The battle for foldables has crowned its new leader.
HUAWEI edges out Samsung as the global market leader in the foldable smartphone market. With the Chinese tech giant garnering an impressive 31.2%, beating out Samsung’s 26.7%, despite an overall 18% year-over-year decline.
Explaining Samsung’s downfall
There are quite a few reasons why Samsung, which led the popularization of foldables with the first Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, seemed to have lost its way over the years.
First, recent foldables from Samsung have been the subject of stagnation, as the South Korean tech giant shifted its focus to AI-powered features rather than equipping the devices with cutting-edge hardware.
And this doesn’t just apply to foldables. Samsung’s more recent device, the S25 series, was met with underwhelming reception because of its incremental upgrade over its predecessor.
Second, ever since the release of the first Z Fold, there have been quite a number of foldables on the market. Every phone manufacturer nowadays has their own foldable. Heck, even Apple is rumored to release a foldable sometime in the future.
Third, the largest market for foldables is found in the Asia-Pacific region. And yes, both manufacturers do hail from this region; however, because of China’s immense size, not just in terms of population but also in economy, we think that China made up a chunk of those sales.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
HUAWEI has also been aggressive with their development of foldables. Just recently, the company held its global launch for the first-ever tri-foldable smartphone on the market, the HUAWEI Mate XT.Â
The device features a mind-bending 10.2-inch display and a sleek 3.6mm profile when unfolded without compromising on battery life and performance. It just goes to show how HUAWEI was able to take the reins in the global foldable market.
Samsung’s swan song
Samsung is expected to release its follow-ups for the Z Fold and Z Flip series with a tri-fold smartphone called the Galaxy G Fold in the pipeline. But, do you it’ll be enough to turn the tide?
If you liked this article, try reading our other articles on foldable smartphones.