Global foldable smartphone shipments grew by 64% year-over-year (YoY) in Q1 2023, reaching 2.5 million units. The robust growth is significant as the foldable market rose despite a 14.2% YoY decline in the overall global smartphone market during the same period.
Growth in the foldable smartphone market was largely driven by the domestic foldable market in China which continued to grow surging 117% YoY to 1.08 million units despite a decline of 8% YoY in Q1 2023 in the overall smartphone market.
New foldable products had grand releases, piquing the market’s interest. Chinese consumers have also become more familiar with foldable products compared to other regions, Woojin Son, research analyst at Counterpoint noted in a company blogpost.
The year will further witness the intensification of competition among OEMs in the global foldable market due to more aggressive target market expansion, intensification of price and competition and increasing sales volumes of clamshell-type foldable smartphones. Additionally, consumers in China are recognising ‘foldables’ as a premium smartphone, Jene Park, senior analyst at Counterpoint said.
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Brand performance
Oppo’s strong performance in the Chinese market in Q1 2023 earned it the second spot after Huawei. Samsung’s growth in the China foldable market is also noteworthy as it tries to corner a larger chunk of the market with the release of its W23 and W23-Flip smartphones. These are variants of the Z Fold and the Z-Flip 4.
Apple is also expected to enter the foldable market, likely around 2025, since the overall consumer response to foldable phones is improving, Park added.
Published - July 07, 2023 02:31 pm IST
