Foldable smartphones are a singular addition that occupy a better pricier tier alongside their ‘sweet bar’ formed counterparts, however the massive names struggled to get the ball rolling within the third quarter of 2024. Samsung confronted the largest loss throughout this era, dropping 21 share factors in shipments in comparison with its dominant place a yr in the past, with different gamers occupying the brand new positions. Even then, the general tally was decrease than how the market carried out in Q3 2023, with a brand new report mentioning two the reason why this decline occurred.
A brand new report states that the foldable smartphone market is going through challenges when transferring to the mainstream class, with ‘prohibitively excessive costs stay the largest impediment’
First, allow us to come to the statistics. Counterpoint Analysis has shared that regardless of Samsung dropping its market share to gamers like Huawei, the Korean big maintained the primary place with 56 % of world shipments in Q3 2024. In second place, we’ve Huawei, whose general shipments elevated from 13 % to fifteen % within the newest quarter, with Xiaomi experiencing the biggest success, garnering a whopping 185 % cargo enhance in comparison with Q3 2023.
Regardless of the success attained by varied gamers, the report states that international foldable smartphone shipments witnessed a 1 % shipments decline in comparison with the identical interval a yr in the past, and it was the primary time that this market ever noticed a hunch within the third quarter. One purpose is Samsung’s underwhelming Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 launch, with each gadgets providing little to no incentive to improve over the previous-generation lineup.
Nevertheless, maybe the largest setback is the excessive worth, which prevents prospects from making a purchase order. Senior analyst at Counterpoint Analysis Jene Park says that the worldwide foldable smartphone market is in a transitionary section, the place going from a distinct segment class to a mainstream one comes with its host of issues. Prospects who’ve upgraded to those book-type foldable gadgets present a excessive satisfaction stage, however the excessive worth in the end pushes again a big share of patrons.
“The worldwide foldable market seems to have entered a transitionary section the place it’s going through challenges because it progresses from a distinct segment phase to the mainstream. Consumer satisfaction is especially excessive with book-type foldable gadgets, however the prohibitively excessive costs stay the largest impediment to mass adoption. If producers give critical consideration to bettering worth accessibility, together with attaining additional technological reliability and enhancing client perceptions, this section may be overcome.”
Given how foldable smartphones have but to ship the identical traction as regular-shaped handsets, we doubt that producers like Samsung and Huawei will discover methods to cut back part prices and supply successive fashions at a aggressive worth. Briefly, we consider that this class will stay considerably area of interest within the years to come back, however we hope to be shocked within the close to future.
Information Supply: Counterpoint Research
