Abstract:
According to the Wall Street Journal, demand for some foldable screen phones is surging in China, even before the launch of Apple's new foldable screen iPhone Duo. This shows that
If Apple can overcome competition from Chinese brands, it will have the opportunity to expand into this market that has always been a niche category.
Apple's Beijing store is promoting iPhone Duo
Winning the Chinese market is crucial to Apple's performance. According to data from research organization Counterpoint Research, China accounts for more than one-third of global folding screen mobile phone sales and is the world's largest single folding screen mobile phone market.
Currently, Huawei is in a leading position in the Chinese market, both in the field of folding screen mobile phones and in the entire smartphone market. Huawei launched its first foldable screen smartphone in 2019. Other Chinese brands, including Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO and Honor, have been selling foldable phones for many years.
Huawei said that within four days after Apple released its first foldable screen iPhone Duo in September, sales of Pura X Max, which is similar in size to Duo, increased by approximately 77% compared with the same period the previous week. Huawei said it has sold more than 1.4 million Pura X Max units since its launch in April.
Huawei Pura X Max
Xiaomi representatives said that after its release in early September, Xiaomi Mi 18 Fold set a record for the company’s first-week sales of folding screen mobile phones. Xiaomi 18 Fold is another passport-sized foldable screen phone.
Huawei Consumer Business Chairman Yu Chengdong said that the company has invested heavily to achieve breakthroughs in screen reliability and camera quality of folding screen mobile phones.
“I know how hard-won these achievements are, which is why we are the leader in this industry.” Yu Chengdong said.
According to data from Counterpoint, foldable screen mobile phones are still a relatively niche product, accounting for about 4% of smartphone sales in China and about 2% globally. Foldable phones can be more fragile, and it's more difficult to put a great set of cameras on a foldable phone.
Challenge Huawei
Despite this, major brands still hope to attract high-end consumers with foldable screen phones. The starting price of Huawei Pura X Max is equivalent to more than 1,600 US dollars. Huawei has also been selling trifold phones, which unfold twice like a brochure. Huawei's second-generation tri-folding phone Mate XT2 was released in early September, with a starting price of nearly US$3,000.
In comparison, the iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the United States and 15,999 yuan in China, which is approximately $2,400. Apple said that consumers in the United States, China and many other countries can pre-order iPhone Duo starting on October 16, with the iPhone Duo officially going on sale a week later.
Users of foldable screen mobile phones often use such devices for mobile work. The larger screen helps with multitasking and document viewing.
Wang Rui (transliteration), an 18-year-old college student in Beijing, said that he is considering buying Mate XT2 and has gone to Huawei's flagship store in Beijing to experience the phone. He also went to the Apple store across the street hoping to try out the Duo, but the phone wasn't on display at the time. He said that he had previously used folding screen mobile phones produced by OPPO and vivo.
"I like cutting-edge technology," Wang Rui said while calling up stock market data on the 10.2-inch screen of Mate XT2. "So far, Apple has not reached this level."
Customers are experiencing Huawei Mate XT2
Although Apple entered the market late, Counterpoint predicts that the company will sell as many as 6 million folding screen iPhones this year and occupy a quarter of the global folding screen mobile phone market. The company predicts that Apple will surpass Huawei's 22% global market share.
Counterpoint said that Samsung, the pioneer of folding screen mobile phones, has a small business scale in China and is expected to maintain its leading position in the field of folding screen mobile phones with a global share of 38%.
Huawei is effectively banned from selling its products in the United States.
The company has been banned from using American technology since 2019. Huawei has overcome these U.S. obstacles by developing its own chips and operating systems, and its latest generation of smartphones, the Mate 90 series, launched on Thursday, use technology that stacks circuits within a single chip to boost computing power without access to cutting-edge equipment.A global shortage of memory chips has pushed up smartphone prices. Sun Lei (transliteration), a 50-year-old Huawei user, said that he intends to buy the Mate XT2 three-fold mobile phone: "The only thing that makes me hesitate now is the price."
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