Those who follow folding screen phones know that in 2018, Chinese manufacturer Royole (now bankrupt) launched the world's first folding screen phone.

Later, in 2019, Huawei and Samsung successively introduced folding screen phones, and the entire folding screen phone market entered a period of rapid development, fueled by Huawei and Samsung.

Data shows that from 2019 to 2023, in just four years, folding screen phones have gone from zero sales to annual sales of nearly 20 million units.

Meanwhile, under the influence of Huawei and Samsung, more and more smartphone manufacturers have joined the foldable phone market, including OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, Lenovo, etc. Almost all major phone manufacturers, except Apple, have entered this market.

At the same time, there are more and more variations of folding screen phones, including those that fold left and right (called large folds) and those that fold up and down (called small folds). There are even triple-folding screen phones, such as the Huawei Mate XT, and rumors of Samsung's rotating screens and four-fold screens.

There are even rumors that Apple will soon enter the foldable phone market, with many patents related to foldable screens being disclosed.

However, recently, some institutions have pointed out that folding screen phones are no longer selling well, and shipments in the third quarter of 2024 have already begun to decline.

According to data from the professional organization DSCC, the procurement volume of folding screen phone displays in the third quarter of 2024 decreased by 38% year-on-year.

It is expected that the next five quarters will continue to see a decline, meaning that procurement volumes will decrease in the fourth quarter of 2024 and throughout 2025.

DSCC believes that overall shipments of folding screens will decrease by about 4% in 2025, with no growth expected.

In fact, it is not surprising that folding screens are cooling down, as although they have been on the market for four to five years, sales have not been high. Annual sales of around 20 million units account for less than 2% of global smartphone sales, making them a true minority.

Secondly, folding screen phones are indeed too expensive. Large folding screens, which fold left and right, often cost around 10,000 yuan, with Samsung and Huawei models being even more expensive, exceeding 10,000 yuan. Small folding screens mostly range between 5,000 and 8,000 yuan.

However, the configurations of folding screen phones are not particularly high, with the main innovation lying in the foldable screen itself. The cost is also concentrated on the folding screen, and replacing a damaged screen can be more expensive than buying a straight-screen phone.

At the same time, with current screen technology, folding screen phones will inevitably have creases, which is unavoidable. Additionally, it is said that due to their complex hardware design, folding screen phones have a relatively higher probability of malfunction.

Therefore, folding screen phones are destined to be toys for a minority and are unlikely to truly become widespread and popular products. Many people choose not to continue purchasing folding screen phones after trying them, so it is difficult to say whether folding screen phones represent the future of mobile phones as a whole. We can only wait and see.