Huawei Is Slowly Catching Up To Samsung In The Global Foldable Smartphone Market

When you think of foldable smartphones, you probably think of Samsung. But in the future, that could change. According to Counterpoint Research’s latest data, it seems that Huawei is experiencing explosive growth in the foldables category. The data suggests that for 2024, Huawei experienced a 54% growth in the global foldable market, while Samsung dipped by 33%.

Huawei’s foldable growth

However, keep in mind that despite Huawei’s growth, Samsung is still the dominant force in the global foldable market. The company still commands a majority of the market, but Huawei’s growth could threaten it. This is despite the fact that Huawei is banned from major markets like the US. This goes to show the buying power of China and other markets, such as Asia, where Huawei is still extremely popular.

Huawei has been innovating in the foldable space. The company launched the world’s first tri-fold smartphone, something Samsung is reportedly trying to emulate later this year. Huawei also launched its new Pura X foldable. This oddly shaped foldable is a hybrid of a book-style foldable and a clamshell foldable. However, its price isn’t too unreasonable, which could encourage more people to check it out.

Apple’s upcoming foldable

Interestingly enough, the report also offers a forecast for 2026. It includes Apple in the list, where it suggests that the Cupertino company could end up taking a huge slice of the foldable pie.

Apple is rumored to launch its own foldable smartphone in 2026. It is a book-style foldable with an aspect ratio similar to that of the iPad. This means that iPad apps should have no problems running on the device. However, this is contingent on Apple allowing iPad apps to run on iOS.

As it stands, iPad users have the option of using some iPhone apps on their tablets. It’s not ideal, but it’s there in a pinch if you need it. Hopefully, Apple will introduce some kind of software update that will allow the same for iPhone users, too. This will make the foldable iPhone a lot easier to adopt, especially if users know that there are a ton of apps that are ready and optimized for it.

The foldable iPhone is rumored to launch in 2026 and cost $2,000. This is significantly higher than Samsung’s foldable. Of course, customers will have to pay the “Apple tax”—this is an Apple product, after all.