The 3-fold phone category has begun to gain significant traction among manufacturers as they race to offer the latest models and features.
While Huawei pioneered this category with its Mate XT in April, Samsung quickly followed suit at the end of the same year, unveiling its own 3-fold phone.
However, foldable phones themselves remain a relatively undervalued category compared to traditional foldable phones, despite their increasing popularity in recent years. This raises a crucial question about the need for 3-fold phones and their potential for success.
Limited Options
Currently, the commercially available 3-fold phones are primarily limited to two models: the Samsung Trifold and the Huawei Mate XT.
This is despite the fact that many companies plan to release foldable phones this year and in the future, starting with Honor, which uses mechanisms and designs from its sister company Huawei, and ZTE and Tecno, which intend to release two phones that fold 3 times.
The lack of options available in 3-fold phones is a particular drawback of this category, as companies have not yet considered investing heavily in it.
It's worth noting that the Galaxy Tri Fold is not yet available outside of South Korea and is expected to reach global markets by the end of January.
A report by Gadgets 360 predicts a boom in the foldable phone sector this year, especially with the global launch of Samsung phones and the release of Apple's foldable phone in the same year.
The report indicates a 10% year-over-year increase, despite expectations of a general decline in mobile phone sales due to the memory shortage and the absence of the standard iPhone 18.
Despite the limited options in this category, sales are strong across the board. A Huawei report published on its official blog confirms that sales of the Mate XT exceeded 400,000 units last April.
In a related development, a report by the American tech website PhoneArena indicates that Samsung's 3-folding phone experienced such high demand that its stock sold out in the UAE and South Korea on its first day of sale in both countries.
