Smartphone manufacturers still want to make foldables a thing - Ars Technica

A Cash Kart Edit site Customize New Edit Post SEOFocus keyphrase not set Howdy, admin Log OutSkip to content A Cash Kart Smartphone manufacturers still want to make foldables a thing – Ars Technica Front page layout Site theme Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times – Dec 31, 2023 4:26 am UTC Every large smartphone maker except Apple is betting that “foldable” phones will help revive a lacklustre mobile market, despite the devices still largely failing to attract mainstream consumers. Foldables, which have a screen that opens like a book or compact mirror, barely exceed a 1 per cent market share of all smartphones sold globally almost five years after they were first introduced. But Samsung has doubled down on the product, investing heavily in marketing this year. In July, the Korean group released its 5G Galaxy Z series. The world’s largest smartphone manufacturer points to estimates from Counterpoint Research that foldable devices may surpass a third of all smartphones costing more than $600 by 2027. “We will continue to position our foldables as a key engine for our flagship growth with the clear differentiation, experience and flexibility these devices have to offer,” said Samsung. Other handset makers such as Motorola, China’s Huawei and its spin-off Honor are also pinning their hopes on the product helping to revive a market that suffered its worst year for more than a decade. “This is the year people [in the industry] really dived in,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. “Everybody now is betting on this, except Apple.” The iPhone-maker has yet to show any interest in the category, though patent filings suggest it may one day introduce an iPad that folds in half. Every other big smartphone maker has followed Samsung into the market, including Google’s Pixel Fold and Chinese alternatives from Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi. “We believe foldables are the future of smartphone devices, just like electric cars were to the auto industry,” said Bond Zhang, UK chief executive of Honor. “We’re approaching a crucial tipping point where foldables may soon become mainstream.” But market data shows foldables are still far from mainstream. Counterpoint Research estimates about 16 million foldable phones will be sold this year, just 1.3 percent of the 1.2 billion smartphone market total. Analysts say consumers are deterred by concerns about price, reliability and utility. “I do wonder if there are too many products chasing too little market share at the moment,” Wood said. Though the numbers are small in the context of the overall smartphone market, foldables are starting to gain a more meaningful share of the premium segment in certain markets, including the US and China. The high price point of foldable phones fits with a broader pattern of polarisation in the market between premium devices, where Apple dominates, and lower-cost handsets. Foldable phones’ premium prices are helping manufacturers offset sluggish sales of their cheaper devices. In the US, Samsung’s Z Fold 5 costs upwards of $1,800, while Honor’s Magic VS2 starts at Rmb6,999 ($979) in China. Persuading more consumers to pay those prices has been a challenge, with many worried about the durability of their flexible screens and mechanical hinges. Runar Bjørhovde, an analyst at Canalys, said return rates of foldables are 5-10 percent, far higher than traditional smartphones and a deterrent to repeat purchases. “It’s one thing to bring people to the [foldable] segment,” he said. “It’s another to get them to stay.” However, Chinese manufacturers such as Honor and Huawei have found their home market more open to foldables than elsewhere. Sales of the devices in the third quarter of 2023 more than doubled over the same period last year, according to Counterpoint. Samsung dominates the global market, with a 73 per cent share of foldables in the quarter, according to Canalys. “Foldables have become the way to get some excitement back in smartphones,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies. “There’s no innovation otherwise.” © 2023 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way. 