Why did the folding screen mobile phone become popular?
Our reporter Huang Xin
Recently, the folding screen mobile phone has fired.
A series of new products were released intensively, and the price dropped to less than 10,000 yuan.
On December 15, 2021, OPPO launched Find N, its first folding screen mobile phone, with a price starting at RMB 7,699.
On December 23, Huawei released the folding screen mobile phone P50 treasure box, priced at 8988 yuan, completing the dual-line layout of the Mate and P series folding screen mobile phones.
In the current mature smart phone market, folding screen mobile phones are a good marketing hotspot, breaking the state of "one thousand phones on one side".
Are folding screen phones really "sweet"?
Is it worth buying right now?
With these questions, the Economic Daily reporter interviewed relevant experts.
Gathering of mainstream brands
At the end of 2021, folding screen mobile phones ushered in another warming, and mainstream mobile phone brands almost gathered on this new track.
In addition to Samsung, Huawei and other brands that have already entered the market, as well as the latest OPPO, Xiaomi also released the folding screen mobile phone MIX Flod in March 2021.
In addition, it is certain that vivo and glory will soon launch their first folding screen mobile phones.
According to Liu Xu, general manager of CCID Consulting's Digital Economy Industry Research Center, from the perspective of the market share of folding screen mobile phones, Huawei currently occupies nearly 70% of the domestic market, followed by Samsung and Xiaomi; in the international market, it is expected to be 2021 Samsung's market share will still be around 80% in 2015, firmly occupying the leading position in the global market.
Why did the folding screen mobile phone suddenly become popular?
"This is a new concept introduced after the development of smartphones encounters product bottlenecks." iiMedia Consulting Group CEO Zhang Yi said frankly.
Liu Xu believes that, from the perspective of the market, the iterative pace of the smart phone market is accelerating, but the rapid progress of technology takes time, and mobile phone manufacturers are eager to pursue highly differentiated designs.
Bringing out products that are advanced and accepted by users has become an important factor for mobile phone manufacturers to lead the future.
Like the full screen of the year, the folding screen comes with "flow", which is a very good marketing point at this stage.
From the perspective of mobile phone manufacturers, major mobile phone brands are now pursuing high-end.
In order to break through the price range, the previous competition was chip, camera function, screen size and refresh rate, but now in addition to high-end chips, other technologies have been popularized on low-end models, and it is difficult to support the improvement of mobile phone brands.
As a result, folding screen technology has become an important means for mobile phone brands to "show their muscles", and the high price of folding screen phones has also become synonymous with "high-end".
From the perspective of user needs, users of electronic consumer products have been pursuing to enjoy more functions through a smaller volume, especially in the face of large-screen applications such as videos and games. The user's demand for screen size is endless.
The introduction of folding screen mobile phones meets this demand, or will become the direction of the evolution of smart phones.
"Major mobile phone manufacturers focus on folding screens, and the underlying reason is the development trend of mobile phones themselves." Wang Bin, senior analyst at Zhongcheng Think Tank, said that mobile phones are moving towards the trend of non-porous integration, and "folding screens" This product form is an attempt by mobile phone manufacturers to break through the restrictions on the appearance and functions of mobile phones.
Under the folding screen, the functions of the mobile phone are enlarged, and there are more abundant application scenarios.
What's new in the new folding screen
In fact, it is not the first time that folding screen phones have become popular.
On February 21, 2019, Samsung launched the world's first mass-produced GALAXY Fold folding screen mobile phone.
Immediately afterwards, Huawei also released its first folding screen mobile phone.
For a time, mobile phone giants have expressed that they are stepping up the layout of folding screen mobile phones.
But at that time, many experts believed that the domestic "flexible screen" production technology was not yet mature.
Today, folding screen mobile phones still face two major bottlenecks, namely screen material and hinge technology. The pain points reported by users are mainly concentrated on screen creases, display failures, folds, etc., which are also important for the current niche mobile phones with folding screens. reason.
