The quality problems of folding screen mobile phones are frequent, and vivo X Fold3 may not be able to change the industry pattern!

If the first folding screen mobile phone released by Samsung and Huawei in 2018 is regarded as the first year of folding screen mobile phones, then the track has been developed for more than 5 years.

However, according to TrendForce's data, global shipments of folding screen phones in 2023 are expected to be 15.9 million units, a year-on-year increase of 25%, and the market share of folding screen phones in all smartphone shipments will increase to 1.4%. However, this data shows that folding screen mobile phones are somewhat insignificant in the current smartphone market. This is probably not good news for vivo, which is eager to try and repeatedly test on the folding screen track.

Recently, vivo released the new folding flagship vivo X Fold3 series. According to reports, this product has created a double new record of folding screen thinness and battery life with a thin and light body of 219 grams and a 5700mAh blue ocean battery. It is understood that this folding screen mobile phone is also an upgraded folding screen flagship product launched after the official debut of vivo's first folding screen mobile phone X Fold.

It's just that, in the context of the times when technology giants Samsung and Huawei launched folding screen mobile phones have not stirred up too many waves, the quality of science and technology, brand power, and product power are obviously inferior to that of this brand vivo.

Full of gimmicks, but the future is uncertain

The first folding screen mobile phone released by vivo in the early years is also regarded as a "powerful weapon" for vivo and X Note large-screen mobile phones, which are also positioned in the high-end business market, to form a dual flagship and launch an impact on the existing high-end market. As for the upgraded version of vivo X Fold3, vivo also uses "so light, so strong" as the slogan, which is full of gimmicks.

However, although the official introduction of vivo X Fold3 is very reliable and durable, and at the press conference, employees also shouted that vivo X Fold3 is "produced by a blue factory, Antarctic quality" and so on. However, just as the host was talking about the quality of Antarctica and going straight to the vivo X Fold3 demo, the livestream flipped over.

(Netizen video screenshot)

(辟谣screen)

According to media reports, it can be seen through the screen lit up during the live broadcast that the mobile phone display suddenly shows a main screen, and then the screen is blurred, the host is full of embarrassment, and the nervous scene throws the mobile phone on the ice again.

Although the vivo public relations department responded that it was a problem with the picture angle of the live broadcast shooting, a screen problem. However, the whole process of the host taking the phone off the ice and putting it back back lasted only 10 seconds, and as a well-prepared press conference, such an abrupt and slightly "perfunctory" display was also very suspicious.

The biggest doubt is that the vivo will not have problems in extremely cold environments. The so-called "Antarctic quality" of vivo X Fold3 may not stand up to scrutiny. Moreover, according to netizens, during this time, the audience saw the flickering picture, does it mean that the mobile phone at that time was broken?

I believe many netizens know the situation after the press conference. On the one hand, there are many self-media who say that the mobile phone they reviewed conducts the same experiment, even if the phone stays in the ice for 2 hours, and then the temperature rises, it will return to normal.

On the other hand, the public relations drafts suspected of vivo are also flying all over the sky, with articles similar to "vivo public rumors X Fold3 overturned", "Don't eat melons", "Absolute oolong" and other titles are all in unison to justify vivo's "Antarctic quality".

However, the eyes of consumers are bright. Under the influence of negative information such as the accusation of "false propositions" in the past folding screen mobile phones, how many consumers will rationally think that vivo can really soar into the sky and amaze the world overnight on the folding screen mobile phone track? Obviously, vivo X Fold3 needs to come up with more hardcore products if it wants to "conquer" consumers.

Collective losses, folding screen mobile phones are frequently accused of false propositions

For a long time, smartphone manufacturers have a consensus that smartphones with larger screens are more popular with consumers. Therefore, when the concept of folding screen mobile phones was thrown, major smartphone manufacturers were eager to try. Because what folding screen mobile phones solve is the problem of limited screen size that existing mobile phones can't solve.

It is understood that in the past 5 years, more and more smartphone manufacturers have participated in the "involution" of folding screen mobile phones, in addition to Huawei, Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Lenovo, Honor, etc., almost all of the head manufacturers are absent.

Although the head manufacturers have a surprisingly consistent attitude towards folding screen mobile phones. But the cruel reality is that, as mentioned at the beginning, the global sales of folding screen mobile phones, after about 5 years of exploration, accounted for less than 1.5% of all smartphone sales, which is almost negligible.

Narrowing down the analysis to the potential Chinese market, the sales of folding screen phones are also not optimistic. Although IDC's relevant report shows that China's folding screen mobile phone market will ship about 7.007 million units in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 114.5%. At the same time, IDC said that since the launch of the first product in 2019, China's folding screen mobile phone market has grown by more than 100% year-on-year for four consecutive years. However, compared with the entire smartphone market, folding screen phones account for less than 3%, which is also unimaginative.

