If I go 5 years ago and tell you that foldable phones will be the future in the market, then maybe many people would have agreed with me.
Because foldable phones were a futuristic concept 5 years ago. That is, one mobile phone can be opened in two parts.
This thing seemed very amazing.
But in today's cinema, it doesn't seem like such a cool factor.
However, I would like to tell you one thing. If we come 5 years later and if I see in 2025, then if we look at foldable phones, they could never penetrate as they could.
That is, everyone will have a foldable phone. Everyone will have a foldable phone in the future.
And if people get foldable phones at a cheap price, then people will use it.
Some will use flip, some will use fold. But to tell you the truth, in today's market, they have a market share of less than 2% in the whole world.
You come around 1.5%. Along with this, if we leave India, then China is the biggest market for foldable phones.
But it has never penetrated in the entire western market. People are going after regular phones in the western side.
Normal foldable phones have never become mainstream. Along with this, foldable phones are really popular in China. Every Chinese company is making foldable phones here.
And if we look here, there is also a tri-folding phone of a company like Huawei, which people really like.
That is, in India or China, such crazy things happen here. But still, foldable phones have never become a mainstream product.
Now let me tell you a little story behind it. Look, until 2019, new experiments and new things were happening in mobile phones.
Now, one of the craziest experiments was, which company will bring the foldable phone first? Although the technology of making foldable phones was showcased in 2014, but until 2019, no one could develop it practically.
And they couldn't produce it on a mass scale. Here Samsung comes and makes its foldable phone, which pioneered foldable technology. But along with this, some Chinese manufacturers also showcase their foldable phones.
Foldable Phones
The world's first publicly available foldable phone was Royal Flex Pie. This was the first phone to showcase foldable technology.
When Samsung's fold was released, the next best phone was showcased by a company like Huawei. That is, every company was doing its R&D, and developing its new technologies.
This is where the game starts. Foldable phones start getting better from here, and you get to see new things.
Look, let me explain to you in simple language, why does every company go after foldable phones?
Look, what happened is that when the technology of foldable phones was slowly developing, all the supply chains, suppliers, they all developed according to foldable phones.
In the last 3-4 years, every supplier got a proper tag on how they can sell their foldable technology to a company.
Whether it's a foldable display, hinge, or a full mechanism.
All these things were very well prepared by Chinese manufacturers.
We are seeing an implementation of this today, that every other Chinese company has a foldable phone. Have you ever thought of a TECNO phone, or an INFINIX foldable phone?
All these things exist today, because the supplier has the material ready, and they want to sell it to companies, so that they can make foldable phones too.
And all the tech companies, they understood one thing here, that a foldable phone can create an entry in the premium market for them.
Because the problem with every Chinese company is that their brand perception is low in the market.
First of all, they are Chinese, and on top of that, they launched cheap phones. If someone wants to launch a cheap phone, no one will buy it. So people use this kind of technology just to show off their cheapness.
And they launch their foldable phones. It's like the teeth of an elephant, like the teeth of food and display. So the teeth of food, are of Rs 10,000, 15,000, 20,000. But the teeth of display are foldable.
Think about it, how many people will buy an INFINIX foldable phone, or a TECNO phone? Even VIVO was able to sell its foldable phone for less than Rs 10,000.
This whole perception is created that we can also create a product that Apple could not do. Before that, we created it here.
So that their word of mouth changes in the market, and the perception of people starts changing slowly. And even if it happens in the long term, companies want to establish themselves in the premium market.
Because the budget phone market is slowly decreasing, and the average selling price in India is also increasing rapidly. If we talk about this, most companies are making foldable phones because of their ego.
Making a foldable phone is not a profitable thing for them. It is being made only because these people can make it, and if the other company is making it, how can we be behind?
But if you come to the consumer side, then the problems increase. See, foldable phones are a little delicate, you have to handle it a little. There are still concerns about durability in the market.
With this, I can tell you that Huawei's tri-folding phone was launched in China and kept China exclusive.
Because in that phone, it cannot be taken to a global level. Because if there is a problem in China, they will easily control it.
I have read such reports that people's tri-folding phones are breaking, there are durability issues, there is a problem in the display, there is a problem in the hinge, all these things are going on here.
Basically, technology is ready, but it has not matured much yet, and it is being tested in the Chinese market.
And in the Chinese market, people buy this type of product, where Samsung is dealing with the corporate. Samsung's foldable phone is very rare among normal consumers.
Even I can tell you one thing, flip phones have become a little popular, but they are still not that mainstream. See, the company has taken out its phone, the supplier is ready here.
But in the end, it is in the hands of the consumer. Until the phone is in people's hands, until the public does not accept it, until the mainstream audience does not accept it, that thing cannot be successful. And this is the problem.
Why don't you buy a foldable phone? First of all, the price is very high. Secondly, there are some compromises.
Many people think that there will be a problem in the hinge, it will be opened again and again, there may be a problem, it may be broken, it may be delicate.
This is a very big perception. On top of that, the cost of repairability will increase and they think that I do not like such crazy things in today's time.
I will buy a small thing, I will buy a simple phone, I will drive it for a long time, and on this type of crazy innovation, those people who are youngsters and who can use the latest things go here and in the coming time take their foldable phones here. And you are seeing a trend of this in the whole market.
How quickly things change in the market and you get to see a shift in different trends.
Look, I am telling you simply. Foldable phones came, their compromises also remained with them and in the coming time, maybe the compromise will be reduced and it will be better and durable as technology will evolve more.
And suppliers have made it in this way and if the supply chain is ready, they can take it a little cheaper. But in the end, things are in the hands of the consumer.
No one was able to give competition in the western market. 5 years is a lot of time. When the iPhone came in 2007, by 2012, the wave of Android phones had come.
That revolution could not create this look. In the future, you can see that foldable phones will never be the future.
Even I can tell you one thing, they are reducing the production of Fold 7 and increasing the production of S25 series.
Because they also know that if S25 is sold more, Fold 7, Flip 7 will not be sold so much. This is also a perception they have understood here. Along with this, the adoption of foldable in the western market should have never happened. And on top of that, the major market has remained up to China.
Because of this, there is a lot of movement in China. There will be limited sales in India as well.
I can also tell you that even today people are afraid that companies keep trying things like screen replacement, extra warranty, etc.
So that they can sell more and more foldables. But the truth is that the mainstream adoption of foldable has never happened. Like it was predicted at one time that it will totally revolutionize the industry. Even today, it has remained a niche product.
It caters to the niche market. And those who like foldable, only those people go after foldable.
So friends, this is the story of foldable here.
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