"The re-heating of folding screen mobile phones has a lot to do with the progress of the supply chain and technology. At present, these two major bottlenecks have been broken through." Liu Xu analyzed the newly released OPPO Find N mobile phone as an example. In terms of hinges, it adopts It is a self-developed Seiko pseudo-vertical hinge, which can hover in multiple angles while achieving fit, basically achieving a seamless hidden folding effect; in terms of screen material, it adopts a new 12-layer composite structure and Compared with traditional folding screens, UTG ultra-thin flexible glass has stronger puncture resistance and enhanced durability.
At the same time, in terms of software, the degree of software adaptation of folding screen phones of major brands has also been significantly improved in the past two years, and interactive operations and multitasking have been achieved.
In terms of software adaptation, Huawei is even more prominent. In addition to the innovation of the folding form, the newly released P50 treasure box, the first vertical folding screen mobile phone, is a highlight of the matching Hongmeng system.
The reporter saw during the live show that in the mobile phone interface, the mobile phone icon is located in the center, and other Hongmeng ecological devices are floating around. Just press and hold the device icon and gently pull the mobile phone icon to successfully connect, which is greatly improved. The convenience of multi-device interconnection experience is improved.
"Compared with the initial stage, today's folding screen mobile phone technology has made a big breakthrough. The existing folding screen mobile phone hinge adopts multi-angle hovering and folding technology, which can be flexibly opened and closed. Its magnetic support system allows the device to be It also ensures safety when fully folded; the main materials of the flexible screen, from abrasion resistance, heat resistance to light transmission, are a qualitative leap over the previous generation, which can improve the reliability of the screen while also bringing better display effects. "Wang Bin said.
Main gift market
Folding screen phones are so fragrant, is it time to start?
Experts suggest to wait.
"The product maturity of folding screen mobile phones has yet to be improved, and the price is still high. Whether it is a definite direction for smartphone product upgrades has yet to be explored. Our research data shows that the current main market for folding screen mobile phones is the gift market." Zhang Yi said.
Liu Xu believes that it may take another two years for folding screen mobile phone products to mature.
From the perspective of market competition, mainstream mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple and vivo have not yet entered the game. Manufacturers such as Xiaomi and OPPO still have a small market share. The two mainstream manufacturers of Samsung and Huawei are still improving their technology and craftsmanship to overcome users. Experience the pain points.
This is obviously not the market shape that a mature product should have.
At the same time, the price of folding screen mobile phones launched by mainstream mobile phone manufacturers is still around 8,000 yuan or even higher, and there is still room for the price to be closer to the people.
When will the price of folding screen phones be reduced?
Experts believe that as more mobile phone manufacturers join and promote the market for folding screen mobile phones to become more active, the price of folding screen mobile phones will be further reduced.
On the whole, when the future products are mature and consumers have more diversified choices, it is the best time to start.
Liu Xu said that according to the current pricing gear of folding screen mobile phones and the market law of electronic products, price reduction is inevitable, but it will not be fast. It is expected that next year, folding screen mobile phones will be dominated by the high-end market.
At present, the scale of mass production of folding screen mobile phones is not enough, the technology is still being explored, and it will take one to two years.
With the gradual release of flexible screen production capacity, continued cost reduction, and the continuous maturity of technology, the price of folding screen mobile phones will usher in a significant drop. It is recommended that ordinary consumers without special needs do not start at that time.
The overall market size of folding screen mobile phones will not be too large.
Liu Xu analyzed that the global folding screen mobile phone market is expected to reach 8 to 9 million units in 2021.
With the entry of more powerful manufacturers such as Apple, the maturity of the supply chain, and the explosion of demand, the market size of folding screen mobile phones is expected to sprint to 30 million units by 2023.
Although compared with the volume of the entire mobile phone market, the folding screen market is very small, but under the leadership of Samsung, Huawei and other brands, the folding screen mobile phone market has completed consumer cultivation, and more and more people are beginning to accept and even pursue this product.
"The domestic market for folding screen mobile phones is expected to have only a million orders of magnitude demand, because folding screen phones are essentially the exploration and experimentation of mobile phone manufacturers, and low-frequency usage requirements are exchanged for breakthroughs in product form. Although folding screens have certain defects, manufacturers The technology we have accumulated in this product form will not be lost with it, and will definitely become an important part of various electronic product forms in the future." Wang Bin said.
Huang Xin