More than 5 million foldable or rollable phones are now projected to ship in 2021

Ross Young and his Display Supply Chain Consortium (DSCC) flexible-display market predictions are back again. This time, they predict that the foldable phone, this time in conjunction with its emerging potential competitor, the rollable phone, will see their shipments suffer in the first 2 quarters of 2021 (1-2Q2021), potentially exhibiting negative growth compared to those of 2020.

However, this may only be due to a lack of new releases, a situation that is expected to completely turn on its head in the following half-year. Young now predicts that no fewer than 12 new foldable or rollable mobile devices, contributed by a total of 8 different brands, will launch by 4Q2021.

Samsung is of course expected to contribute to all these new options: up to 4 of them in fact, which are most likely to include new generations of the Galaxy Z Flip and Fold lines. They might have to contend with an unprecedented number of new players in this game, currently touted to include the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 Pro Max; the Google Pixel Fold and the OPPO X. Then again, LG's first-gen rollable may no longer be joining this potential battle royale.

All in all, these rumored novel rollables or foldables are now projected to add more than 3 million unit-shipments to its market in 4Q2021, giving a total of up to 5.1 million by the end of the year. This may also boost its revenues to as much as US$8.6 billion (or 137% YoY).

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