IDC: China's smartphone market shipments fell 11.8% year-on-year in Q1 2023

Here's the thing. I recently saw a very interesting report. In the first quarter of this year, IDC reported that China's smartphone market shipments fell 11.8% year-on-year, but foldable screen phones increased 52.8% year-on-year;

At the same time, according to JD.com's "2023 Folding Screen Mobile Phone Trend Fun Picture Book" (hereinafter referred to as the "Picture Book") data, JD.com's folding screen sales in the first half of 2023 increased by more than 100% year-on-year, of which small folding screens increased by 150% year-on-year.

This data is a bit surprising. On the one hand, candy-bar phones are becoming increasingly difficult to sell, while on the other hand, the sales of foldable screen phones are getting better and better. Hey, this gives me a strong feeling——

Do you think 2023 is the time to buy a foldable phone?

Well, there is a reason why I have such thoughts.

Up to now, many mobile phone manufacturers have launched their own folding screen products, and some mobile phones have even been updated to the fifth generation. It can be said that they have passed the initial exploration stage.

Of course, the most important thing is that their prices have also reached a very affordable price.

According to the illustrated guide, excluding the impact of the collector's edition, ultimate edition and other versions and configuration upgrades, the average starting price of large foldable screen mobile phones (Fold) dropped from 13,239 yuan in 2021 to 10,277 yuan in 2022; the average starting price of small foldable screen mobile phones (Flip) dropped from 8,294 yuan to 7,097 yuan.

You see, a while ago, Motorola launched a vertically folding phone - Moto Razr 40, its starting price is as high as 3999.

In the past, we didn’t buy foldable phones because they were too expensive, but now it mainly depends on whether we want to buy them.

In particular, Honor, Samsung, Xiaomi and other brands have recently launched many new foldable screen products. JD.com has teamed up with major manufacturers to create the 818 Mobile Phone Festival, offering benefits such as 180-day replacement without repair for foldable screen phones and up to 1,500 yuan in subsidies for old phones for new ones. Many friends are eager to try and consider replacing their candy-bar phones with foldable screen phones.

However, I know that there are still many people who are skeptical or negative about using foldable screen phones as their main phones, saying that foldable screens are:

On one hand, there is a rapid growth momentum, and on the other hand, there are doubts from users. It can be said that the controversy about foldable screens has never stopped. Considering that many people have different opinions about foldable screens, it may be:

There are many questions about it:

Here I have also selected several issues that everyone is most concerned about and would like to share my views with you, hoping to answer your doubts.

First of all, when it comes to foldable screen phones, I see that many friends who are interested in foldable screens are worried about the consequences of using the phone for a long time.

Will the phone be damaged due to excessive bending?

We all know that the biggest difference between a foldable screen phone and a straight-screen phone is that it has an additional hinge that can fold the flexible screen. The hinge can be said to determine the depth of the crease and the service life of the foldable screen phone.

At first, foldable phones generally used a U-shaped hinge. Since it almost folded the screen in half, there was inevitably an obvious crease:

Later, after the water drop-shaped hinge came out, the screen crease was not only reduced, but the phone could also be completely closed when folded, which greatly improved the durability of the body:

Not only that, in recent years, major mobile phone manufacturers have further optimized the waterdrop hinge structure and used various materials such as titanium alloy, high-strength steel, carbon fiber plates, etc. to improve the hinge life.

For example, OPPO Find N2 claims that after being folded 400,000 times, there will be no essential change in the depth or width of the crease.

Many other foldable screen mobile phones have also passed 400,000 or 500,000 folding tests conducted by authoritative organizations.

What is the concept?

Based on the fact that I light up the screen 200 times a day, if I bend the screen 200 times a day, it will take more than five years to reach this number. By that time, many people will have probably changed their phones.

So let’s put it this way, after several years of development, the hinge technology for foldable screen mobile phones can be said to be very mature. Just fold it during use, it is actually not that easy to be damaged.

I have two folding screen phones that I have been using since the first release. I usually use them as my main phones. You can see that their creases have not deepened:

The hinges are still tight and firm, and they close when they should close and hover when they should hover. There is no ambiguity at all:

Speaking of creases, in my opinion, they should be of the kind of -

We pay special attention to the things before buying, but they are most easily ignored after buying.

Without saying all, some foldable screen mobile phones now will not affect our viewing of the screen most of the time when viewed from the front after the screen is turned on.

However, it is true that foldable screen phones are inherently more fragile than candy-bar phones. After all, the body has a complex structure called a hinge. A normal candy-bar phone might only have a dent on the frame if it falls to the ground.

However, if a foldable phone falls, the hinge may be broken, and the flexible inner screen may leak if it is hit by severe external force. So just in case, it is necessary to consider buying insurance for your phone.

Seeing this, some friends may have begun to wonder why manufacturers have gone to such great lengths to make mobile phones foldable.

Why buy a foldable screen?

Simply put, I think the advantages of foldable screen phones mainly lie in two aspects:

Or it will be more compact and portable after folding

Or the phone screen will become larger after unfolding

Let’s talk about vertical folding phones first. Whether a vertical folding phone is easy to use depends on the individual, but its ability to show personality is probably beyond doubt.

When unfolded, it is thinner and lighter than many candy-bar phones. When folded, its size is as small as a powder box. The phone can be easily put into various small bags, which is indeed elegant.

