Kolon Industries Expands Widely into Chinese Foldable Phone Market with CPI Film

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Kolon Industries is accelerating the popularization of foldable phones in the Chinese market with its self-developed transparent PI film, CPI film, thereby securing a leading position in the cover window market.

Kolon Industries announced on the 3rd that CPI film was applied to the cover window of Xiaomi's recently released foldable phone, Mi Mix Fold. Kolon Industries' CPI film holds an almost 90% market share in the foldable display material market for smartphones and laptops in China, including Xiaomi, ranking first in the cover window market excluding ultra-thin glass.

The newly released Mi Mix Fold is the first foldable phone introduced by Xiaomi, a global smartphone manufacturer from China. Starting with a release of 30,000 units, the company aims to sell a total of 500,000 units this year. Notably, the Mi Mix Fold is priced at 9,999 yuan (approximately 1.72 million KRW), offering price competitiveness compared to existing foldable phones, which is expected to trigger fierce competition in the global foldable phone market.

CPI film has advantages such as better price competitiveness and no risk of breakage compared to ultra-thin glass for cover windows, and it can realize quality optimized to customer requirements. Xiaomi's adoption of CPI film is evaluated to reflect these strengths. In particular, unlike ultra-thin glass for cover windows, CPI film supports the use of a stylus pen and has durability that prevents breakage even when applied to larger screens than smartphones, enabling expansion of its application to medium and large foldable displays such as tablets and laptops. It was already applied to Lenovo's foldable laptop, the world's first, released at the end of last year.

Display market research firm DSCC projected in its 2020 market research report that the supply volume of foldable displays will increase from about 3.3 million units in 2021 to about 41.1 million units in 2024. Considering that a large portion of global demand comes from China, Kolon Industries expects the annual growth rate of CPI film to reach approximately 60%.

Kim Jung-il, Head of the CPI Film Business Division, stated, "As various and complex form factors such as rollable phones, multi-folding, and medium-to-large foldable displays emerge, the demand for CPI film, which excels not only in price but also in design ease, processability, and durability, will increase. We will lead the market by developing products that surpass ultra-thin glass with the unique competitiveness of CPI film in line with the emergence of various product forms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.