Will Samsung Win The Foldable Phone Race”

The State Of The Foldable Market In 2024

It’s 2024 and the very first foldable phone will turn six years old later this year. That was the Royole Flexpai and the company released one sequel before vanishing off the face of the map. But for brands like Samsung, Motorola, and Huawei, who came into the foldable space in 2019, their foldable lines will turn five this year.

So, what does the marketplace look like for these brands five years after they got their toes in the ice-cold water of the segment? Well, it’s estimated that the foldable market was worth $27.7bn at the end of last year. Additionally, by the end of 2023, there were an estimated 18.3 million foldable phones shipped globally, which marked a 43% increase over 2022. The segment is only expected to keep fattening up too, with a 38% increase over 2023’s figures expected by the end of this year.

Now then, who are the players in the space? Well, there are a lot of major manufacturers that have tasted the waters of the foldable spring, and I’ve listed them below:

• Samsung
• Huawei
• Google
• Motorola
• OnePlus
• Vivo
• Oppo
• Honor
• Xiaomi
• Tecno
• ZTE
• Royole
• Microsoft

Besides Microsoft and Royole, every single one of the brands above released a foldable phone in 2023 or 2024, so that’s more than ten brands that are still actively involved. But as expected, not all of them can lay claim to the spotlight, and only a few command a global stage. The big players? Samsung, Huawei, Honor, and Oppo.

Market dominance fluctuates rather significantly with each quarter of the year, aligning with each brand’s release cycle for new devices. As expected, in the third quarter of the year when Samsung released the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, their market share rocketed upwards, but with the release of the Huawei Mate X5 and the Honor Magic Vs2 around the turn of the quarter, those brands were able to steal back some market share.

Either way, even with the variability of the market, Samsung still has the lion’s share, and at no point during the entire year did the Korean brand lose their crown (it was close in Q2 though when there was approximately a 4% difference between the brands.

Samsung Offers Multiple Foldable Options And May Offer Even More This Year

2024 is bound to be a very different year for Samsung in terms of sales. When you look at the smartphone companies that grace the market, you’ll notice something interesting. Most of them focus on book-style foldables (and companies like Motorola break the trend and focus solely on clamshell foldables). However, there are very few of these brands that make both types. Among them, you’ll find only Samsung, Huawei, and Oppo (Tecno too, but they’re not as battle-tested in foldables as the others).

Now, Samsung is positioned pretty differently from the others because it’s the only one of the bunch that consistently releases both foldable form factors at the same time each year. I think this helps consumers a lot because you can take the foldable that fits your taste better, without needing to wait until later in the year. Of course, having multiple options helps keep their market share nice and chunky, which is why it is unsurprising that Huawei and Oppo are also Top 4 brands. Nothing we consumers love more than choice.

However, this year, Samsung’s foldable model count is rumored to go from two to four. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6 are both expected to have lower-priced models, and that right there, may be a killer move from Samsung.

Foldables are still very very expensive compared to regular bar-type smartphones, and pricing them similar to regular flagships (even without flagship specs) would make them a lot more attractive to the average consumer. If Samsung pulls this off and actually brings a sub-$1,000 Z Fold 6 model as the reports suggest, they might just win the foldable race.

Credit Where Credit Is Due: What Are The Competitors Doing Better?

But while there’s a lot of praise for Samsung’s chess moves in the market, we can’t help but give props to the things that the competitors are doing better than Samsung.

First off, the designs. It is hard to say that the sleekest foldable designs belong to Samsung. What you think about how a phone looks is entirely subjective, but it’s hard to see devices like the Honor Magic V2 and think the Z Fold 5 looks better than it. On top of that, Chinese manufacturers are winning the thinness race. The aforementioned Honor is the first sub-10mm foldable when closed.

On top of that, Samsung needs to improve its charging tech. I feel like foldables should feel like the cutting edge of technology because they’re meant to be. But the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 only support 25W of fast charging, even in a universe where Samsung’s maximum is a meager 45W. They’ve got to do better there. And then the cameras. All I ask is that Samsung bring us proper flagship-grade cameras because their competitors have spec sheets that make me drool, but Samsung has yet to hit that mark.

Hopefully, the competition will help Samsung sit up. But either way, they’re the big boss of the foldable market, and that isn’t likely to change.