. Analysts say customers are deterred by issues about worth, reliability and utility.
“I do wonder if there are too many products chasing too little market share at the moment,” Wood mentioned.