The foldable smartphone revenues are expected grow by 60 per cent in 2022 which will translate in ₹3,200 crore of revenues for the industry that will include Samsung and a few more OEMs expected to launch their foldable smartphones in 2022. In terms of sales volumes, the market is likely to cross 300,000 units in 2022, which will be close to 7 per cent of the luxe segment of smartphones.
In the present smartphone era, Samsung led the industry by unveiling a foldable smartphone which was followed by some more OEMs who showcased a prototype since. Motorola was another brand which also launched a Flip smartphone along with LG Wing which was a different flavour of a foldable smartphone. Oppo has also launched its first foldable smartphone, Find N, in the Chinese market.
Among the smartphone OEMs only Samsung has been able to establish itself as a technology leader through successful R&D and commercialisation of foldable form factor. With the result, the foldable smartphones have seen acceptability in the market resulting in uptake of its sales in 2021, when Samsung launched 3rd generation of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold as well as Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. Both the foldable smartphones have seen good response from the market, though foldable form factor sells more than the flip form factor.
For Samsung, foldable smartphone form factor is expected to fetch over ₹2,000 crore of revenues in calendar year 2021, which will be equal to around 5% of company’s revenues from the smartphone business. This will translate into 7 times growth in foldable smartphone revenues for the company comparing calendar year 2020.
The foldable smartphones offer unique proposition for users in the luxe segment, and going forward in premium and sub-premium segments, where the users can continue using the smartphones without any compromise on the pocketability (portability) of the smartphones as well as transform it for rich content consumption that includes videos, reading and gaming in some cases.
