Samsung retains its top spot even as global foldable smartphone market shrinks: Counterpoint report

Samsung leads foldable smartphone market globally: Global foldable smartphone market saw a one percent decline in shipments in the third quarter of 2024 after six consecutive quarters of growth. The category saw a decline primarily due to the underwhelming performance of Samsung's Galaxy Z 6 series foldable smartphones, which include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.

According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung maintained its lead in the foldable smartphone market capturing a 56 percent of the market share. Despite this, the company's shipment saw a 21 percent decline year-on-year. For comparison, the company captured 70 percent market in the third quarter of 2023.

"The decline in global market share was partly due to growing foldable demand and contribution from China, where Samsung has a comparatively small presence with only 8% foldables share in Q3 2024 compared to being the undisputed leader globally (ex-China) with 82% share," Counterpoint wrote in its report.

Samsung was followed by Huawei, which saw an increase of 23 percent in its market share year-on-year. The company captured 15 percent of the foldable smartphone market share. As per the report, Huawei's growth was primarily driven by the popularity of its Mate X5 and Pocket 2 foldable display smartphones in China.

Similarly, Honor and Motorola too witnessed a growth in their share in the foldable smartphone market. The two companies saw a growth of 121 percent and 164 percent year-on-year respectively.

Xiaomi, on the other hand, saw the highest year-on-year shipment growth of 185 percent in the global smartphone market. As per the report, this growth was primarily driven by the company launching its first clamshell-style foldable display smartphone, Mi Mix, making a debut outside China. "The brand’s global shipment share rose to 6% this quarter, its highest since entering the foldable market in Q1 2021," the report added.