Foldable smartphone shipments surge 571% in Q1 2022
Foldable smartphones are getting more popular, despite having only one major player on the market – Samsung. The future outlook is bright as data from DSCC shows 571% Y/Y increase of shipments in Q1’22 to 2.22M units. This is the third best quarter to date for the rapidly growing category, although it was down 47% Q/Q from the record high of 4.2M units in Q4’21.
Samsung continued to dominate the category. It is interesting to point out though that its share fell to 74% as Huawei’s share rising to 20%. No other brand had more than a 2% share. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 led the market earning a 51% share. Galaxy Z Fold 3 remained #2 for the 3rd straight quarter, but was nearly overtaken by the Huawei P50 Pocket. Those three models accounted for a 91% share with no other model having more than a 2.5% share. Clamshell models like the Z Flip 3 and P50 Pocket accounted for a 70% share, its highest share since Q3’20.
Analysts expect that 2022 will be a challenging year for most display applications, foldable smartphones will see strong growth. They expect a 107% increase in foldable smartphone shipments to over 16M units with 102% increase in foldable smartphone panel shipments to over 20M. Driving the growth will be Samsung’s ambitious plans for its upcoming Z Flip4 and Z Fold4.
