“It’s thinner and lighter than the Galaxy,” said George Zhao, CEO of Chinese
smartphone company HONOR , which pioneered the foldable phone market in a keynote speech at the International Home Appliances Show ( IFA2023 ) held in Berlin, Germany on the 1st (local time). A provocative message was sent to Samsung Electronics. CEO 토토사이트George Ao said, “The thickness of the Honor Magic V2 is 9.9mm, which is thinner than the 13.4mm thickness of the Samsung Galaxy (Fold 5), and it weighs 231g, which is 253g lighter than the Galaxy,” and described the company’s product as “the world’s thinnest and lightest folder.” “It’s a black phone,” he emphasized. Honor also emphasized that the Magic V 2’s battery capacity is 5,000 mAh (milliampere hours), which is larger than the Galaxy Jet(Z) Fold 5’s 4,400 mAh. On the surface, the foldable phone is ahead of Samsung Electronics in terms of thickness, weight, and battery capacity. Honor, a spin-off from China’s Huawei, will release its first foldable phone in January 2022, nearly three years behind Samsung Electronics.
Honor’s provocation attracted a lot of attention. This is the result of devoting more than 30 minutes to the first keynote speech at Europe’s largest home appliance exhibition to focus solely on promoting the new foldable phone. In the domestic industry, an interpretation was made that “the foldable phone latecomer chose the keynote speech of Epa, which has a high level of interest, as a stage to declare war on the leader.” Samsung Electronics’ foldable phone market share is around 70%.
The reason Chinese companies like Honor are focusing on foldable phones is because, unlike smartphones, where growth has stagnated, the foldable phone market continues to grow. According to a survey by market research firm IDC , the foldable phone market is expected to grow 18% over the next five years and reach an annual size of $42.1 billion (approximately KRW 55 trillion) in 2027. This is contrary to the fact that smartphone shipments this year will decline by more than 3% compared to last year due to the global economic slowdown.Samsung Electronics’ booth was crowded with visitors to experience the new foldable phone. Samsung Electronics has set up an exhibition space with images displayed on dozens of external screens of the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and a booth where you can directly experience new products such as the Fold 5, Galaxy Watch 6, and Galaxy S Tab 9. Samsung Electronics installed an experimental machine in its booth that automatically folds and unfolds the phone to visually demonstrate the increased durability of the foldable liquid crystal display.