Moreover, many vertically folding mobile phones are very stylish and exquisite. I see many young ladies simply hang a chain on it and stick various cute stickers on it, treating it as a fashion item. You know what, it really looks good.

In addition, thanks to the vertically folding mobile phone hinge that supports multi-angle hovering and the existence of an external screen, to take photos and record videos we just need to fold the phone outwards and then put it on the table or on the ground, which is quite convenient.

And we can see the real-time view through the external screen.

It can even be used for handheld filming like a DV, which is very interesting. It is also convenient to use the external screen to perform simple operations such as checking the time, notifications, or displaying a payment code.

Of course, if you want, you can also keep a cyber pet or play a cyber wooden fish on the external screen.

As for horizontal folding phones...

The reason why many people buy horizontal folding phones is more practical. They are attracted by the inner screen that can be used as a tablet when unfolded. When the horizontal folding phone is closed, it is a candy bar phone, and when unfolded, it can immediately become a tablet.

The benefits of having a larger screen on your phone are obvious. Whether you are browsing Weibo, reading novels, watching movies, or processing documents, a larger screen is always more enjoyable.

And it also supports us to open multiple applications at the same time and display them in split screen.

Like playing games while reading guides, chatting with my girlfriend while watching TikTok, slacking off while attending meetings. It feels so good that my colleagues are crying with envy, and my boss praises me for my efficiency.

In addition, ordering takeout and opening Ele.me and Meituan takeout at the same time to compare prices, and showing two payment codes at the same time when paying, are also common operations on the folding screen.

You can even get a 3ds or ps2 emulator to relive some retro memories.

In short, foldable screen phones are not foldable just for the sake of folding.

Vertically folding mobile phones are folded to achieve a smaller body size for easy carrying; horizontally folding mobile phones are folded to fit a larger screen. At the same time, mobile phones that support folding also bring us some new experiences.

According to the illustrations, in a questionnaire poll of thousands of people on "Why choose a foldable screen mobile phone" (multiple choices), we can see that users are generally more willing to pay for "fashion" and "practicality".

This just corresponds to the usage scenarios of the two folding screen mobile phones: horizontal folding and vertical folding.

In addition, JD.com data shows that more than 50% of foldable screen users are young users under the age of 35. In 2022, the number of female users of small foldables increased by more than 200%. It seems that when it comes to "trying new things", our young people are still the first to do so.

Seeing this, I believe that the biggest doubt in many people’s minds should only be left——

I heard that foldable screen phones have insufficient performance and are very heavy. Is this true?

It is undeniable that the first generation of folding screens, especially horizontally folding phones, generally weigh about 300g. Holding it in the hand is quite a test of arm strength, and it is a bit difficult to hold it without strong arms.

But now things have changed.

You can see examples like Huawei Mate X3, Honor Magic V2, and Xiaomi’s newly released MIX Fold 3.

They all try to make the phone as light and thin as possible while taking into account the screen, performance, battery life and imaging, without requiring us to sacrifice too much in terms of experience.

Among them, the Honor Magic V2 weighs only 231g, which is 9g lighter than the iPhone 14 Pro Max. The Huawei Mate X3 weighs 239g. The weight of other folding screen mobile phones has also been greatly reduced:

And in terms of hardware configuration.

Huawei Mate X3 has a 5x periscope telephoto lens. Both Honor and Xiaomi are equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 Leading Edition. The latter also has a Leica optical quad-camera. It can be said that it has both performance and images.

At the press conference, Lei Jun even directly threw out the slogan "No shortcomings in high-end products".

Having said that, we all know that from a very early stage, smartphones have become increasingly homogenized, and later on they have even returned to a competition based on hardware, performance, charging, and imaging.

Of course, I am not saying that the manufacturers are doing something wrong, but there are indeed fewer and fewer things on mobile phones that are eye-catching.

It cannot be said that the candy-bar phone has reached a bottleneck today. It is an indisputable fact that it has reached an extremely mature state in terms of software and hardware. The emergence of foldable-screen mobile phones can be said to have brought us a long-lost sense of freshness.

If previous foldable screen mobile phones still have problems such as being easy to break, not durable, heavy and thick, etc.

With the continuous development and iteration of technology in recent years and the unremitting efforts of major mobile phone manufacturers, we no longer need to worry about issues such as reliability, performance, and weight.

If you need portability, a large screen, or even want it as a gift, and have enough budget, you can definitely try buying it.

Then there is only one last question left -

There are so many foldable phones on the market, how should I choose?

Let me also talk about my personal purchasing recommendations here.

Now, all vertical folding mobile phones are without exception moving towards being small and light. Except for Huawei's vertical folding mobile phone, which was launched earlier, the outer screen is still a very small window:

Other vertical folding phones such as Samsung, vivo, moto, and OPPO all have a larger external screen:

The external screen is still very practical for vertically folding mobile phones. You can complete some high-frequency operations without flipping open the phone. When choosing, you can give priority to a larger external screen.

At the same time, due to the limited body space, the batteries of vertically folding mobile phones are generally small. If you care about battery life, you can choose a battery with a large capacity or a high fast charging power.

The focus of horizontally folding mobile phones is a little different. Some are designed to be extremely light and thin; some are designed to provide the ultimate experience; and some are designed to be balanced. It depends on which aspect you focus on.

Self-evaluation