According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Canalys' latest forecast is that the annual shipment of global folding screen mobile phones will exceed 30 million units in 2024, which means that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2021 to 2024 is 53%. It is expected that from 2019 (the first folding screen product launch) to 2024, the compound growth rate of this product category will reach 122%. According to Canalys, folding-screen smartphone shipments reached 8.9 million units in 2021, up 148% year-on-year, while the overall smartphone market grew by only 7%.
Canalys analyst Runar Bj rhovde said: "The habit of using large-screen devices during the epidemic is a catalyst for the demand for folding products. To this day, consumers continue to seek a better experience on mobile products, and the production efficiency and entertainment experience of large-screen products further set the user experience threshold of smart phones higher. As the world continues to recover from the epidemic, smartphone manufacturers have ushered in new opportunities to meet the escalating needs and desires of consumers, such as folding screen smartphones. ”
Canalys analyst Toby Zhu pointed out: "For manufacturers, the highly differentiated shape of folding screen products is a key factor stimulating smartphone sales. In particular, it can catch the attention of early and high-end users. Android manufacturers are under tremendous pressure in the high-end market, with Android smartphone shipments of more than $800 in 2021 down 18% from 2019, and iOS in the same price segment increased by 68% over the same period. Google and major Android device makers must invest more in differentiated hardware and state-of-the-art user experiences to continue to attract and retain high-end customers. ”
"Fortunately, in the past few years, with the strong promotion of Samsung, the supply chain ecosystem of folding screen products has developed rapidly. With the increasing number of upstream manufacturers of folding screens, hinges and other key components, while continuously lowering prices, mobile phone manufacturers continue to increase investment in innovative engineering solutions and product design, thereby continuously improving the user experience. "In addition to major hardware design innovations, the real battleground for hardware vendors is user experience, which requires a lot of investment in user interfaces and powerful adaptation software, as the foldable application ecosystem is far from optimal." Last November, Google's Android Developer Summit brought many new features to developers of foldable and dual-screen applications, providing an important booster for such applications, and the user experience of folding screens is expected to be further improved soon. ”
Analyst Amber Liu added: "Mainstream smartphone manufacturers are ready to gain momentum in the folding screen mobile phone market, which will become an important part of their high-end strategy and enhance their corporate brands. Whether the manufacturer grabs the first eye-catching, or uses it as a follow-up supplementary folding screen product, or focuses on letting it undertake the role of the flagship product line, which will determine the priority and development direction of the current flagship products and folding products. Canalys expects that the market will launch more new folding screen products this year, and manufacturers have continuously improved the attractiveness of folding products in the direction of price exploration, lightweighting and thinning, and further pushing the category to the mass market. Head vendors will begin to make a big splash in the ecosystem, significantly surpassing their competitors with an advanced and differentiated sense of experience. ”