In order to achieve the goal of entering the high-end market, in 2021, mobile phone manufacturers have worked the image function of the user's first major need: Huawei P50 Pro innovatively adopts two black technologies of computing optics and primary color engine; Apple's iPhone 13 Pro has added a movie effect mode; vivo X70 Pro+ brings a professional image chip V1 and a newly upgraded vivo ZEISS joint imaging system... It can be said that in the innovation of mobile phone image, each family has greeted their unique skills one by one.
In addition to the image function, folding screen mobile phones are also a powerful "pusher" for manufacturers to impact the road to high-end.
In 2021, Samsung, Huawei and other veteran players continue to exert efforts, bringing Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, Galaxy Z Fold3, Huawei Mate X2, Huawei P50 Pocket and other folding screen mobile phones, Xiaomi, OPPO and other manufacturers have also entered the game strongly, and have successively launched Xiaomi MIX FOLD, OPPO Find N and other folding screen models. According to the DSCC (Display Supply Chain Alliance) survey data, in the third quarter of 2021, the total shipments of folding screen mobile phones increased by 215% month-on-month and 480% year-on-year.
Entering 2022, DSCC expects that the shipment of folding screen mobile phones this year is expected to reach 17.5 million units, an increase of 132% year-on-year. This also means that from this year, folding screen mobile phones will usher in large-scale development, showing a new market competition pattern.
The folding screen market has shown a positive development trend
As early as the second half of 2018, the foldable and bendable flexible screen has gradually become popular, and in October of this year, Royole Technology launched the world's first foldable flexible screen mobile phone FlexPai soft pie. Entering 2019, mobile phone manufacturers have laid out the folding screen mobile phone field and launched the first batch of consumer products, including the galaxy fold, the first folding screen mobile phone released by Samsung, and Huawei's first folding screen mobile phone Mate X. Therefore, 2019 is also known as the "first year of folding screen mobile phones".
However, due to the impact of production capacity and product yield, folding screen mobile phones have not achieved large-scale production. According to a survey by Strategy Analytics, although Samsung and Huawei actively launched folding screen products in 2019, the global shipment of foldable smartphones is still less than 1 million, compared with the total shipments of nearly 1.4 billion smartphones in the world this year, this data is almost negligible.
The yield problem is mainly caused by two aspects. First of all, on the hardware, hinge hinge, display panel, ultra-thin glass and other materials and processes are the core difficulties, such as hinges, as the core precision components of the folding screen mobile phone, which is used to connect the two screens and allow relative rotation between the two mechanical devices, because the hinge with wear, durability and other issues, so the need for advanced technical solutions and processes to improve the service life of the folding screen mobile phone. In addition, problems such as endurance, thickness, and heat dissipation also need to be overcome one by one.
Secondly, the software side, folding screen mobile phones need WeChat, e-commerce, video and other APP adaptation to changes between single screen and double screen, while the mobile phone operating system also needs to adapt to hardware changes, in the mobile office, smart travel and other scenarios, bringing beyond the direct screen mobile phone and tablet computer operation experience, which is a great test of software innovation and ecological collaboration capabilities of mobile phone manufacturers.
However, although the folding screen mobile phone is an extremely complex project, this does not prevent more and more mobile phone manufacturers from entering the track.
In addition to Samsung and Huawei's continuous update of their own folding screen mobile phones, in 2021, Xiaomi, OPPO and other manufacturers have also released their first commercial folding screen mobile phones, Xiaomi launched MIX FOLD in March, OPPO released Find N in December, and in January 2022, Honor also released its first high-end folding screen mobile phone Magic V.
It is worth noting that the folding screen mobile phone, which is priced at 10,000 yuan and as high as nearly 20,000 yuan, has also appeared in a situation of "one machine is difficult to find". The recently listed OPPO Find N, Huawei P50 Pocket, Honor Magic V and many other folding screen mobile phones, whether it is an offline physical store or an e-commerce platform, once launched, it is almost a second out, and even on some platforms derived from the shooting business. It can be seen that the current folding screen mobile phone market is hot.
Why are mobile phone manufacturers scrambling to enter the folding screen?
From Samsung and Huawei to Xiaomi, OPPO, and Honor, why do mobile phone manufacturers enter the field of folding screen mobile phones?
The background is still that the global smartphone industry has entered a stage of stagnation and shrinking development. Due to the lack of innovation stimulation, serious product homogenization, sluggish desire to change machines and other factors, from 2018, global smart hand shipments began to decline, according to IDC data, this year's total global smartphone shipments were 1.4049 million units, down 4.1% year-on-year.
As the smartphone market enters the stock era from the incremental era, technological innovation has become the biggest driving force for the development of the mobile phone industry. Therefore, the emergence of folding screen mobile phones is considered to be a new addition in the field of smart phones, which is expected to boost the entire market.
