Shoppers check out a Huawei Mate XT foldable phone on display at the company's flagship store in Beijing on Sept. 10. © Reuters

China's foldable phones herald conquest of OLED screen market

Samsung and LG see sales share sink as Beijing pushes supply chain localization

CHENG TING-FANG and LAULY LI, Nikkei Asia tech correspondents

September 20, 2024 06:00 JST

TAIPEI -- When Honor Device CEO George Zhao took the stage in Berlin in September to unveil the Chinese smartphone maker's latest models, one thread united all of the company's flagship devices: OLED screens.

Displays using OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes, not only boast crisper images, they also make slimmer device designs possible, along with better energy efficiency and higher flexibility. The new trifold Mate XT smartphone that Huawei Technologies, Honor's former parent, unveiled this month to acclaim showed off the bendability of OLED screens.