Counterpoint: China's foldable smartphone sales to grow 27% year-on-year in 2024

According to Counterpoint's tracking report on Chinese foldable smartphones, China's foldable smartphone sales will increase by 27% year-on-year in 2024, continuing to grow rapidly, but the growth rate has slowed down. China is the world's largest and most competitive foldable smartphone market, and many domestic Android original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are competing for this branch of the market.

With strong brand influence, Huawei's leadership in China's foldable screen market will be further consolidated in 2024, accounting for half of the market's sales. Its best-selling models cover book-type and clamshell-type foldable screen phones. Huawei's Mate X5 and X6 performed well in book-type foldable screen phones, while Pocket 2 and Nova Flip performed best in clamshell foldable screen phones. HONOR is another brand with a double-digit market share, mainly due to strong sales of the Magic Vs 2 and Vs 3 series, which are popular for their thin and light designs. In contrast, the market shares of other major Chinese OEMs and Samsung are in the single digits.

In 2024, the top five foldable models in China account for more than 50% of the market. Huawei and Honor each have two models, and Vivo has one. Only two of the five models are clamshell foldable phones - Huawei's Pocket 2 and Honor's V Flip.

In the Chinese market, more than 67% of foldable screen sales come from book-style foldable screen phones, while clamshell foldable screen phones account for 23%. This shows that Chinese consumers are more inclined to choose book-style foldable screen phones. Another key factor driving the popularity of book-style foldable screen phones is that their durability and user experience have been significantly improved compared to the first generation of devices. With the advancement of technology, foldable screen phones have made significant improvements in thickness, hinges, weight, battery life and cameras.

Although the foldable screen market is still a niche market, accounting for only about 3% of the Chinese smartphone market, foldable screen devices continue to mature with the launch of each generation of products. Looking ahead, with better integration of software and hardware and more attractive usage scenarios, the foldable screen market is expected to achieve sustainable growth.