Foldable smartphones may not go mainstream for another few years
Samsung Galaxy Fold
Pretty much just like this time last year, most major smartphone vendors are expected to tackle the fledgling foldable segment at some point in the not-so-distant future. But even more so than back in early 2019 or late 2018, durability concerns are greatly impacting the market’s short to mid-term growth prospects.
On the bright side, independent research and consulting firms like Strategy Analytics continue to believe the problems currently plaguing the production and negatively affecting the mainstream appeal of foldable handsets “will be solved in the long-term.”
As such, the market is forecasted to jump from a microscopic sub-1 million unit shipment total last year to a still far from impressive 8 million units in 2020, then all the way up to 100 million five years down the line. Of course, it’s essentially impossible to anticipate the trends and fluctuations of an industry as fickle and as unpredictable as mobile technology, but even if that number might not end up being completely accurate in 2025, the general expectation is that foldables will prove the “fastest-growing segment of the premium smartphone market for the next decade.”
