China Daily | Tech Asia: Folding phone phenomenon - video Dailymotion

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Folding phones have become one of the most popular products in the Chinese phone market. What does this trend tell us about the future of folding phones?  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 This is the Oppo Find N2 Flip, and you probably can't buy it.

00:04 It's a folding phone and part of a growing list of high-end, China-exclusive folding phones.

00:10 This doesn't happen in any other phone market.

00:14 What does this trend tell us about the future of folding phones?

00:17 I'm Alfie from Techasia. Let's dive in.

00:20 Five years after Samsung launched the first folding phone,

00:29 these gadgets have remained fragile and costly.

00:32 This has meant that foldables have been slow to pick up steam around the world.

00:36 And why would you want a folding phone in the first place?

00:38 (speaking in foreign language)

00:42 (speaking in foreign language)

00:46 The technology is really exciting.

01:11 And a recent report from the analyst firm CounterPoint seems to agree with me.

01:15 Foldable sales are up worldwide, but nowhere near as much as in China,

01:20 which has more than doubled its foldable sales since last year.

01:23 Five out of the eight companies currently producing folding phones today

01:28 sell them exclusively in China.

01:29 That might be a clue to understanding what makes China's phone market unique,

01:33 but best to ask the experts.

01:36 My name is Momo. I'm based in Beijing.

01:39 I'm an analyst at CounterPoint Research Technology.

01:43 In global markets and in China, the smartphone volume is going down,

01:48 but the premium market is actually increasing

01:51 because we think that premium smartphone users

01:55 are more immune to economic downturns.

01:58 Foldable smartphones is an important subsegment of the premium phone.

02:04 So China is the home to the world's largest smartphone makers.

02:09 China has a very mature manufacturing ecosystem,

02:12 and then the supply chain is very good.

02:15 That enables them to make cheaper foldable smartphones,

02:19 which is, I think, the key in foldable smartphones

02:21 because foldable smartphones are still considered very expensive.

02:24 In China, it's just like you have a lot more products.

02:27 When you have a lot more products,

02:28 the mindshare for these foldable devices are rising,

02:31 and that would promote more people to purchase it.

02:34 Some Chinese phone makers, like Honor,

02:36 have announced that they wanted to sell their foldables in other markets.

02:39 Which ones do you think will be the most impacted?

02:42 I'll have to mention North America

02:43 because North America is one of the biggest markets for premium brands.

02:48 And one of the other regions that we think will have strong growth potential is ASEAN.

02:53 So the major countries are like Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines.

02:59 It has a very young customer base as compared to Japan or Korea.

03:05 And with young customers, they want to try new innovative products.

03:09 Chinese OEMs have had a very strong presence in these areas.

03:14 I think ASEAN is actually a key region for foldable smartphones in the near future.

03:22 As folding screens become more accessible to more manufacturers,

03:25 it seems likely that the competition will heat up in other markets as well.

03:29 And here's something you can do with that fancy folding phone.

03:32 Book a doctor's appointment.

03:34 Digital healthcare came to the fore as physical appointments were halted during the pandemic.

03:38 These services have a potential to reduce inequalities

03:41 by making access to healthcare universal if they are implemented properly.

03:46 But many countries have found rolling out these services expose more challenges than expected.

03:53 Hello, everyone. My name is Mehma Zeretika,

03:55 and I am a contributor for the Daily Star tech and startup.

03:58 And I'm here to talk about the challenges that unravel behind the healthcare gap in Bangladesh.

04:03 Could you just present what we mean when we say digital healthcare?

04:07 What does it comprise? Digital healthcare refers to the telemedicine services in Bangladesh

04:11 that the patients all across the nation can get right from their home,

04:15 whether it's appointment with doctors or online appointments for online medicine to their homes.

04:21 Could you present kind of the hurdles that are being faced when trying to establish these kinds of services?

04:26 So the telemedicine sector of our country is at a pretty ambiguous state.

04:31 When we try to reach out to specialized surgeons, we have to use multiple different apps.

04:35 And for online medication systems, there's barely any alongside the one or two verified online medical services.

04:43 The biggest issue is not just the urban areas,

04:46 but also the rural people who have Internet connectivity issues in our country still.

04:50 For that, we need digital healthcare booth setups where people can access the urban doctors

04:55 and not be having an unequal treatment provided to them just because of the distance that they're having.

05:01 As a user of these apps, is it frustrating to not be able to find, for example, a physician that you're looking for?

05:06 Yes, of course. It's definitely frustrating.

05:08 For example, I can't really find my community healthcare provider in one of these apps.

05:13 If I have to reach out to any of the doctors, I would have to explain my entire history to them.

05:17 However, there are advancements that are being made in this sector that bridge that gap.

05:22 There are institutions like Arupco that provide online medications delivered to your homestead,

05:27 and such institutions are developing and expanding on their telemedicine services.

05:32 So it's definitely on the way.

05:34 What are some of the risks that can come up with these kinds of deployments?

05:37 So data concerns and privacy safety issues are one of our biggest frightening points to look for.

05:44 Since these companies could potentially use and sell the data in various illegal frameworks and ways that we do not want,

05:51 we would have to establish a very strict regulatory framework in order for the technological advancements

05:57 in our healthcare sector to function properly as intended.

06:00 All right.

06:01 Thank you so much.

06:02 All right.

06:03 That's all for this week's Tech Asia.

06:05 I've been Alfie. Join us next week for a showcase of tech's impact on Asia.

06:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]

China Daily | Tech Asia: Folding phone phenomenon

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