Global foldable smartphone market shrinks, as does Samsung’s piece of the pie

According to a new report, Samsung commands the biggest foldable(s) market share. However, Chinese tech giants such as Xiaomi, Huawei, and even Motorola are growing fast..

Samsung’s foldable(s) market share shrinks but the company still leads

The foldable smartphone market might not be brand new. However, it is fairly new compared to the candy bar designs.

According to a new report from Counterpoint, Samsung continues to lead the global foldable smartphone market. However, the company’s progression in this segment has sharply declined.

Xiaomi, Motorola, Honor, and Huawei witnessed massive shipment increases in Q3 2024, compared to the same period 12 months ago. The same cannot be said about Samsung.

Samsung currently holds a massive 56% of the global foldable smartphone market share. However, in Q3 2023, Samsung had cornered 70% of the market. Simply put, Samsung has witnessed a staggering 14% decline. This is concerning primarily because the company launched the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 without delays.

The Counterpoint research claims that on a year-on-year basis, Samsung saw a 21% drop in shipments. Incidentally, among the reputed brands, Samsung is the only company whose market share and device shipments seem to have declined.

Is the foldable smartphone market on an upward trajectory?

If individual brands and foldable smartphone manufacturers are considered, the foldable(s) market seems to be growing. For example, Huawei witnessed a 23% YoY jump in the Q3 2024 global foldable shipments. The Chinese company controls 15% of the global foldable(s) market share.

At a whopping 185%, Xiaomi achieved the highest YoY shipment growth, largely due to its foldable MIX Flip. Motorola too managed a massive growth of 164%, followed by HONOR, registering a 121% growth in shipments of foldable(s).

Despite the seemingly rosy picture, the foldable(s) market isn’t growing steadily. According to Counterpoint research, the worldwide foldable sector has gone down by 1%. This marks the market’s first-ever Q3 decline ever since analysts started tracking the foldable(s) segment.