Practically facing the last week of the year, we can consider that 2023 has been the great year of the folding mobile phone. There are more models on sale than ever, and manufacturers launching new proposals on the market.
Double digit growth
According to DSCC, which brings together the screen supply chain, and especially involved in the evolution of the folding screen, the folding market has grown by 16% in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2022. Although if we compare the results of the second quarter with the third of this year, the results are overwhelming, and sales have grown by no less than 215%.
This is explained according to the source by the launch of Samsung's latest foldables, which is clearly the big market driver, despite the fact that the competition is increasingly fierce. Therefore, it is evident that the folding market is responding very well, and that in this third quarter even the records set in previous periods have been broken.
And more folding ones have been sold than ever, with 7 million units in this third quarter, compared to 6.1 million in 2022, which represents a result that exceeds initial expectations. This third quarter is usually especially good, as it is driven by the momentum of Samsung launches.
Of course, the results are expected to be worse in the fourth quarter, with a 35% decrease in the quarter-on-quarter. But despite this, the year would close with a 47% increase in sales compared to the entire year 2022, so it is undoubtedly a segment that is already posting spectacular numbers.
Samsung continues to lead, although under more pressure
Little by little, the market share in folding products is being distributed, leaving behind the semi-monopoly situation that Samsung had since the beginning of this market. And it is that the competition is greater than everand launches many more models, something that evidently increases the size of the market, and also narrows the quotas.
In this case it is expected that Samsung ends 2023 and begins 2024 with a 42% share, with Huawei as the manufacturer closest to this brand, with a share of 21%. Of course, the best-selling folding phone will continue to be Korean, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 taking first place, followed by the Huawei Mate X5 and the Honor Magic V2 in third place.
Obviously Samsung is also the main manufacturer of folding screens, since its Samsung Display division, which has achieved a market share in screens of 74% in the third quarter, compared to the 63% harvested in the second, which represents a growth of 11 points quarter-on-quarter. In short, the third quarter of 2023 has been the best in history for the sale of folding phones, and therefore consolidates this mobile phone segment as a rising value.