Honor folding screen smartphones are gaining momentum. If they continue like this, they might just ‘crush Huawei’.

Honor's Folding Screen Smartphones Gain Momentum- Could They Ultimately Overtake Huawei?

[Mobile China] It is said that the market share of Honor foldable phones is increasing, and it even helped Honor take the first place in the Chinese smartphone market in the third quarter of 2023.

Honor V Purse

On November 8th, a digital blogger posted on Weibo, saying: Yaohuizi has really taken down the share of foldable screens. Later on, they will release a small foldable with Snapdragon high-performance platform, just like Huawei’s small fold + outward fold + large fold” layout, and they are also working on satellite communication and variable aperture technology in straight-board machines.

According to the data report released by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the foldable phone market in China continued to grow rapidly in the third quarter of 2023. Shipments reached 1.96 million units, a year-on-year growth of 90.4%, showing strong market potential. Among them, Honor Magic V2, with its strong product power, far outperformed all other foldable screen products in the quarter.

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In addition, according to reports by market research institutions such as IDC, Counterpoint, and Canalys, Honor ranked first in the Chinese smartphone market in the third quarter of 2023. This is thanks to Honor’s continuous efforts in the foldable screen field.

In fact, Honor was not one of the first manufacturers to launch foldable screen products. As early as 2018, Chinese technology company Royole released the world’s first foldable screen phone. Following that, tech giants such as Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola followed suit, further promoting the mass production of foldable screen phones.

Global development history of foldable screens

When foldable screen phones first appeared, they were expensive due to the difficulty and high cost of the technology. The initial foldable phones from Samsung and Huawei were priced at over 15,000 yuan each (Huawei Mate X priced at 16,999 yuan, Samsung Galaxy Fold priced at 15,999 yuan).

It wasn’t until 2022, when Honor became independent, that they released their first foldable phone, the Honor Magic V. This phone is equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, with a thickness of 14.3mm when folded and 6.7mm when unfolded, weighing 288g (the glass back cover is 293g). The inner screen has also received IMAX Enhanced certification, making it the first foldable screen phone in the industry to receive that certification. The phone sold quickly after its release and was sought after by many consumers.

Honor Magic V

In terms of time, Honor actually entered the foldable screen phone market not too early, you could even say it was a bit late. But hey, good food doesn’t mind being late!

Counterpoint predicts that the global foldable screen phone market will grow by 52% to reach 22.7 million units in 2023. Honor aims at the opportunity window of switching tracks and invests heavily in foldable screens as its main track. In the second half of 2023, Honor released three models of foldable screen phones, each with a different positioning. This completes the strategic layout of foldable screens for all demographics and market segments.

Shipment and growth rate of foldable screen phones in China from Q3 2022 to Q3 2023

In July 2023, the Honor Magic V2 was released, bringing eight major advancements and being the thinnest foldable screen flagship at the time. The thickness of the Magic V2 series in the closed state is only 9.9mm, and it weighs as little as 231g. For the first time, a foldable screen phone is thinner than a straight screen, leading the foldable screen into the millimeter era.

Honor Magic V2

On the evening of September 19, 2023, Honor released the V Purse, a foldable screen phone that perfectly combines technology and fashion. The device adopts a unique folding wallet design, making full use of the advantages of an outward folding screen phone, and endowing the Honor V Purse digital bag with fashion attributes. At the same time, on the Honor V Purse, the company has used a large number of new accessories and materials, including self-developed Honor silk structure, butterfly wing hinges, self-developed shield construction steel, micro-carving concave-convex wheels, etc., making the Honor V Purse refresh the industry record with a lighter and thinner outward folding form, becoming one of the lightest and thinnest foldable screen phones in the world.

The Honor V Purse gives foldable screens a new way to express fashion, with a starting price of only 5,999 yuan.

Honor V Purse

On October 12, 2023, Honor introduced the new foldable screen phone Magic Vs2. The Magic Vs2 further improves its slimness by using aerospace-grade ultra-light rare earth magnesium alloy, reducing the material density by 33%, and the weight of the whole device is only 229g. It also features a 5000mAh large battery, delivering impressive battery life.

The Honor Magic Vs2 uses the first generation Snapdragon 8+ mobile platform, with a price of 6,999 yuan, further lowering the threshold for foldable screen phones, helping to make foldable screens go “from cutting-edge to mainstream” and sparking a wave of foldable screen popularity.

Honor Magic Vs2

IDC believes that thinness is currently the key factor affecting users’ purchase of foldable screen phones, and has become the first technological force of foldable screen phones. It solves the pain point of foldable screen phones being “thick and expensive”, and Honor has successfully increased the appeal of foldable screens for traditional flat-screen phone users.

With its advantages in slimness, battery life, and screen quality, as well as continuous innovation in technology, Honor’s foldable screen phones have gained wide recognition among consumers. According to statistics from iResearch Center, in July-August 2023, the Honor Magic V2 ranked first with a 31.3% growth rate among existing users, far exceeding the overall growth rate of the foldable screen market during the same period. Honor CEO Zhao Ming revealed that within two months of the Honor Magic V2 going on sale, the number of Apple users switching to Honor was three times that of the same period for the Honor Vs, an increase of up to 300%. Honor Magic V2 is leading the “big foldable” smartphone market this year.

At the same time, Honor’s strong performance over the past three months has also allowed it to reach an unprecedented market share in China.

Currently, the most scarce product in Honor’s foldable screen lineup is a small foldable phone. As we mentioned earlier, Honor is already preparing to launch a small foldable screen phone, “later releasing a high-performance small foldable screen with Snapdragon”.

Honor will soon launch a small foldable phone

However, according to leaks, Honor’s small foldable phone will not be released so soon; it will be released “next year”. According to a digital blogger’s leak, Honor’s new small foldable phone has excellent performance, appearance, and texture, and most importantly, it will not be too expensive.

With the addition of the small foldable phone, Honor’s foldable screen lineup will become more clear, and the four main categories of foldable screens will be established. These are Honor Small Foldable, Honor V Purse (outward foldable), Honor Magic V series (high-end inward foldable), and Honor Magic Vs series (high cost-effective inward foldable).

These four series of products are constantly evolving and optimizing, and in the future, Honor could become one of the leaders in the foldable screen field.

Of course, behind the rapid growth of Honor’s foldable screen market share is continuous research and development investment and continuous innovation in technology. It is understood that Honor has been constantly conducting forward-looking research, allocating 10% of its revenue each year for technology research. The research and development cost of a product alone can reach billions of dollars. This has led to significant progress for Honor in areas such as materials, processes, and batteries, speeding up the widespread adoption of foldable screens.

Zhao Ming said in an interview, “The concept of honor is very clear. The goal is to aim for advanced and innovative products. In the future, what we need to do is to make all foldable screens the industry leaders and the best in the market.” It is precisely this kind of relentless drive to create the best foldable screen smartphones that has allowed Honor to carve out a new territory in the current competitive market environment.

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