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manufacturers still want to make foldables a thing – Ars Technica Front page layout Site theme Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times – Dec 31, 2023 4:26 am UTC Every large smartphone maker except Apple is betting that “foldable” phones will help revive a lacklustre mobile market, despite the devices still largely failing to attract mainstream consumers. Foldables, which have a screen that opens like a book or compact mirror, barely exceed a 1 per cent market share of all smartphones sold globally almost five years after they were first introduced. But Samsung has doubled down on the product, investing heavily in marketing this year. In July, the Korean group released its 5G Galaxy Z series. The world’s largest smartphone manufacturer points to estimates from Counterpoint Research that foldable devices may surpass a third of all smartphones costing more than $600 by 2027. “We will continue to position our foldables as a key engine for our flagship growth with the clear differentiation, experience and flexibility these devices have to offer,” said Samsung. Other handset makers such as Motorola, China’s Huawei and its spin-off Honor are also pinning their hopes on the product helping to revive a market that suffered its worst year for more than a decade. “This is the year people [in the industry] really dived in,” said Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight. “Everybody now is betting on this, except Apple.” The iPhone-maker has yet to show any interest in the category, though patent filings suggest it may one day introduce an iPad that folds in half. Every other big smartphone maker has followed Samsung into the market, including Google’s Pixel Fold and Chinese alternatives from Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi. “We believe foldables are the future of smartphone devices, just like electric cars were to the auto industry,” said Bond Zhang, UK chief executive of Honor. “We’re approaching a crucial tipping point where foldables may soon become mainstream.” But market data shows foldables are still far from mainstream. Counterpoint Research estimates about 16 million foldable phones will be sold this year, just 1.3 percent of the 1.2 billion smartphone market total. Analysts say consumers are deterred by concerns about price, reliability and utility. “I do wonder if there are too many products chasing too little market share at the moment,” Wood said. Though the numbers are small in the context of the overall smartphone market, foldables are starting to gain a more meaningful share of the premium segment in certain markets, including the US and China. The high price point of foldable phones fits with a broader pattern of polarisation in the market between premium devices, where Apple dominates, and lower-cost handsets. Foldable phones’ premium prices are helping manufacturers offset sluggish sales of their cheaper devices. In the US, Samsung’s Z Fold 5 costs upwards of $1,800, while Honor’s Magic VS2 starts at Rmb6,999 ($979) in China. Persuading more consumers to pay those prices has been a challenge, with many worried about the durability of their flexible screens and mechanical hinges. Runar Bjørhovde, an analyst at Canalys, said return rates of foldables are 5-10 percent, far higher than traditional smartphones and a deterrent to repeat purchases. “It’s one thing to bring people to the [foldable] segment,” he said. “It’s another to get them to stay.” However, Chinese manufacturers such as Honor and Huawei have found their home market more open to foldables than elsewhere. Sales of the devices in the third quarter of 2023 more than doubled over the same period last year, according to Counterpoint. Samsung dominates the global market, with a 73 per cent share of foldables in the quarter, according to Canalys. “Foldables have become the way to get some excitement back in smartphones,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies. “There’s no innovation otherwise.” © 2023 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way. Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox. Sign me up → CNMN Collection WIRED Media Group © 2024 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 1/1/20) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated 1/1/20) and Ars Technica Addendum (effective 8/21/2018). Ars may earn compensation on sales from links on this site. Read our affiliate link policy. Your California Privacy Rights | Do Not Sell My Personal Information The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices source January 9, 2024 admin Uncategorized A Cash Kart Proudly powered by WordPress Smartphone manufacturers india Smartphone manufacturers Delhi Smartphone manufacturers Bengaluru Smartphone manufacturers Ahmedabad Smartphone manufacturers Hyderabad