Counterpoint: Foldable smartphone shipments to grow 33% year-on-year to 4.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023

Data source: DSCC foldable/rollable display shipments and technology report

Thanks to the strong performance of Mate X5 and Pocket 2 and Samsung's lack of new products, DSCC expects Huawei to surpass Samsung in foldable phone market share for the first time in the first and second quarters of 2024. BOE also surpassed SDC to become the number one manufacturer in foldable panel procurement in the fourth quarter of 2023 as Huawei purchased more panels to drive its market share growth. Huawei's strong performance is expected to drive the foldable phone market to grow by 105% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. However, Samsung is expected to regain its leadership in the second half of the year and lead the entire 2024 market with its huge advantage over Huawei. 25 different foldable phone models are expected to be shipped in the first quarter of 2024, and 27 are expected to be shipped for the whole year.

While Huawei and Honor are expected to gain market share in 2024, OPPO and vivo will lose market share as they give up updating their clamshell foldable phones due to concerns about insufficient price elasticity, thickness issues, and acceptance in the Chinese market. However, Huawei is expected to launch at least two new clamshell phones in 2024, and Honor, Motorola, Samsung, and other manufacturers will also update their clamshell phones. Overall, clamshell foldable phones are expected to have a larger market share in the foldable screen market.