China’s foldable smartphone market heats up with Samsung-ByteDance AI pact, Xiaomi launch

The market for foldable smartphones in mainland China is poised to heat up, as Samsung Electronics partners with ByteDance to bolster the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of its latest handsets and Xiaomi launches two new models on Friday.

Samsung, which introduced its new Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 models in Paris last week, will add new AI-driven avatar and voice-assistance functions to those handsets using ByteDance’s own large language model (LLM), Duobao, the two companies announced on Wednesday. LLMs are the technology underpinning generative AI (GenAI) services like ChatGPT.

Beijing-based Xiaomi – the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor in the June quarter, according to research firm IDC – is expected to unveil the Mix Flip, its first-ever clamshell-type model, and the Mix Fold 4, with a slim booklet design that opens horizontally into tablet form, according to teasers released by the company.

These initiatives reflect how major Android handset players are betting on foldable, AI-powered models to compete with Apple’s iPhone in the high-end segment of the world’s biggest smartphone market. Foldable handsets with AI features are projected to boost smartphone sales on the mainland, with total 2024 shipments rising 3.1 per cent year on year to 279 million units, according to IDC.

Last Friday, Chinese Android handset maker Honor, a spin-off from Huawei Technologies, launched what it touted as the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone with AI capabilities – the 5G-capable Magic V3 handset, which has “a folded thickness” of 9.2 millimetres and weighs just 226 grams.