TechInsights, Q1 Global Foldable Phone Market Survey
1st Huawei... 2nd Samsung Electronics, 3rd Honor
Samsung Electronics, the leader in foldable smartphones, has shockingly lost its top position in the global foldable phone market to Huawei in the first quarter of this year. On the 23rd, market research firm TechInsights announced that Huawei surpassed Samsung Electronics to take the number one spot in the global foldable phone market in Q1. Huawei grew by an astonishing 257% compared to the same period last year, overtaking Samsung. Following Huawei were Samsung Electronics and Honor, respectively.
Last September, visitors at a Huawei store in Beijing, China, were checking out the latest smartphone models, including the Mate 60 Pro. [Photo by EPA Yonhap News]
Huawei secured the top position in the foldable phone segment with vertically folding phones like the Fold type, which allowed it to lead the overall foldable phone market. Samsung’s market share in foldable phones decreased by 25% year-on-year, but it still maintained the top spot in the clamshell-type flip phone market, where phones fold horizontally.
By company, Motorola, under Lenovo, made significant strides with its clamshell foldable phone 'Razr' series, achieving an annual growth rate of a staggering 1260%. ▲Honor (+480%) ▲Vivo (+331%) ▲Xiaomi (+41%) also showed strong growth. On the other hand, the only companies whose market shares declined were Samsung Electronics (-25%) and Oppo (-75%).
The Chinese foldable phone market grew by 94% compared to the same period last year. As Chinese consumers began to prefer fold-type phones over flip-type, fold-type phones led the expansion of the overall foldable phone market. The North American foldable phone market also grew by 143% compared to the previous year, but unlike China, flip-type products remained dominant. In the North American market, Motorola overtook Samsung to take first place, with Samsung in second and OnePlus in third.
Samsung launched the world’s first foldable phone in 2019. Since then, Samsung’s market share reached 60-70%, but recently Chinese companies that copied Samsung’s products have been aggressively catching up. Samsung smartphones are particularly struggling in the Chinese market due to Chinese consumers’ 'patriotic consumption.' Even the iPhone is struggling in China. Once the number one in the Chinese smartphone market, the iPhone has fallen to fourth place. IDC reported that in Q1 this year, China’s Honor took first place in the Chinese smartphone market with 17.1%, followed by Huawei (17.0%), Oppo (15.7%), and Apple (15.6%).
Meanwhile, Samsung plans to unveil its next-generation foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Flip6 and Fold6, in Paris, France, on July 10. It is predicted that the Galaxy Z Flip6 and Fold6 will introduce new UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) to enhance screen durability and improve camera performance.
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