The foldable screen was first introduced as a super high-end mobile phone. It was born from day one, along with the words "high cost, low yield, fragile" along with the growth - naturally means high price and detached positioning. Like flimsy carbon-fiber all-in-one supercars, handset makers see similarly custom-made foldable phones as a special investment to "elevate" their brands.

The more special opportunity is the precious time lag of Apple in folding screen mobile phones, which gives Chinese mobile phone manufacturers a rare say in the top market, and it has become an indisputable fact that "folding mobile phones will be bought in China".

Fortunately for China's mobile phone industry, the brand influence and technical strength of domestic manufacturers are also significantly improving in the process of exploring foldable phones. With the spillover of technical capabilities, the gradual improvement of the industrial chain, the improvement of yield and quality control, the foldable screen mobile phone should also go to the masses -- it is a synonym for high-end, but it does not need to always be superior, high and few.

Foldable phones have moved beyond the old stereotype of "big shots" to become a good thing for the elite. Especially in the past two years, Huawei and OPPO have introduced vertical folding screens, which have become exquisite playthings due to their small size and retro features.

Behind the "carting" of bloggers on social media is a doubling of sales of foldable phones. According to CINNO Research, the sales volume of foldable phones in the Chinese market reached 2.83 million units in 2022, up 144.4% year on year, becoming one of the few bright spots in the smartphone market in 2022.

Booming numbers don't come easily, and for a long time, it was hard to determine the true value of foldable screens between "gimmicks" and "innovations." Now, through the performance of the market and public opinion, they have finally passed the demanding digital enthusiasts and become real convenience tools in the hands of ordinary consumers.

It took only four years to go from "different" to "value-oriented". The still rapidly expanding market means it will continue to sell well, but the question is starting to grow 

Folding screen mobile phone because it is different from ordinary straight mobile phone, has a special positioning and value; On the other hand, the foldable phones have grown more and more similar from the beginning: uniform folding, similar droplet hinge scheme, similar thickness and size.

This may have something to do with the failure history of foldable phones. Even though it's only a few years old, manufacturers have made a lot of detours. In the early stage of exploration, the folding solution failed to solve the crease problem due to the small radius folding. Samsung phones with forced folding had dented creases, while Royole and Huawei phones with external folding had to expose the fragile screen. During this period, foldable phones were very different.

The big industry-changing event happened in 2021. This year, OPPO and Huawei released foldable models with droplet hinges. This design almost announced the unification of folding methods, and since then infolding has become almost the only solution. Especially with the release of OPPO Find N, it's amazing that creases can be almost non-existent.

Similar in addition to the structure, there are dimensions. Several competitors on the market came up with similar answers: slim remote control like the outside screen, and nearly square internal size, the inner screen must be open to the size of the iPad mini - we think this is due to the simple concept of "big is good", big enough, is the biggest advantage of folding screen; 

This is what most of the foldable screens we see today look like, and they eventually grow into the same shape between the two mountains of marketing and technology. People are talking about similar hinges, similar materials, similar size, volume and function.

In a row of mainstream foldable phones, the OPPO Find N stands out from the N2. Making the horizontal folding screen special size is a risk -- there is no generic solution in the supply chain, and software adaptations need to be redefined. However, the market has given quite positive feedback on such differentiated products. According to IDC, OPPO only took 13.8% market share in China's foldable screen market in 2022 with the help of one foldable phone.

OPPO has even bigger potential. With the launch of the second generation, the Find N2 and the Find N2 Flip, OPPO has achieved a secondary acceleration: According to the data of authoritative CINNO Research, in January 2023, the sales volume of foldable mobile phones in the Chinese market increased by 54% year on year. OPPO ranked first with 30% market share, and Find N2 Flip ranked first with 44% market share in vertical folding category.

In fact, we should not exaggerate the size difference, after all, it is not the simple size that makes or breaks the real difference, but the user's judgment of value behind it: give me another big screen, what do I get?

Tablet experience tells us that big screens may not be "productive," but there must be iQiyi. We need to fold the screen like a tablet to watch video and work on the go. Whether it's a flat or foldable screen, watching video can be replaced by a bigger TV, and working can certainly be replaced by a bigger computer.

However, the subtext of the folding screen is "portable big screen", among which the portable weight is likely to be underestimated, and the "common" characteristics and irreplaceability brought by the small size, become the feeling of many consumers.

If watching video on TV is a kind of enjoyment, then using the folding screen to watch video anytime and anywhere is a kind of self-relaxation. Watching a video on the road or in the car with both hands on the tablet isn't easy, but using the Find N2 to open the foldable screen and watch a dozen minutes of "Mania" isn't too much of a burden, even with one hand. And by folding into the hover space, you can continue to watch dramas during your lunch break.

If the computer office is focused production, with folding screen can not be replaced is at any time inspiration record. For example, what we hope to get from the folding screen is the logic of information split left and right, which is different from the mobile phone. It is the separation of content and comment, chat and article reading, notes and tables... This allows us to keep track of our ideas so we can get back to the office and finish the manuscript in one go.

Another dimension of portability is thinner and lighter. In 2022, some manufacturers explored the optimization of the foldable screen thickness, and compressed the foldable screen phone to a level of just over 11mm after folding and 5.4mm after unfolding, which is an excellent innovation. OPPO is the first to challenge the weight. OPPO Find N2 is the first to achieve a weight advantage over the flagship straight plate machine -- the horizontal folding screen weighs only 233 grams. Based on the feedback of the original Find N, OPPO innovated the adoption of carbon fiber skeleton and titanium alloy screws in the second generation, and solved the problems of "hand pressing" and "pocket falling" of the folding screen by means of material and structure innovation.

What the Find N2's unique size and weight creates is irreplaceable portability. The familiar can be done much more easily here -- it gives us large-screen immersion, more information, and richer ways to interact, but we don't have to sacrifice convenience like a tablet or other foldable screen.

At the same time, vertical folding phones are likely to become the more mainstream folding model of the future due to their smaller size, lighter weight and more affordable price. As a result, OPPO joined the vertical folding competition this year, becoming the first manufacturer to complete the vertical and horizontal flagship folding layout after Huawei and Samsung. According to the statistics of CINNO Research, in January 2023, the sales volume of folding mobile phones in vertical mode accounted for 42%, among which OPPO accounted for 44% and ranked the first.

For vertical folding phones, the biggest difference is also the most practical function, is the design of the external screen. In the past, the outer screen was just a basic display of information. Can the display like a bracelet achieve more interactive functions? For this problem, OPPO gives the best solution so far, which is summarized as "(external screen) big is better than small, square is better than round, vertical is better than horizontal". Vertical large screen, you can chat on wechat, take selfies, pay code, and even brush small red books directly. In addition, the Find N2 Flip also solves the long-standing problems of vertical folding, such as short battery life and deep crease, and is the only one on the market that supports dual cards and dual 5G, making small folding no longer just a "beautiful vase".

After the initial exploration of "blooming of a hundred flowers" and the halftime war of "homogenization", foldable screen mobile phones began to move towards "high-value innovation" in 2023. Mobile phone brands represented by OPPO adhere to user orientation and provide "differentiated" product solutions by virtue of their mastery of core technologies. We can look forward to a future dominated by foldable screens.