The global foldable phone market might develop in unexpected ways this year, as significant changes will reportedly happen to Huawei's, Oppo's, Vivo's, and Samsung's foldable product lineups and business strategies.
According to a new report (via Hankyung), Huawei is planning to counter-attack Samsung's successful foldable phone business with a new dual-hinged / dual-folding phone.
Huawei is supposedly preparing to push this Z-shaped foldable phone into production in the first half of 2023. The foldable panel will measure 10 inches when fully unfolded, meaning it can turn into a full-fledged tablet.
Samsung working on its own new foldable phone
In response to this mysterious Huawei foldable device, the report claims that Samsung has completed development on a rollable phone.
Samsung's rollable prototypes showcased at trade fares are based on the same display technology used for foldable devices. However, a rollable phone would have a completely different form factor than a single-folding or dual-folding one.
Story continues after our Samsung Flex Display hands-on video from MWC 2023
On the other hand, other sources say that Samsung might release a dual-folding phone similar to Huawei and shelve its rollable phone plans for the time being.
Whatever the case may be, here's one more detail about the global foldable phone business in 2024 that might be an even bigger surprise than Huawei and Samsung pursuing new form factors:
Oppo and Vivo will withdraw from the foldable phone segment in 2024
According to the same report, two major smartphone makers from China, Oppo and Vivo, have decided they will no longer develop foldable phones. They're throwing in the towel.
While Huawei appears to be willing to go all-in on the foldable phone market to compete with Samsung, both Oppo and Vivo have supposedly concluded that the foldable segment isn't profitable for them. Their market shares dropped significantly in 2023, and they may not see a way to recover.
Samsung led the foldable phone market by a large margin in every quarter in 2023. Huawei was the second-largest foldable phone maker thanks to its market share in China, but many other OEMs, including Oppo and Vivo, were mere blips on the radar.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 are the most popular foldable phones right now, as Samsung appears to have the single-fold segment all figured out.