From the demand side, at the moment when the design of the smart phone market is converging, the folding screen mobile phone with a "cool" shape has a high degree of recognition, and this new screen form has a wider range of use scenarios, especially the improvement of the visual sense and interactive experience brought by the two screens, which can stimulate the consumer's demand for replacement.
From the technical point of view, there are many parts of the folding screen mobile phone, the internal structure is complex, and it aggregates a variety of the most advanced technologies, materials and manufacturing processes in the mobile phone industry, which can comprehensively express the advantages and strengths of a mobile phone company in technology research and development, supply chain, and is also conducive to the improvement of the brand image and influence of mobile phones.
From the perspective of the market, the launch of folding screen mobile phones has great strategic significance for the brand to break through upwards, that is, mobile phone manufacturers can extend their product lines upwards, cover their previously insufficient high-end segmented user groups, and accelerate the penetration of the high-end market.
Therefore, no matter from which angle, it has given mobile phone manufacturers the determination to enter.
Vivo will be absent from the "folding screen mobile phone" battlefield?
However, on the hot folding screen mobile phone track, the two major manufacturers of vivo and Apple have not yet been seen. In fact, the news about these two major manufacturers preparing for folding screens has long been very loud.
In the past few years, Vivo's research and development strength at both ends of mobile phone software and hardware has accumulated, and everyone can see it. From screen fingerprints, lifting cameras, micro-gimbal solutions, professional image chips V1, to the full range of operating systems OriginOS, vivo has achieved many major breakthroughs and industry leadership in the 5G era. Therefore, when the folding screen mobile phone market shows a positive development trend, consumers are also increasingly looking forward to the vivo version of the folding screen mobile phone, hoping to bring surprises in hardware innovation and interactive experience.
According to the latest news, @Ross Young, CEO of DSCC, a display supply chain consulting company, said that Vivo's first folding screen smartphone will use an 8.03-inch LTPO flexible screen, with a dynamic refresh rate of 120Hz, and the application of UTT ultra-thin flexible glass technology is expected to be unveiled at the MWC (Mobile World Congress) that opened on February 28.
Of course, there are many rumors, such as a digital blogger who said that the outer screen of vivo's first folding screen mobile phone adopts a single-hole micro-curved design, which supports FHD resolution, which is a normal ratio; the right half of the inner screen is centered on a single hole, supporting QHD resolution, and the proportion is close to a square. In addition, Korean media pointed out that the inner screen of the vivo folding screen mobile phone is produced by Samsung Display, and the outer screen is produced by BOE.
As early as June last year, the Qichacha App showed that vivo had applied for trademarks such as "NEX FOLD", "NEX SLIDE", "NEX ROLL" and so on, which corresponded to folding, sliding and scrolling respectively from the naming point of view. It is expected to be used for the new machine.
At the same time, a large number of related patents for the layout folding screen of vivo have also been exposed. In April last year, Vivo published a patent for "folding electronic devices". The patent abstract shows that the application discloses a folding electronic device, the display screen in the folded state functional devices are exposed, the display in the unfolded state of the functional devices are obscured, broaden the coverage area of the display screen, to achieve a true full screen, fully meet the user's reading, games and videos and other scenarios under the use of needs.
Although Vivo has never responded positively to these rumors, it is certain that Vivo will definitely not be absent from the folding screen mobile phone field. Shen Wei, founder, president and CEO of Vivo, once said in his speech at the company's annual meeting, "Technology does not exist for the sake of showing technology, and the end of science and technology is to make people feel happy and reach beauty." "Therefore, only when the technology is mature enough, the yield is improved and the user experience can really be satisfied, the vivo folding screen mobile phone will be officially launched." I believe that this time is not far away.
At the same time, as China's largest and the world's top five smart phone manufacturers, Vivo has more than 400 million users in the world, which also means that if vivo folding screen mobile phones are put into the market, it will accelerate the development and popularization of folding screen mobile phones and the industrialization process.
Regarding the folding screen iPhone, Tianfeng International analyst Guo Mingji once pointed out that through industry surveys, Apple is expected to launch a folding iPhone in 2023, and the shipment volume of the folding screen iPhone in 2023 will be 15 million to 20 million. At that time, Apple will also become a key force to promote the accelerated development of folding screen mobile phones.
brief summary:
After nearly three years of continuous improvement and optimization by mobile phone manufacturers and supply chain manufacturers, folding screen mobile phones are expected to move towards a new stage in terms of technology, process, price and production capacity in 2022. If 2019 is the first year of the opening of the folding screen, 2022 will be the first year of the large-scale development of the folding screen mobile phone, there is no doubt that the folding screen will become the new focus of competition on the smart phone stage.