Chinese handset giants joining lighter, thinner fray

Chinese smartphone companies are scrambling to roll out lighter, thinner foldable smartphones featuring cutting-edge artificial intelligence functions, with the aim of establishing a beachhead in the segment.

Oppo, for one, recently unveiled the Find N5, which it claims as the world's thinnest foldable smartphone, as the Chinese company beefs up its push into research and development to drive technological progress.

Oppo said that at just 8.93 millimeters, Find N5 is the world's thinnest book-style foldable flagship smartphone. Find N5 is slimmer than any of its foldable rivals, including the Honor Magic V3, Samsung's new Galaxy Z Fold, and the iPhone 16 Pro.

Pete Lau, senior vice-president and chief product experience officer at Oppo, said Find N5 unlocks the potential of folding phones, putting tablet and laptop experiences in consumers' hands. More importantly, foldable phones should be as thin as bar phones.

Xiao Xu, a director at the Beijing Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, said the new Oppo model showcases the development trends of waterproof, ultrathin and durable foldable handsets, which will also drive industry enterprises to accelerate R&D in hinges, materials and other aspects to pursue greater innovation.

The foldable phone market is showing robust growth momentum. Market research firm International Data Corp predicts that the compound annual growth rate of foldable phone shipments in the Chinese market will reach 37.5 percent by 2027.

Oppo's rivals are also on the march. In a recent update on Weibo, a Chinese social networking platform, Li Kun, flagship product manager at Honor, hinted at the upcoming release of the next-generation Magic V foldable phone in the first half. Li emphasized that the new device will prioritize slimness and lightweight design, claiming it will set a new industry standard.

Other Chinese players such as Huawei Technologies Co and Xiaomi Corp are also setting slimness and lightweight design as their priorities for foldable smartphones.

The trend comes as foldable handsets — once hailed as the future of mobile technology for their ability to break the limitations of traditional screen sizes — have faced inherent challenges due to their complex mechanical structures.

A 2024 survey by iiMedia Research revealed that 36 percent of Chinese consumers are reluctant to purchase foldable phones due to their bulkiness and inconvenience, 25 percent expressed concerns about durability, and 23 percent cited limited functionality and practicality as key drawbacks.

China's foldable smartphone market experienced significant growth in 2024, with annual shipments reaching approximately 9.17 million units, a year-on-year increase of 30.8 percent, according to the latest data from IDC.

However, the fourth quarter of 2024 saw a notable shift, as foldable phone shipments dropped by 9.6 percent to 2.5 million units, marking the first decline after nine consecutive quarters of rapid growth.

Despite these challenges, the AI phone market is projected to enter a rapid growth phase, driven by advances in chipsets, user scenarios and mobile-based large language models. IDC forecasts that global AI phone shipments will surge to 827 million units by 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 100.7 percent from 2023 to 2027.

Lau from Oppo said the foldable smartphone market is still in its early stages, and Oppo has been refining its foldable products through continuous optimization.

"For the 2025 domestic smartphone market, we believe 'thin and lightweight' and 'AI' will be the key trends," Lau added.

Oppo said Find N5 has seen overwhelming demand, with preorders exceeding expectations and limited stock availability in both online and offline channels. For example, online platforms such as Tmall and JD.com have shown that certain models, particularly the top-tier satellite communication version, face waiting times for preorders.