Visitors check out a foldable smartphone that uses OLED technology during an expo in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - Sales of foldable phones in the Chinese market surged 144.4 percent in 2022 over the previous year, standing out from overall phone sales, an industry report showed.

Sales volume of such phones hit 2.83 million units last year, having recorded a year-on-year increase for nine consecutive quarters, according to a report by research and consulting company CINNO Research.

The report attributed the breakout growth to dialed-up investment from major smartphone brands and the evolving organic light-emitting diode display technologies in China

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The report attributed the breakout growth to dialed-up investment from major smartphone brands and the evolving organic light-emitting diode display technologies in China.

The top seven brands all saw their sales rise from a year ago. Huawei, also the largest in terms of market size, tops the list with 1.44 million units sold in 2022, up 132 percent year on year. OPPO and Xiaomi logged surges of 453 percent and 112 percent, respectively.

The report expects the foldable phone market to further expand as the product becomes cheaper and more prevalent.

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In 2022, sales of foldable phones between 5,000 yuan (about $742) and 9,999 yuan accounted for 69 percent of the total volume, up by 51 percentage points year-on-year, according to CINNO Research data.