The Honor Magic Vs is on display at Honor’s stand at Mobile World Congres in Barcelona. The near $1,700 device is Honor’s try to challenge Samsung within the foldable smartphone market.
Arjun Kharpal | CNBC
It looks just like the yr of the foldable — a term used to explain a smartphone with a bendable screen.
A slew of foldable devices have hit the international market this yr, as electronics giants, mainly Chinese, look to catch as much as Samsung in a smartphone category it pioneered.
Analysts have questioned how big the foldable category can actually get, given the high price of the devices and their lack of clear uses right away.
“They’re all lovely, everyone seems to be excited by them, but do we actually know the way big the market is?” Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight, told CNBC via email.
“We’re only originally of the journey for the foldable story, that may be a removed from mature category.”
Foldables hit global market
Samsung launched its first foldable phone in 2019 and really created this category of smarpthones. These devices have a single screen that may bend, giving users a much greater display surface in a tool that they will carry around of their pockets.
For the reason that Samsung Galaxy Fold was unveiled around 4 years ago, the South Korean giant has launched a variety of other devices. The Galaxy Fold series opens outwards like a book, while the Galaxy Z Flip opens up like a standard flip phone.
Samsung accounted for 80% of world foldable shipments in 2022, in line with Canalys. The market expects foldable phone shipments to leap 111% year-on-year to 30 million in 2023.
Still, these devices account for just over 1% of the overall smartphone market, in line with IDC data.
That potential growth is what other firms are chasing, as they fight to catch as much as Samsung.
Last month, Chinese vendor Oppo launched the Find N2 Flip, and Honor, the spin-off brand from Huawei, got here out with its Magic Vs for international markets.
Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang told CNBC Wednesday that Motorola can be bringing a new edition of its foldable Razr device out later this yr. Lenovo owns Motorola.
It comes as speculation rises that Apple might be gearing as much as launch a foldable device, though it could be an iPad quite than a smartphone.
Foldables have lost ‘wow factor’
However the push from electronics players to launch foldables comes from a desire for these brands to make inroads into the premium end of the smartphone market, which Samsung and Apple heavily dominate.
High-end smartphones — those who cost over $800 — accounted for 18% of the overall handset market in 2022, up from 11% in 2020, Canalys data shows.
“As I see foldable devices, they’re more connected to [an] attempt improving brand image through showcasing innovation than selling large volumes,” Runar Bjørhovde, analyst at Canalys, told CNBC via email.
The “wow factor” could have worn off for consumers now that Samsung has had folding smartphones in the marketplace for a couple of years, in line with Bjørhovde, who said that, ultimately, a cheaper price shall be needed for rivals to compete with the South Korean electronics giant.
The foldable phone is “not surprising and unexpected, and an enormous a part of the explanation is Samsung’s big marketing investments that has normalised the shape factor,” the analyst said.
He added that revolutionizing foldables shall be near unattainable, moving forward.
“Developments shall be more about gradual evolution and lowering price points. Cheaper price points will particularly be key for vendors out to challenge Samsung’s dominance,” Bjørhovde said.
