Only a few months after the beginning of 2022, several major domestic mobile phone brands have released or will soon release folding screen mobile phones. According to current information, in January this year, Honor released the folding screen mobile phone Magic V; on April 22, vivo X Fold went on sale; on April 28, Huawei will release the folding flagship Huawei Mate Xs 2. Novel but high-priced, is the label of the folding screen mobile phone, but is the folding screen really easy to use?
Market: Online and offline sales are hot
At present, several mainstream mobile phone manufacturers have successively entered the folding screen track, in addition to this year's entry of glory, vivo, Samsung, Huawei has already entered, launched a variety of folding screen brands, in March 2021, Xiaomi released the folding screen mobile phone MIX Fold. In December 2021, OPPO launched its first folding screen mobile phone, Find N.
Folding screen mobile phones on the market are positioned as high-end models, and the pricing is generally above 7,000 yuan, of which Huawei's Mate X2 8+521G version is priced at 18999 yuan, and Samsung W22 16+521G version is priced at 16999 yuan. The Honor Magic V 12+512G version released this year is priced at 10,999 yuan, and the vivo X Fold 12+512G is priced at 9,999 yuan.
Although the price of folding screen mobile phones is quite high, it is still difficult to stop the enthusiasm of the market. According to the "Smartphone Model Market Tracking for the Fourth Quarter of 2021" report released by market research agency Omdia, by the end of 2021, the cumulative shipment of folding screen smartphones worldwide reached 11.5 million units. Starting from the second half of 2021, the sales of folding screen mobile phones began to grow rapidly, and the annual shipment volume reached 9 million units in 2021, an increase of 309% year-on-year.
Honor Magic V and vivo X Fold are out of stock when they go on sale, and they have been out of stock on major e-commerce platforms for a long time, and consumers may not be able to grab the goods when they regularly rush to buy. Previously, Huawei's Mate Xs was even once speculated to a high price of tens of thousands of yuan at the beginning of its release.
The reporter visited a number of mobile phone stores in Changsha, and several glory dealers said that the glory Magic V is not in stock at present, and some stores are not even equipped with prototypes. "I recommend going online to buy, offline stores are basically out of stock, and there are also increases in price." A glory dealer told reporters, "The price increase is 1000-3000 yuan, depending on the channels and conscience of the dealer." However, some dealers told reporters that if they are determined to buy, she can distribute the goods within half a day, and there is no need to increase the price. The just-listed vivo X Fold in a number of offline stores are also out of stock, a number of dealers told reporters that because vivo X Fold is a new machine, so the distribution is also difficult to match.
Performance: Multiple consumer experiences vary
"I think the folding screen phone is very easy to use." Mr. Tan, a citizen of Changsha, told reporters that he was using a folding screen mobile phone from Huawei. "For me, the most practical function of the folding screen mobile phone is the split-screen operation, I can process the messages received by multiple apps in one interface at the same time, and the office efficiency is much higher."
"The folding screen is really nice, with stickers, bracelets, and a small bag." Netizen Kobayashi shared with reporters. Her phone is the Samsung Z Flips 3, which is a rare vertical folding screen phone, the phone is folded up and square, only the size of a palm, suitable for carrying. Because of its cute shape, it has been promoted as an internet celebrity model on some sharing platforms.
There are also consumers who think that folding screen mobile phones have some "chicken ribs", "folding screen mobile phones may still be relatively niche, so the adaptability of many APP is not in place, some APP can only display half of the screen, there is no way to display full screen, such an interface is too uncomfortable for me to have an obsessive-compulsive disorder." Ms. Zhao, another folding screen mobile phone user, said.
Problems such as the weight of the folding screen have also been criticized. "Ordinary straight-screen mobile phones weigh 100-200g, but many folding screen mobile phones weigh more than 300g, do not underestimate the gap of 100g, if used for a long time than the straight-screen mobile phone is much more tired," consumer Xiao Liu told reporters, "If you lie in bed and play on the face is also very painful." ”
In addition, the screen repair price of the folding screen is quite high. Although manufacturers currently claim that the folding life of mobile phones is mostly 200,000 times, based on an average of 100 folding times per day, 200,000 times is equivalent to about 5.5 years of use time. However, many consumers still report that their mobile phone screen cracked for no reason during normal use. According to the maintenance prices announced by major manufacturers, the maintenance of the inner screen is generally around 4,000 yuan, and the maintenance of the outer screen is also about 800 yuan.
Industry insiders: Folding screens will not be significantly reduced in the short term
"Folding screen mobile phones are still in their infancy, so from the user experience point of view. There are still many imperfections. Mr. Deng, a dealer who has been engaged in the mobile phone industry for many years, told reporters. Screen quality, screen quality, hinge technology and crease treatment these four key indicators for the folding screen mobile phone is crucial, to do a good job of system optimization, so that users experience the joy and practicality of the folding screen, in addition, battery life, configuration, space allocation and other issues also need to continue to upgrade, folding screen can not be folded for folding. ”
Mr. Deng said that at present, the current scale of mass production of folding screen mobile phones is not enough, technology is still exploring, the price is relatively high, at least in this year, folding screen mobile phones are still dominated by the high-end market. "After 1 to 2 years, the technology of folding screen continues to mature, the cost is reduced, and the market competition is more, the price of folding screen mobile phones will be lower."
"Consumers should think clearly about their use scenarios, mobile phone performance, and price requirements before buying a mobile phone, and the gust of folding screen mobile phones should not be in a hurry to follow now." A mobile phone review blogger told reporters.
According to Canalys statistics, the shipment of folding screen smartphones reached 8.9 million units in 2021, an increase of 148% year-on-year, and the growth rate was much higher than that of the smartphone market (7%). According to Qunzhi Consulting, the global shipment scale of foldable smartphones will reach about 14.4 million units in 2022, up 99.6% year-on-year, and this number will exceed 70 million units in 2025.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Shen Xiaoyi