Samsung Electronics Achieves 64% Foldable Phone Market Share in Q3, Widens Gap with China's Huawei

Record-High Global Foldable Shipments
Samsung's Market Share Rises from 56% to 64%... Huawei Holds at 15%
Apple to Enter Market Next Year... Samsung Responds with 'Tri-Fold'

Samsung Electronics has solidified its dominance in the global foldable phone market, recording a 64% market share in the third quarter.

According to a report from Counterpoint Research released on December 6, Samsung's market share of foldable phone shipments in the third quarter increased by 8 percentage points compared to the same period last year. In the third quarter of last year, Samsung held a 56% share, creating a 41 percentage point gap with second-place Huawei at 15%. This year, Samsung's share rose to 64%, while Huawei remained at 15%, widening the gap between the two companies to 49 percentage points.

Samsung Electronics operated 'The Galaxy UNFOLDERS' experience zone throughout COEX in Seoul last July. The photo shows visitors at 'The Galaxy UNFOLDERS' experience zone at COEX Seoul taking 'New Face Selfies' using the large screen of the Galaxy Z Fold7 and the cover display of the Galaxy Z Flip7. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

In the third quarter, Motorola ranked third in the global foldable phone market with a 7% share, followed by Honor at 6%, Vivo at 4%, and Xiaomi at 2%. The report analyzed, "Global foldable smartphone shipments in the third quarter increased by 14% year-on-year, marking the highest quarterly performance ever," and added, "The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 series served as the biggest growth driver."

Foldable products accounted for 2.5% of total smartphone shipments. Counterpoint Research predicted that next year, as manufacturers improve overall product quality and as Apple enters the foldable phone market for the first time, premium demand will accelerate market growth even further.

A Counterpoint Research representative stated, "Samsung's first tri-fold model will be released in extremely limited quantities, but scaling up is not the goal." The representative added, "When Apple enters the market next year, the competitive landscape will change significantly, and Samsung will solidify its leadership in multi-folding technology with its tri-fold (double-folding structure) model."