World saw 10 mn foldable smartphone shipments in 2021: Samsung

Samsung has said that the world saw nearly 10 million foldable smartphones being shipped worldwide last year -- an industry increase of more than 300 per cent from 2020.

TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Business at Samsung, said that this fast-paced growth will continue.

"We are reaching the moment where these foldable devices are becoming widespread and staking a bigger claim in the overall smartphone market," he said in a blog post late on Wednesday.

However, the new figures contradict what the International Data Corporation (IDC) said in its report earlier this year the worldwide shipments of foldable phones, inclusive of both flip and fold form factors, reached a total of 7.1 million units in 2021.

The IDC has projected that foldable phone shipments will reach 27.6 million units in 2025 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 69.9 per cent from 2020 to 2025.

Koh said that Samsung Galaxy foldables have changed the way we use mobile devices and helped enable better lifestyles for users worldwide.

"The Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Flip deliver on that mandate. Last year, 70 per cent of Galaxy foldable users turned to the Flip to help them see the world from a different point of view," he mentioned.

"This year, we've made advancements in every detail and opened the new experiences enabled by these behaviour-shifting devices," Koh added.

He said that the upcoming �Galaxy Unpacked' on August 10, "you'll see that the impact of our innovation is not only about what technology can do".

"It's about what you can do. We've once again taken our inspiration from the most important source � Galaxy users � to push the limits of what's possible," he added.

The next-generation foldable smartphones, Galaxy Z Flip 4 and Galaxy Z Fold 4, are expected to be showcased during the Galaxy Unpacked online event.

The clamshell-style Galaxy Z Flip 4 appears to have a slightly thinner hinge that joins the two halves of the phone than its previous model that came out about a year ago.