The global market for flexible smartphones will grow by 52% in 2023

According to Counterpoint Research experts, shipments of flexible smartphones in the global market will grow in the next fiscal year by 52%, to 22.7 million copies. This is reported in the Global Foldable Smartphone Market Forecast report. As for fiscal 2022, global shipments of flexible smartphones are expected to reach 14.9 million units.

It is known that cumulative deliveries in the I-III quarter of this year increased by 90% year-on-year to 9.5 million units. However, in the last quarter of 2022, supplies are expected to decline due to global inflation and the economic downturn.

Compared to the general smartphone market, the indicators of flexible models are insignificant, but in the context of the “ultra-premium” segment (from $1000), such gadgets begin to actively expand. In this category, already this year they captured a double-digit share in percentage terms, and in 2023 this share should exceed 20%.

Competition in the global flexible device market is expected to intensify in 2023 as more Chinese vendors enter the niche with their products, although Samsung will continue to lead the market. Honor, Motorola and Xiaomi are expected to enter the flexible device market outside of China. Meanwhile, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo will also present their own models. Due to such competition, prices for flexible devices should decrease - Samsung will expand the presence of such models in China, and Chinese manufacturers will actively explore the Western European market. In other words, China and Western Europe will become the epicenters of a fierce battle between manufacturers.