According to DSCC, the foldable smartphone display market has declined for the first time in Q3 2024, and the company sees the market entering a flat state in 2024 and 2025. The market has grown fast (at least 40% per year) since 2019, but according to DSCC it will grow only 5% in 2025 and will decline by 4% in 2025. Demand will remain stable at around 22 million units per year.
DSCC says that Samsung is seeing slower than expected demand for its Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphone, around 10% lower than the Z Flip 5 released in 2023. Almost all of Samsung's demand is in the Korean and Europrean markets. Huawei has also placed lower than expected orders for foldable OLEDs for the second half of 2024, due to the late introduction of the Mate X6 and Pocket 3 devices compared to the 2023 launch dates. The demand for its tri-foldable Mate XT is lower than expected as well.
It appears that beyond Samsung and Huawei, there aren't any meaningful large brands that promote foldable smartphones. The two companies have a market share of 70%, and DSCC sees it actually increasing in 2025, as Chinese phone makers are expected to scale back their foldable smartphone involvement.
In the long term, however, DSCC is optimistic, as it expects Apple to release its first foldable smartphone towards the end of 2026, and it also expects more multi-fold devices appearing in 2026, in addition to the world's first slidable (rollable) laptop in 2025. DSCC expects the market to grow 30% in 2026 and grow 20% more in 2027 and in 2028.
