Samsung is the most active company in the foldable smartphone market and always holds the highest market share. However, recently Samsung has officially been surpassed in this segment.
Samsung was one of the pioneers in the foldable smartphone segment in 2019, with the launch of the first Galaxy Fold. Since then, Samsung has been steadily launching new foldable smartphone models in the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip product lines.
Actively operating in the foldable smartphone market has helped Samsung always be the leader in terms of sales in this segment, despite the fact that many major smartphone companies have also joined the race with their own foldable smartphone models, such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Motorola, Google...
However, recently, the throne in the foldable smartphone segment has changed hands, when Samsung was surpassed by another competitor. The name that defeated Samsung in the foldable smartphone segment is Huawei.
According to a report by market research firm Counterpoint Research, the foldable smartphone market "exploded" in the first 3 months of 2024, when sales increased by 49% compared to the same period last year.
Counterpoint Research's report chart on the foldable smartphone market in Q1/2024 (Photo: Counterpoint Research).
Huawei is one of the companies with the strongest sales growth in the foldable smartphone market, with an increase of up to 257% compared to the same period in 2023, which has helped Huawei capture 35% market share, surpassing Samsung and becoming the new "king" in the foldable smartphone market.
This is considered a surprise, especially when Huawei is under a US government embargo and is not allowed to buy new generation 5G chips from US companies, especially Qualcomm. This causes Huawei's newly launched foldable smartphones to only support 4G connectivity, instead of 5G, losing competitiveness compared to other competitors in the market.
While the top names in the foldable smartphone market all saw increased sales in the first quarter of 2024, Samsung was the only company with a decline in sales.
In the first 3 months of 2024, Samsung's foldable smartphone sales dropped by 42%, causing the Korean technology company to only account for 23% of the market share, pushing it down to 2nd place in the foldable smartphone market.
More and more users choose to buy foldable screen smartphones because of the advantages of large screens and diverse designs and features (Photo: Getty).
Motorola was the fastest growing company in the foldable smartphone market last quarter, with a 1,473% year-on-year increase, helping Motorola capture 11% of the market share and rank 4th among the world's largest foldable smartphone companies .
Chinese phone maker Honor also had a booming quarter in the foldable smartphone market, with sales increasing by 460% compared to the first three months of 2023, helping Honor hold 12% market share and become the world's third largest foldable smartphone maker.
Counterpoint Research's report shows that the demand for foldable smartphones is increasing, in the context of traditional smartphone models becoming saturated in design and features. Meanwhile, foldable smartphone models are showing advantages in large screen size and diversity in design.