The 2024 Mobile Phone Industry: The Stunning Triple-Fold and Substantial Upgrades Across the Board

The 2024 Mobile Phone Industry: The Stunning Triple-Fold and Substantial Upgrades Across the Board2024 witnessed a wave of remarkable innovations and substantial upgrades in the mobile phone industry, delivering numerous surprises for consumers. While Huawei's MateXT Unrivaled Master, a revolutionary triple-folding screen phone, dominated headlines with its groundbreaking design and technological advancements, other manufacturers made significant strides in imaging, AI, battery technology, and the mid-range market, resulting in a more refined user experience

The 2024 Mobile Phone Industry: The Stunning Triple-Fold and Substantial Upgrades Across the Board

2024 witnessed a wave of remarkable innovations and substantial upgrades in the mobile phone industry, delivering numerous surprises for consumers. While Huawei's MateXT Unrivaled Master, a revolutionary triple-folding screen phone, dominated headlines with its groundbreaking design and technological advancements, other manufacturers made significant strides in imaging, AI, battery technology, and the mid-range market, resulting in a more refined user experience. This article delves into the major breakthroughs and innovations of the 2024 mobile phone industry, from Huawei's "triple-fold, any fold, any side" to the rise of the mid-range market and the leaps in AI and battery technology, showcasing the year's vibrant advancements.

Huawei MateXT Unrivaled Master: A Milestone in Triple-Folding Screen Phones

The biggest news in the 2024 mobile phone industry was undoubtedly Huawei's launch of the world's first commercially available triple-folding screen phone the Huawei MateXT Unrivaled Master. This phone is not only the "world's first mass-produced triple-folding phone" but also the "world's largest folding screen phone" and the "world's thinnest folding screen phone," its revolutionary design completely rewriting the definition of folding screen phones.

The Huawei MateXT Unrivaled Master boasts three unique screen forms: a 6.4-inch single screen; a 7.9-inch dual-screen; and a breathtaking 10.2-inch screen when fully unfolded, all while maintaining a thickness of only 3.6mm. This innovative triple-folding design adapts to various usage scenarios, providing users with an unprecedented experience.

This success wasn't accidental; it's the result of Huawei's massive R&D investment in internal stacking, screen design, and hinge design. It features the "Huawei TianGong Hinge System" and a 5600mAh "world's thinnest silicon-anode high-capacity battery," just 1.9mm thick, weighing approximately 298 grams. Furthermore, it supports 66W wired fast charging and 50W wireless fast charging, utilizes the Kirin 9010 chip, and has a starting price of 19,999 RMB.

The emergence of the Huawei MateXT Unrivaled Master not only represents a new height of domestic technological innovation but also poses a severe test of the brand's appeal. To date, no other manufacturer has announced plans to follow suit with a triple-folding screen phone, with industry rumors suggesting that a second manufacturer has paused its development. This clearly demonstrates that only companies with strong technological accumulation and brand appeal, like Huawei, can launch such a "concept phone"-level product. The success of the Huawei MateXT Unrivaled Master undoubtedly propelled Huawei's brand image to a higher echelon.

High-End Imaging: Breaking Traditions, Innovating the Game

Competition in imaging technology in the high-end flagship phone market has already intensified. However, in 2024, high-end flagships continued to innovate in this area. Vivo's introduction of the Zeiss 200MP APO super-telephoto lens achieved a perfect combination of high pixel count, large-sensor periscope, and telephoto macro, satisfying users' diverse needs for telephoto shooting. Its 1/1.4-inch large sensor and 200-megapixel count broke the limitations of traditional telephoto lenses, creating a new benchmark for periscope telephoto lenses. Even in long-distance low-light or complex lighting conditions, the 200MP telephoto lens ensures ultra-clear image quality and vibrant colors. Vivo's Blueprint Imaging Technologys "hardware-software integration" further enhances the intensity and stability of telephoto shooting.

OPPO launched a competitive dual-periscope strategy. OPPO's dual-periscope quad-main camera system offers six optical focal lengths, ensuring smoother transitions between focal lengths. Two powerful periscope telephoto lenses precisely capture details both near and far, allowing users to freely control composition. Even more impressive is OPPO's creation of a slim periscope structure. The OPPO Find X8 series utilizes inverted periscope telephoto technology, reducing the size of the large-sensor periscope telephoto lens by 33%, solving the problem of bulky telephoto lenses, ultimately achieving a perfect fusion of a slim body and a large-sensor telephoto lens.

