SMARTPHONE makers are expanding their development of foldable phones to vie for a spot in the fast growing market that is expected to double in shipments this year, the 21st Century Business Herald reported yesterday.

Foldable smartphones are the most sought across phone stores of different brands in Shenzhen’s Nanshan District, the report said, with some models of Huawei foldable phones commanding mark-ups of over 20,000 yuan (US$2,899).

Currently, sales of foldable mobile phones account for only less than 1 percent of the total globally, but the market is set to explode in the years to come, the report quoted Chen Jun, chief analyst of consulting firm Sigmaintell, as saying.

“Shipments of foldable phones surged by 171.9 percent from a year ago to 7.21 million last year, while shipments this year is expected to almost double and reach 14.4 million,” Chen said, adding that foldable phone shipments will reach 70 million by 2025.

As a result, smartphone makers and supply chain players are doubling down on investment in research and development of foldable phones, which will lead to reduced costs and improved functions of such phones, analysts say.

“Many smartphone makers, including Honor, Oppo, and Vivo, are jumping onto the bandwagon of foldable phones, with Oppo preparing to release a rollable/slidable phone before the end of this year,” Li Xianjie, a deputy manager of TCL Huaxing, a subsidiary of TCL Technology Group Co. that is also developing several foldable devices. “I expect Apple will roll out folding phones by 2023 or 2024, which will further popularize the use of foldable electronics.”

Samsung, the first to have introduced the foldable smartphone back in 2019, and Huawei, which introduced its own version of the foldable phone right after Samsung in the same year, remained the top two players in the market last year, with Samsung taking up a market share of 81 percent and Huawei 13.9 percent.

Apple is in the stage of considering folding products but it’s only a matter of time before the iPhone maker launches such a product, according to Sigmaintell’s Chen.

Zhao Ming, CEO of Shenzhen-based Honor, said foldable devices will be a new growth point of the mobile phone market and Honor must invest for the future. (Liu Minxia)