What you need to know
- Huawei led the global shipment of foldable phones for the first time in the first quarter of 2024.
- The company overtook Samsung, the previous shipping leader, because it was concerned that Samsung is becoming complacent with its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip brands.
- Honor and Motorola found success outside China, indicating that North American brands are struggling to attract buyers.
According to the latest reports from analyst firms Counterpoint Research and IDC, the smartphone industry appears to have fully recovered after a period of decline. The overall market is expected to grow by four percent year-on-year, with foldable phones in particular showing widespread shipment growth. The interesting part of the data, which is based on Q1 2024 shipping results, is that the largest foldable players in North America are not the ones growing.
If you’ve been following the foldable phone market in the US, this probably isn’t too surprising. For years, Samsung was the only major manufacturer to make foldable phones widely available in North America, and that only recently changed with the rise of Google and OnePlus last year. It may not be entirely true to call the sector competitive. OnePlus reportedly has no plans to release a OnePlus Open successor anytime soon, and the Google Pixel Fold is still a flawed device. Then you have Samsung, a company that seems to be resting on its laurels with the Z Fold and Z Flip brands.
With that context in mind, it makes sense that other brands would overtake Samsung in terms of foldable shipments and growth. For the first time, Huawei is the leader, which may be shocking for North American users. Foreign brands are not only winning in China either. Companies like Honor and Motorola are finding success in other regions. All of this will put a lot of pressure on brands working to improve in the North American market, especially Samsung with the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 series.
What the numbers say
The figures for foldable shipments in the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 provided by Counterpoint paint two very different pictures. Last year, Samsung dominated the first quarter, accounting for 58% of all foldable phone shipments worldwide. This is important to remember because Samsung’s decline in the first quarter of 2024 cannot be attributed to the release cycles of the Z Fold and Z Flip. While Samsung is likely to find success after launching the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, the company performed much better last year under the same circumstances.
Flash forward to the first quarter of this year and the situation is completely reversed. Samsung’s foldable phone shipments fell 42% year-over-year, and the company accounted for just 23% of global shipments in the first quarter of 2024. By comparison, Huawei’s shipments grew a whopping 257% year-over-year, leaving it company could claim the spot with a 35% share of global shipments.
In addition to the movement among manufacturers, the type of foldable phones being purchased is also changing. In the first quarter of 2024, book-style foldable phones represented 55% of all foldable phones sold. It’s the first time since 2021 that foldable book-style books have generated more sales than foldable clamshell products. Taken together, all data suggests that consumers around the world are purchasing different foldable products than those sold in North America.
Honor and Motorola win outside China
Huawei is an interesting case because while we cannot discredit the company’s success, it is impossible to talk about it without taking into account government sanctions. Tensions between the US and China have made it difficult or impossible to purchase and use Huawei devices outside of China. In some ways, it’s more impressive that Huawei is finding success despite trade restrictions. However, in this context, Huawei is not Real compete with North American brands.
Honor and Motorola, on the other hand, are finding success outside China. Both companies experienced expansive growth between the first quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024. Motorola’s foldable phone count is up a whopping 1,473% year-over-year, thanks to last year’s Razr Plus and Razr 2023 devices. Honor’s shipments are up 460% year-over-year, which is still a hugely impressive figure. According to Counterpoint, Honor’s Magic V2 foldable phone was the best-selling foldable phone in Western Europe in the first quarter of 2024.
Samsung’s Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 are both natural competitors to the Honor Magic V2 and the Motorola Razr respectively. The fact that consumers are switching to Honor and Motorola phones instead just shows how Samsung is falling behind.
This isn’t surprising, given the state of North American foldables
Samsung was the first to really make folding phones mainstream and has been the market leader in foldable phones since the beginning. However, it is clear that Samsung’s foldable products no longer offer the most advanced technologies. The last time we really saw an upgrade to a Z Fold device was with the Z Fold 3, as the Z Fold 4 and Z Fold 5 were both iterative improvements. Other phones have completely caught up, with the Honor Magic V2 offering a form factor that’s about as thin as a slab-style phone.
There’s no better example of this than the OnePlus Open, which essentially entered the US market as a copy of the OPPO Find N3. The OnePlus Open is widely considered the best foldable phone in the US, and that’s thanks to OPPO’s technology. If Samsung – the South Korean electronics giant that has dominated the North American foldable market – wants to return to the top, its future foldable products will need to be able to compete with those from Chinese brands.