why you too might have one in your pocket

There Innovation in phones seems to have slowed down in recent years. Market consolidation indicated that these devices would become a commodity, that is, in a type of generic product in which the brand takes a back seat, as happened at the time with other electronic devices, such as refrigerators, televisions or DVD players. To avoid this, brands have embarked on the creation of more disruptive devices, and in this area the foldables stand out, which have been the subject of an in-depth analysis in EL ESPAÑOL – El Androide Libre.

The first mobiles with flexible screens appeared five years ago, and several companies currently offer such devices for sale. stand out Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Huawei or Motorola but above all Samsung. The Korean firm made it clear that for them this market segment is as important as the Note family was, the ones that introduced large screens to mobile phones, and bet accordingly.

Despite this bet, It’s still not common to see folding mobiles on the streets

The king of foldables

That doesn’t mean folding phones are a failure, far from it, because it shows that this division of Samsung has increased sales volume by 70%, both in Europe and worldwide, according to the company. Specifically, the South Korean firm claims to have sold a total of 16 million Z Flip and Z Fold mobile units, both case-type and book-type.

“Spanish users have trusted Samsung’s folding technology. The market is showing signs of maturity in the folding smartphone segment, stabilization in terms of growth, new players in the market and a greater weight in terms of sales volume,” said David Alonso, head of mobile experience business at Samsung Electronics Iberia, during a meeting with industry media.

Alonso also highlighted at the meeting how Samsung leads the market, where it currently has a share that exceeds 87% of the folding industry and highlighted the challenge of competition. “If the competition comes, we are on the right track. We are doing well. It is very good for the market and we are going to have a good time in this segment,” he explained.

Regarding the models, Sales of the Flip have greatly exceeded those of the Fold. And there are reasons to understand it. For starters, these are much cheaper models and can cost almost half of the folding book type ones. Also, many people prefer the comfort they provide to the Fold’s large interior screen. This means that in Europe during each Fold sold, 3 Flips were sold.

That is why there have been more rivals creating proposals that want to take on the Galaxy Z Flip than the Galaxy Z Fold, especially in European markets. In China, the competition is much greater, but there is more and more a division between the products that are offered for sale there and those that end up crossing the Spanish borders.

more competition

He Samsung’s success in countries like Europe has encouraged many brands to put their proposals up for sale Here too. The OPPO Find N2 Flip went through our analysis board, as well as some Motorola proposals. Companies such as Huawei are also looking to position themselves in the Android mobile market segment, which is the most prime.

In international markets competition is much greater, especially in China, where most of today’s international mobile phone brands were born. Companies such as Vivo, Huawei, OPPO or Xiaomi have one or more foldable models for sale in this country. This explains the 117% growth in sales of this type of device when in other markets the growth rose from 15% to 43%.

still a lot to say

After spending a year of using foldable cellphones continuously, it can be said that These terminals clearly have a purpose. They offer things that normal mobiles cannot. In the case of clamshell foldables, extreme portability without sacrificing a large screen and all the features already demanded in smartphones. In the case of book-type foldables, an experience close to tablets but with the comfort of being able to take them with you at all times.

There are still a lot of things to fix. such as an improvement in the already decent durability of these models, a greater price adjustment, especially if this type of smartphone is destined to be widely used, and greater involvement on the part of Google. The American firm already has its first foldable, the Pixel Fold, for sale, but it has not yet been released in Europe and other countries, partly because of its stratospheric price.

But the main obstacle for these mobiles to be perceived as a before and an after is the absence of differential applications in these mobiles. It’s a bit complicated, but it’s what made many users switch from small screen cell phones to large screen cell phones. This change was caused by the appearance of applications that made us want to see more things on the screen, to be able to see larger videos or to be able to use a stylus on these panels.

Little by little all this is improving and more and more consumers are considering turning to a model of this type. Even so, it is almost impossible that in the short to medium term we will see a massive adoption of foldingespecially for the price.

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