It is worth mentioning that not long ago, there were rumors that some brands have withdrawn from the foldable screen mobile phone market, the fundamental reason is that because the sales are too poor, most companies are losing money, and in the long run, many industry insiders also believe that this is a niche track that is very likely to make ends meet, I am afraid that it is difficult for mobile phone manufacturers to make money in this special track.

The reason is that the general view in the industry is that the folding screen mobile phone is only to solve the consumer pain point of large screen size and is not rigid, but because of folding, it has brought a series of problems such as hinges that are easy to loosen, easy to fold the screen, high cost of raw materials, imperfect after-sales service support, and high maintenance costs.

Moreover, the current market pattern of folding screen mobile phones is that technology giants Samsung and Huawei "star", and brands represented by vivo can only sing "supporting roles".

For example, in terms of market share, Samsung still maintains its dominant position in the global market, accounting for 66% of the market share, but this figure is down more than 17 percentage points from 2022. This is followed by Huawei, which is in second place with a market share of just under 12%, thanks to strong demand for foldable phones in the Chinese market. However, TrendForce predicts that Huawei's market share of foldable phones will reach more than 20% in 2024. In addition, Xiaomi also became the third largest in folding screen shipments, with a market share of 5.4%.

It can be seen that although vivo also launched a folding screen mobile phone early, it is difficult to see vivo in the industry's Top 3. Even if vivo plays a brand concept such as "the lightest in history", I am afraid it will be difficult to change the current industry pattern.

Quality problems are frequent, and the vivo X Fold3 has no chance of winning

As we all know, whether there is demand for products and whether the quality is "beaten" is still determined by "market feedback". Although vivo folding screen mobile phones have undergone several iterations, consumer reputation is somewhat unsatisfactory.

For example, in mid-July 2022, some media reported that vivo folding screen mobile phones were criticized for their loose hinges, and some users complained that they were "like a stall copycat". According to reports, vivo X Fold still has pain points in the hinge process, and many users have also had rights protection disputes due to hinge problems.

According to the consumer's feedback to media reporters, he spent 9,500 yuan to buy vivo X Fold Two weeks after normal use, there was a problem of loose hinges and abnormal noise. When the problem is reported to the after-sales service, it is told that "this is a common problem and does not affect normal use".

　"The mobile phone purchased for nearly 10,000 yuan is of this quality, do you think it is normal?" Mr. Wang questioned this and told reporters that he bought it because he felt that vivo had better performance and better crease control than other brands of folding screen mobile phones.

Through consumers' self-reports, it can be seen that vivo's promise on folding screen mobile phones may not have been fulfilled. And when I think of vivo o X Fold3 once again launching the so-called "Antarctic quality", but it was overturned at the press conference, there is some suspicion of making a "blank check".

In fact, in the relevant complaints of the black cat complaint platform, it was found that the relevant complaints of vivo X Fold models are generally related to keywords such as "loose hinges", "abnormal hinge sound", "central axis shaking", etc., and the mobile phone with the shortest time to appear in this situation is only three or four days to start.

Source: Screenshot of an Internet complaint platform

Coincidentally, a similar quality issue has also appeared in the vivo X Fold2. For example, one user commented that the vivo X Fold2 has a small battery capacity and is difficult to maintain for a day of normal use. From this, we can see that this user has a higher power demand in daily use, and the requirements for battery life are also higher.

Due to the more complex functions and larger screens, the power consumption of the folding screen is bound to be greater than that of ordinary mobile phones, so it is also a big challenge for folding screen mobile phones to maintain their advantages of thinness and lightness, and to improve their battery life, so that their use experience is close to that of commonly used smartphones. It is foreseeable that these problems will not be inevitable when vivo X Fold3 competes in the market in the future.

Write at the end

For a long time, due to the saturation of the market, the product function and appearance are too homogeneous, which has caused the development of smart phone brands to encounter a bottleneck. Therefore, in order to pursue performance growth and sustainable development, such enterprises can only obtain a larger market through newer technologies, products and development concepts.

However, it turns out that the next stop for smartphones is not necessarily folding screen phones. It has been observed that compared with some smartphone manufacturers who "take great pains" in hardware functions such as mobile phone folding, AI mobile phones blessed by hot AI large models seem to have more attention and even more market potential. Therefore, it is still unknown whether folding screen mobile phones, which are still not widely recognized by consumers, can carry the high-end dreams of brands such as vivo in the future.

And although vivo X Fold3 is menacing, I am afraid it is not the one who can change the industry situation. I hope that folding screen mobile phone manufacturers represented by vivo can truly tap into the unmet market demand and launch more innovative smartphone products, instead of scrambling to lay out a market full of unknowns. The market is the litmus test. And the wishful thinking of smartphone manufacturers represented by vivo on the "folding screen mobile phone" is probably either a gamble or the opposite direction.

Author: Niko

Editor: Nick

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