Samsung has officially lost its crown in the foldable market

Foldables are still a new concept, but they have improved a lot over the years they have been on the market. Samsung has been the leader in foldables since the beginning, but the company hasn’t officially lost its crown as competition heats up and Galaxy foldables stagnate.

For years, Samsung has been a dominant player in the foldable device market. This is largely because Galaxy foldables existed on their own, as other brands were quite behind with the new technology. As of the first quarter of 2023, Samsung had captured just under 60% of the global foldable market, with its next closest competitor being Huawei with just 14%.

Today, things have changed radically.

A new report from Search for counterpoint reveals that Samsung has fallen to just 23% of the global foldable market, with Huawei the new market leader with 35% of total shipments. This is also because the foldable market as a whole has grown by just under 50%.

The other two big players are Motorola at 11% and Honor at 12%. Both brands saw massive growth over the course of 2023, likely thanks to devices like the Razr+ and Magic V2, both of which were compelling foldables in their own respects.

All of this comes as last year’s Galaxy foldable wallet, the Fold 5 and Flip 5, were rather minor improvements over their predecessors. Aside from the Flip 5’s much larger cover screen, Samsung hasn’t changed much when it comes to the physical hardware or even software of its foldable devices. And meanwhile, competitors like Motorola, Honor, Google, and Oppo/OnePlus were stepping up with different hardware, software, and camera improvements that Samsung wasn’t offering.

It’s also worth noting that book-style foldables like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Pixel Fold, and OnePlus Open are now the most popular form factor. 55% of devices shipped in Q1 2024 were book devices, with the rest being cases like the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr+.

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