Global foldable phone shipments were up 49% YoY in Q1, marking its highest rate of increase in six quarters; Huawei led with a 35% share, overtaking Samsung
this company is Hannes Brecher / Notebookcheck : Samsung loses lead in foldables market after 42% slump in sales X: Prakash Sangam / @mytechmusings : Guess who has the highest global market share in #foldables - @Huawei! Is @SamsungMobile, after inventing the category, losing it to its Chinese rivals? #GalaxyZFold4 was a markee product (my review - https://www.tantraanalyst.com/ ...). #GalaxyFold5 hardly had any major updates. That's [image] Noah Cat / @cartidise : Happy to see the growth of brands like Motorola, Honor, and Huawei. Samsung deserved the decline, tbh. They haven't done any breakthrough innovation in Z Fold in a long time. Even the Z Fold6 seems very underwhelming. Meanwhile, Vivo, Honor, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Motorola are doing things like - Making the device thinner - larger batteries than slab phones - more robust hinges - affordable prices Ross Young / @dsccross : Like we predicted 3 months ago... @counterpointtr : Just published: @Huawei Captures Top Spot in Q1 2024 Global Foldable Smartphone Shipments on 5G Support Key takeaways: - Global foldable smartphone shipments were up 49% YoY in Q1 2024, driven by Huawei, @Honorglobal and @Moto. - #Huawei's #5G transition in #foldables allowed [image]
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a sharp reversal from the category’s earlier concentration: Samsung accounted for 93% of foldable shipments in the 2021 shipment record, while Huawei held a much smaller position. By 2023, foldables still represented only 1.3% of the smartphone market, despite roughly 16 million units sold, leaving meaningful room for share shifts among vendors.
Huawei’s Q1 lead matters less as proof of mass-market maturity than as evidence that foldables are no longer a Samsung-defined segment. The reported growth was driven by Huawei alongside Honor and Motorola, while Samsung’s sales decline coincided with a more competitive set of designs and prices.
First-order effects
- Huawei becomes the Q1 shipment leader with a 35% share, while Samsung loses the position after its reported sales decline.
- Honor, Motorola, and Huawei gain immediate validation for foldables positioned around thinner hardware, larger batteries, stronger hinges, and lower prices.
Second-order effects
- Samsung faces pressure to make its foldable lineup more competitive on hardware updates and pricing as Chinese rivals and Motorola demonstrate that category growth need not accrue to the former leader.
- A broader vendor mix gives component and manufacturing partners more customer options, reducing the category’s earlier dependence on Samsung’s dominant shipment position.
Third-order effects
- If these gains persist, foldables may develop as a contested premium-phone segment rather than a single-vendor showcase, with differentiation moving toward durability, battery capacity, form factor, and price.
- The category’s relatively small 2023 base means strong quarterly growth can coexist with limited overall smartphone penetration; sustained adoption will depend on whether the new competition expands demand beyond existing premium buyers.
The trend: Foldables are shifting from an early Samsung-led niche toward a more fragmented competition in which Chinese brands and Motorola use product refinement and pricing to contest share.