Chinese smartphone maker Oppo said the company is not keen on launching foldable phones in India presently as the demand is yet to pick up for the product segment across the industry.
“Demand for foldable phones in India is not very high yet. Oppo’s launch of foldable phones in the country will depend on the Indian user demand,” Peter Dohyung Lee, head of product strategy at Oppo, told FE.
The reasons for low demand for foldable phones can be attributed to high prices and hinge issues in some phones, causing the screen to crease, developing visible lines in the fold, analysts said.
According to Lee, the reason for foldable phones not picking up in the country could be due to high temperature, environment and other circumstances, which are different as compared to other countries globally.
Notably, Oppo’s flip type foldable phones – Find N2 Flip and N3 Flip — are available in India.
According to Counterpoint, foldable phones shipments in India in 2024 were less than 500,000 units, down from nearly 1 million shipped in 2023.
Shilpi Jain, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said, “It’s not only in India but globally too, foldable uptake is low and not as expected by companies. India is a price sensitive market and it is important to bring down the price of foldable phones to increase uptake.”
Analysts said Samsung is currently leading the market share for foldable phones.
Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst at Techarc, said, “Companies are pushing foldable as another hardware and not as a solution. Therefore, the consumer is not finding any benefit in purchasing those pricey phones. We need to find actual use cases.”
Foldable phones in India are usually priced over Rs 1 lakh. Oppo said the Indian users largely prefer flagship smartphones compared to foldable phones.
Oppo recently launched the Reno 13 smartphone series in India, starting Rs 37,999. The company is banking on its AI features in phones along with durability and design to win the market share in the country.
According to IDC, Oppo’s market share in the country was at 13.9%, just behind market leader Vivo, at 15.8%, in the July-September quarter of 2024.
“Oppo is investing a lot in AI democratisation.
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