OPPO Find N5 Foldable Phone a Hot Seller: Breaking Records, but Challenges Remain

OPPO Find N5 Foldable Phone a Hot Seller: Breaking Records, but Challenges RemainOPPO's newly released foldable phone, the Find N5, has achieved remarkable sales success. According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, the Find N5 broke the first-day sales record across multiple platforms including JD

OPPO Find N5 Foldable Phone a Hot Seller: Breaking Records, but Challenges Remain

• OPPO's newly released foldable phone, the Find N5, has achieved remarkable sales success. According to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, the Find N5 broke the first-day sales record across multiple platforms including JD.com, Tmall, and Douyin for all major foldable phones in the past two years, exceeding the sales volume and revenue of the Huawei Mate X6. Some versions even sold out in offline stores, showcasing strong consumer demand. However, OPPO's Chief Product Officer, Liu Zuo Hu, acknowledged that the foldable phone market is still in its early stages, and OPPO's foldable products have undergone a process of exploration and continuous optimization.

Find N5 Sales Boom: Top Configurations Sell Out, Online Pre-orders Soar

The Find N5's hot sales are undeniable. In OPPO's offline stores in Shenzhen, staff reported significantly increased pre-orders compared to last year's Find N3, with some versions selling out. On e-commerce platforms like Tmall and JD.com, certain models, especially the top-tier satellite communication version, require pre-orders with waiting lists. Meanwhile, the Find N5 is already appearing on second-hand trading platforms, priced 200-300 yuan cheaper than official channels, with relatively ample supply. Dealers attributed this to regional differences in stock shortages and variations across different models. Additionally, the bundled magnetic charging treasure and earphones, which are quite valuable, are being sold separately by some dealers, contributing to price discrepancies.

One consumer stated they purchased the Find N5 for its thin and light design and its interoperability with Apple computers, enabling remote control for work and file transfer. OPPO highlighted the Find N5's slim design during its launch, featuring a titanium alloy hinge, a 26% overall reduction in thickness, and 3D printing technology resulting in the thinnest component measuring just 0.15mm. The Find N5 was also launched simultaneously overseas, with a launch event held in Singapore, where it's priced at 2499 Singapore dollars (approximately 13550.6 yuan).

Foldable Phone Market Growth Slows: Price, Functionality, and Competition Pose Key Challenges

Despite consistent year-on-year growth exceeding 100% for four consecutive years, the foldable phone market experienced a decline in Q4 2024, with a 9.6% year-on-year decrease according to IDC data. IDC analysis suggests that while foldable phones have made strides in thinness, battery life, imaging, and crease reduction, they still lag behind straight phones in price, durability, and internal space, limiting their use cases and target audience. DSCC, a Counterpoint display research firm, also points to Samsung's high regional market concentration, the gradual reduction in layouts by Chinese brands, and the market dominance of Huawei and Samsung as factors contributing to the slowdown.

In Q3 2024, Samsung held a 51.2% share of the global foldable phone market, followed by Lenovo (Motorola) at 15.1% and Huawei at 13.2%. The Chinese market shows a similar trend, with Huawei at 41%, Honor at 21.9%, and Xiaomi at 17.2%. OPPO's foldable phone market share in China remains below 4%.

An analyst noted that the overall shipment volume of foldable phones accounts for less than 5% of both the global and Chinese markets. High prices are a major barrier to market growth, especially for smaller foldable phones. While their compact folded size is advantageous, they offer little functional difference from regular smartphones, lacking unique selling points despite higher prices than similarly specced straight phones. Furthermore, new foldable phones struggle to drop below 7000 yuan, with brands claiming they are "not profitable."

Zhou Yi Bao, OPPO Find series product director, stated that the Find N5's R&D costs were high, with the development of a single screen costing 100 million yuan. Two screens were designed, and the hinge was also redesigned. The use of new materials in the mid-frame reduced the overall thickness by 72%, with R&D costs and time being 1.5 times that of the previous generation. Liu Zuo Hu also mentioned that despite the high costs, the domestic satellite communication version is 2000 yuan cheaper than its predecessor, describing it as a "bleeding price." Vivo's VP Huang Tao also admitted that Vivo is subsidizing its foldable phone production, potentially incurring significant losses. Honor CEO Zhao Ming similarly stated that developing a foldable phone requires a 1 billion yuan investment.

Besides high costs, limited functional expansion presents another challenge. While large foldable phones offer larger screens, many apps lack optimization, hindering the utilization of the larger display. Features like multitasking are also underdeveloped. In some office apps, the unfolded screen layout is suboptimal, leading to a poor user experience and hindering productivity and entertainment.

Conclusion: The success of the OPPO Find N5 reflects the broader foldable phone market, demonstrating consumer enthusiasm while highlighting the challenges. High costs, limited functional expansion, and intense competition are hurdles that manufacturers must overcome. Future growth demands continuous improvements in performance, cost reduction, and expanded application scenarios to ensure the sustainable and healthy development of the foldable phone market.