Reputable report, by Gartner on monday pegs it at 30 million units.
This new crop of high end phones will bring in a unique form of innovation unseen in regular smartphones. Gartner hinted "We expect that users will use a foldable phone as they do their regular smartphone, picking it up sporadically and typing on its plastic screen, which may scratch quickly depending on the way it folds,"
"Through the next five years, we expect foldable phones to remain a niche product due to several manufacturing challenges. In addition to the surface of the screen, the price the price is a barrier we expect to decline with time. Currently priced at $2,000, foldable phones present too many trade-offs, even for many early technology adopters."
This year alone, there are estimates of mobile phone shipments to reach 1.8 billion units, which sees a recurring 0.5 percent year over year (YoY) decline.
By 2020, the mobile phone market is forecast to point towards growth, with a shipment increase of 1.2 percent from 2019.
"Users have reached a threshold for new technology and applications, which means that unless new models provide significant new utility, efficiency or experiences, users don't want or need to upgrade," Cozza added
It is a noticeable fact users now extend the lifetime of their phones, which frankly is something needed to be emphasized to phone manufactures.
The market research firm, affirms the lifetime of average high-end phones will increase from 2.6 years to 2.8 years beyond 2023.