The foldable smartphone sector is expected to witness rapid growth in the coming years as major handset makers ramp up efforts to expand their presence in the burgeoning segment to revive a market that has been mired in a sales slump, industry analysts said.

Global shipments of foldable phones are projected to reach 101.5 million units in 2027 from 18.6 million units in 2023, according to a new report released by market research company Counterpoint Research on Wednesday.

The consultancy said regional drivers, especially in China, combined with growing consumer willingness to buy foldable devices will help keep shipment growth buoyant.

"At the moment, foldable phones remain niche but it is an important segment for brands looking to maintain leadership in innovation and a premium market presence," said Tom Kang, research director at Counterpoint.

Kang added that South Korea's Samsung and Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been very active, especially in their home markets, with China emerging as the biggest market globally last year.

The consultancy predicted that Samsung and Apple will dominate the global foldable phone market. "In the long term, we are waiting to see what Apple does. We are looking at 2025 as the possible year of the iPhone's foldable debut, which could provide another growth spurt for the segment," said Jene Park, a senior analyst at Counterpoint.

Although the Chinese smartphone market declined by about 8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, the domestic foldable market continued to grow, surging 117 percent year-on-year to 1.08 million units, Counterpoint noted. That helped boost the global foldable smartphone market with a growth of 64 percent year-on-year in the January-March period.

A string of handset makers have accelerated steps to roll out foldable phones in a bid to grab a bigger slice of the pie in the highly competitive smartphone market. Samsung Electronics unveiled two new foldable smartphones on Wednesday night, the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Galaxy Z Fold5.

The Galaxy Z Flip5, featuring a larger cover display and more advanced cameras, can fold into the size of a wallet and fit in most people's pockets or bags, while the Galaxy Z Fold5 serves as a tablet when fully opened and becomes a phone when closed. The two devices are thinner and lighter than previous models, the company said.

Honor Device Co Ltd recently launched its flagship foldable smartphone, Honor Magic V2, which folds up to be nearly as thin as 9.9 millimeters, while Vivo unveiled its foldable smartphone X Fold 2 and X Flip in April.

Although the use of foldable smartphones remains a low priority, falling prices and new business use cases make the idea more appealing moving forward, said market research company International Data Corp. This year will see a 55.1 percent growth for foldable phones worldwide with continued double-digit growth throughout the forecast period.

"Although there will not be a significant recovery of the Chinese smartphone market in 2023, we have observed signals of consumer confidence returning, which will be a good time for vendors to implement their latest branding and product strategies," said Amber Liu, an analyst from market consultancy Canalys.

While there are an increasing number of suppliers for foldable displays, hinges and other key components, device vendors are highlighting innovative engineering solutions and product designs for a better user experience while constantly pushing down prices, Liu added.

Chen Jun, vice-president and chief analyst of Sigmaintell, a Beijing-based market research firm, estimated the sales of foldable mobile phones in China will reach 6 million units this year, an increase of 110 percent year-on-year.

He added the production costs of foldable phones have dropped significantly along with technological advances in flexible screens, but there won't be a sharp decline in the prices given that terminal device makers need to consider the maturity of supply chains and their profitability.