Foldable smartphone shipments expected to grow (but I still don’t think we’ll see an “iPhone Fold”)

Global foldable smartphone shipments are expected to grow 52% year-over-year in fiscal year 2023 to reach 22.7 million units, according to Counterpoint Research’s Global Foldable Smartphone Market Forecast, Q3 2022 report. However, I still don’t think we’ll see an “iPhone Fold.”

For fiscal year2022, analysts at Counterpoint Research forecast that global foldable shipments will amount to 14.9 million units. Cumulative shipments in quarters 1-3 in 2022 grew 90% year-over-year to 9.5 million units, according to the recent Global Foldable Smartphone Market Tracker, Q3 2022. However, global foldable smartphone .shipment growth is set to decline in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to global inflation and the economic downturn, according to Counterpoint.

I think foldable smartphones are a gimmick that will pass. What’s more, as noted by Screenrant, foldable screens are difficult to produce and the hinges are prone to failure, as demonstrated by such high-profile manufacturers as Samsung and Motorola that struggled and failed on their first attempts. 

That said, Apple has filed for, or been issued, several patents for foldable smartphones and tablets. For example, one patent granted in 2019 was for a “foldable cover and display for an electronic device” configured to be moved between a folded configuration and an unfolded configuration by bending the cover layer along the foldable region.