This key feature will drive global foldable smartphones shipments to 18.5 million in 2023 – Times of India

Foldable smartphones will see an uptick in global shipments to climb from around 12.8 million units in 2022 to around 18.5 million units in 2023, as per a new report. The increase is attributed to the advances in the hinge design of foldable smartphones.
As per TrendForce‘s latest report on the market for OLED displays, hinges – among other key components for a foldable smartphone – play a critical role in determining the cost of the whole device. It says that the quality of hinges will directly affect consumers’ willingness to purchase a foldable smartphone.
“In a foldable smartphone, hinges are responsible for the durability or flex life of the foldable display, the visibility of the fold crease on the display, the feel of flipping the device, and many other functions that are vital to user experience. With the penetration rate of foldable models rising in the smartphone market, the value of the global market for hinges used in foldable OLED smartphones will rise by 14.6% YoY to above the level of $500 million for 2023,” the TrendForce report said.

Currently, there are two main categories of hinge designs: teardrop-shaped and U-shaped. The teardrop-shaped hinge has several complex parts and costs “several times higher” than U-shaped ones.
U-shaped hinge has majority market share
Advances in hinge design is said to be instrumental in driving the sales of foldable smartphones and smartphones with U-shaped hinge are in a majority. Samsung, which relies on U-shaped hinges, had the largest market share of 82% in 2022. The report said that the South Korean company will diversify its hinge suppliers in order to further cut costs.

The report claims that even though consumers care about creases that come after folding a smartphone, Samsung is concentrating more on simplifying the hinge design, which includes cutting down the number of parts. The major issue regarding foldable phones is the inability of the phone to fully close and body thickness.
“TrendForce believes that Samsung will continue to work on U-shaped hinges because it wants to lower costs while maintaining a healthy profit margin for its foldable smartphones. With this approach, Samsung can make foldable models more popular and capture a large slice of market share for this type of product in the low-end segment,” the report said.