Foldable smartphones show dramatic market increase
China's foldable smartphone sales jumped sharply in the first half, making it a shining niche segment in the declining trend of the smartphone market, industry researchers said on Monday.
Huawei, OPPO, vivo and Samsung are top vendors in the domestic market, while the foldable screen has brought Android vendors opportunities to surpass Apple in features, especially in the high-end market.
In the first half of the year, the country shipped 2.27 million foldable phones, marking a 102-percent surge from the same period last year, said the global market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC).
The foldable smartphone market has seen remarkable growth in China in the second quarter, with a growth of 173 percent year on year, according to IDC.
According to another researcher CINNO Research, China's foldable smartphone market jumped 72 percent in the first half, with a 99 percent growth in the second quarter.
A Samsung 5th-generation foldable model is shown at an event in Shanghai.
The foldable smartphone sales have grown for 11 consecutive quarters, as a "shining spotlight" in the smartphone market, CINNO said on Monday.
Comparatively, the whole Chinese smartphone market sales dropped about 10 percent year on year in the second quarter.
Huawei has maintained its top position in the domestic foldable smartphone market with a market share over 40 percent, according to researchers.
Samsung, the global smartphone market leader, is gaining shares in China in the foldable segment, according to CINNO.
The folding model is a trend in the smartphone industry to "reshape people's ways of interaction and lifestyles," said Samsung. It has opened pop-up stores in Xintiandi and Qiantan in Shanghai to promote its 5th generation foldable models.