Smartphone manufacturers Chennai Smartphone manufacturers Kolkata Smartphone manufacturers Pune Smartphone manufacturers Jaipur Smartphone manufacturers Surat Smartphone manufacturers Lucknow Smartphone manufacturers Kanpur Smartphone manufacturers Nagpur Smartphone manufacturers Patna Smartphone manufacturers Indore Smartphone manufacturers Thane Smartphone manufacturers Bhopal Smartphone manufacturers Visakhapatnam Smartphone manufacturers Vadodara Smartphone manufacturers Firozabad Smartphone manufacturers Ludhiana Smartphone manufacturers Rajkot Smartphone manufacturers Agra Smartphone manufacturers Siliguri Smartphone manufacturers Nashik Smartphone manufacturers Faridabad Smartphone manufacturers Patiala Smartphone manufacturers Meerut Smartphone manufacturers Kalyan-Dombivali Smartphone manufacturers Vasai-Virar Smartphone manufacturers Varanasi Smartphone manufacturers Srinagar Smartphone manufacturers Dhanbad Smartphone manufacturers Jodhpur Smartphone manufacturers Amritsar Smartphone manufacturers Raipur Smartphone manufacturers Allahabad Smartphone manufacturers Coimbatore Smartphone manufacturers Jabalpur Smartphone manufacturers Gwalior Smartphone manufacturers Vijayawada Smartphone manufacturers Madurai Smartphone manufacturers Guwahati Smartphone manufacturers Chandigarh Smartphone manufacturers Hubli-Dharwad Smartphone manufacturers Amroha Smartphone manufacturers Moradabad Smartphone manufacturers Gurgaon Smartphone manufacturers Aligarh Smartphone manufacturers Solapur Smartphone manufacturers Ranchi Smartphone manufacturers Jalandhar Smartphone manufacturers Tiruchirappalli Smartphone manufacturers Bhubaneswar Smartphone manufacturers Salem Smartphone manufacturers Warangal Smartphone manufacturers Mira-Bhayandar Smartphone manufacturers Thiruvananthapuram Smartphone manufacturers Bhiwandi Smartphone manufacturers Saharanpur Smartphone manufacturers Guntur Smartphone manufacturers Amravati Smartphone manufacturers Bikaner Smartphone manufacturers Noida Smartphone manufacturers Jamshedpur Smartphone manufacturers Bhilai Nagar Smartphone manufacturers Cuttack Smartphone manufacturers Kochi Smartphone manufacturers Udaipur Smartphone manufacturers Bhavnagar Smartphone manufacturers Dehradun Smartphone manufacturers Asansol Smartphone manufacturers Nanded-Waghala Smartphone manufacturers Ajmer Smartphone manufacturers Jamnagar Smartphone manufacturers Ujjain Smartphone manufacturers Sangli Smartphone manufacturers Loni Smartphone manufacturers Jhansi Smartphone manufacturers Pondicherry Smartphone manufacturers Nellore Smartphone manufacturers Jammu Smartphone manufacturers Belagavi Smartphone manufacturers Raurkela Smartphone manufacturers Mangaluru Smartphone manufacturers Tirunelveli Smartphone manufacturers Malegaon Smartphone manufacturers Gaya Smartphone manufacturers Tiruppur Smartphone manufacturers Davanagere Smartphone manufacturers Kozhikode Smartphone manufacturers Akola Smartphone manufacturers Kurnool Smartphone manufacturers Bokaro Steel City Smartphone manufacturers Rajahmundry Smartphone manufacturers Ballari Smartphone manufacturers Agartala Smartphone manufacturers Bhagalpur Smartphone manufacturers Latur Smartphone manufacturers Dhule Smartphone manufacturers Korba Smartphone manufacturers Bhilwara Smartphone manufacturers Brahmapur Smartphone manufacturers Mysore Smartphone manufacturers Muzaffarpur Smartphone manufacturers Ahmednagar Smartphone manufacturers Kollam Smartphone manufacturers Raghunathganj Smartphone manufacturers Bilaspur Smartphone manufacturers Shahjahanpur Smartphone manufacturers Thrissur Smartphone manufacturers Alwar Smartphone manufacturers Kakinada Smartphone manufacturers Nizamabad Smartphone manufacturers Sagar Smartphone manufacturers Tumkur Smartphone manufacturers Hisar Smartphone manufacturers Rohtak Smartphone manufacturers Panipat Smartphone manufacturers Darbhanga Smartphone manufacturers Kharagpur Smartphone manufacturers Aizawl Smartphone manufacturers Ichalkaranji Smartphone manufacturers Tirupati Smartphone manufacturers Karnal Smartphone manufacturers Bathinda Smartphone manufacturers Rampur Smartphone manufacturers Shivamogga Smartphone manufacturers Ratlam Smartphone manufacturers Modinagar Smartphone manufacturers Durg Smartphone manufacturers Shillong Smartphone manufacturers Imphal Smartphone manufacturers Hapur Smartphone manufacturers Ranipet Smartphone manufacturers Anantapur Smartphone manufacturers Arrah Smartphone manufacturers Karimnagar Smartphone manufacturers Parbhani Smartphone manufacturers Etawah