Mid-Range Market: The Rise of Imaging Capabilities

The mid-range segment of the Chinese mobile phone market is enormous, with over 500 million users accounting for half of the market. However, before 2024, mid-range models often lagged far behind flagship models in configuration, especially in imaging, where mid-range phones had long stagnated.

2024 saw a dramatic change in the mid-range market. A wave of mid-range models focusing on imaging emerged, such as the Realme 12 Pro+, which was the first to use the Sony large-sensor IMX890 and the flagship-level periscope telephoto OV64B in the 2000 RMB price range. In addition to excellent hardware, these mid-range imaging phones also made significant progress in algorithms. While still lagging behind flagship models, the improvement compared to previous mid-range models was substantial.

Realme 13 Pro+, Redmi Note 14 Pro+, and other models also offered impressive imaging capabilities in the 2000 RMB price range, gaining widespread user recognition and increased sales.

Comprehensive Upgrades to Mid-Range Phones: Dust and Water Resistance, Enhanced Durability

In 2024, the dust and water resistance of mid-range phones saw a significant improvement in both quality and quantity. Previously, only flagship phones featured water and dust resistance, but in 2024, mid-range phones caught up with, and even surpassed, flagship standards, achieving comprehensive water resistance. For example, the "durable warrior" OPPO A3 Pro passed IP66, IP68, and IP69 dust and water resistance tests, while Vivo S20 Pro, Redmi Note 14 Pro+, and OPPO A5 Pro also demonstrated excellent water resistance.

Furthermore, to enhance durability, manufacturers incorporated high-strength glass into mid-range models, such as Huawei Kunlun Glass, Xiaomi Dragon Crystal Glass, and OPPO Crystal Shield Glass. These high-strength glasses offer enhanced drop and scratch resistance, significantly improving the reliability of mid-range phones.

Battery Capacity Leap: Beyond the 5000mAh Era

In 2023, typical phone battery capacities generally hovered around 5000mAh. However, thanks to the application of silicon-carbon battery technology, starting in the second half of 2024, the overall battery capacity of the mobile phone industry saw a substantial increase. Silicon-carbon batteries offer higher energy density and stability, allowing manufacturers to significantly increase battery capacity while maintaining a slim profile. 6000mAh became the mainstream battery capacity, and some models, like the Realme Neo7, even reached 7000mAh without wireless charging a stunning 40% increase compared to the typical 5000mAh of 2023.

Silicon-carbon batteries also exhibit superior low-temperature resistance, maintaining good stability even in cold environments. These upgrades in battery technology provide users with longer battery life and a more reliable user experience, eliminating the anxiety of "daily charging."

AI Empowerment: A More Intimate Smart Experience

In 2024, mobile phone AI capabilities significantly improved, with manufacturers launching various AI features. In photo processing, AI noise reduction, AI upscaling, AI super-resolution, and AI glare removal better assist users in processing photos, enhancing quality, and saving time.

AI screen recognition also became popular, allowing users to quickly access information from on-screen or nearby content. AI also helps users with daily tasks like ordering takeout, grabbing red envelopes, and paying bills, significantly improving convenience. At a Honor product launch event, the AI assistant successfully ordered 2000 cups of coffee, showcasing its powerful processing capabilities and intelligence.

Conclusion: The Brilliance and Outlook of the 2024 Mobile Phone Industry

The 2024 mobile phone industry was fiercely competitive. While Huawei's MateXT Unrivaled Master's triple-folding phone was undoubtedly the biggest highlight, other manufacturers upgrades in the mid-range market, imaging technology, battery technology, and AI applications also provided consumers with a more comprehensive mobile phone experience. Increased battery capacity, advancements in imaging technology, widespread AI applications, and the comprehensive upgrade of mid-range phones all infused the 2024 mobile phone market with vitality and innovation. We have reason to expect that the 2025 mobile phone industry will continue to thrive, bringing us even more surprises and technological fun.