Major smartphone brand suspends foldable phone launch plans for 2025: report | Tech Tips

The foldable market might soon lose a major smartphone brand as it looks to pause the foldable category, according to reports coming from China. The name of the brand has not been revealed at the moment but it looks like the company has halted next year’s foldable product launch plans. Foldables have been a relatively niche product and are usually on the expensive side compared to regular models.

A noted smartphone brand might pull from foldable market

• The company is replanning the foldable product category internally, as per a report from Chinese publication 163.com.
• The report says that Samsung and Huawei are the only ones making profits in the foldable segment, while other brands are still in the testing stage.
• The Xiaomi MIX Flip, which was launched in July alongside Mix Fold 4, has done relatively well but fell short of the target.
• While it was projected to ship around 500,000 units in its complete lifecycle, the phone could only reach 460,000, as per the report citing supply chain news. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 reportedly couldn’t reach 100,000 units.

• OPPO and Vivo were earlier rumoured to have delayed the development of the small foldable phone but will continue to support large foldable phones to maintain the high-end product lines.
• While we are starting to hear news about the OPPO Find N5 and Vivo X Fold 4, there’s no clarity on the ‘Flip’ branded foldables at the moment.
• Tecno and Infinix recently launched their new foldables: the Tecno Phantom V Fold 2, Phantom V Flip 2 and Infinix Zero Flip. Tecno last month teased to bring the Phantom V Fold 2 to India soon.
• So, it isn’t entirely clear if they would pull out entirely from the foldable category right after the launch.

The identity of the brand can’t be said for certain at the moment but the foldable segment in China as a whole seems to be going through a rough patch in getting desired results.

Lastly, the report citing IDC’s latest quarterly tracking report notes that China’s foldable phone shipments reached 2.23 million in Q3 2024, which is just a 13.6 percent growth YoY. This is said to be a significant slowdown compared to the previous eight quarters.

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