The global foldable smartphone market had a difficult start to 2026. Both shipments and revenue registered double-digit declines in the first quarter, according to the latest data from Smart Analytics Global. Yet within that challenging environment, Samsung managed to pull off one of its strongest performances in the foldable segment to date, nearly doubling its share of both shipments and revenue compared to the same period a year earlier.
Samsung's Foldable Surge The Numbers
Samsung's shipment share in the global foldable market grew from 14% in Q1 2025 to 25% in Q1 2026. Its value share the percentage of total foldable revenue it captured climbed even more impressively, rising from 16% in Q1 2025 to 31% in Q1 2026. That means Samsung now accounts for nearly a third of all money spent on foldable smartphones worldwide, a dramatic improvement from where it stood just twelve months ago.
What Drove Samsung's Growth
Two products were central to this performance: the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Galaxy Z Flip 7. Aggressive promotional activity in South Korea and Japan, two of Samsung's most important home markets for premium devices, helped drive volume significantly. Growing foldable demand in North America and parts of Europe also contributed to the gains.
Samsung also holds a structural advantage that its Chinese rivals cannot replicate. Unlike Huawei and other Chinese brands that generate the overwhelming majority of their foldable sales within China, Samsung's foldable lineup has a genuinely global distribution reach. Its access to the North American market in particular is something that Chinese manufacturers are currently locked out of, giving Samsung a lane for premium foldable growth that others simply cannot enter.
Huawei Still Leads But Is Losing Ground
Despite Samsung's impressive gains, Huawei retains the top position in global foldable market share. However, the gap is narrowing faster than anyone expected. Huawei's share dropped significantly from 54% in Q1 2025 to 40% in Q1 2026 a 14 percentage point decline in a single year.
Two factors are driving this decline. First, competition from rival Chinese foldable brands including HONOR has intensified considerably inside China, eating into the domestic demand that Huawei has historically dominated. Second, softening interest from premium buyers in China has put additional pressure on foldable volumes at the high end of the market, where Huawei's products are concentrated.
The situation creates an interesting dynamic going forward. Huawei's strength is almost entirely China-dependent, which means any weakness in Chinese premium demand directly impacts its global numbers. Samsung's strength, by contrast, is spread across multiple continents, giving it more resilience against any single market's ups and downs.
What This Means for the Rest of 2026
With the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8 expected to launch at a Galaxy Unpacked event in London on July 22, 2026, Samsung has a clear opportunity to extend its momentum in the second half of the year. If the new foldables can build on the channel and promotional strategies that worked in Q1 particularly in South Korea, Japan, and North America Samsung could close the gap with Huawei further by the end of 2026.
The broader foldable market declining in both volume and revenue is a concern for the category as a whole, but for Samsung specifically, gaining market share during a downturn is a strong signal. It suggests buyers who are spending on foldables are increasingly choosing Samsung over the alternatives, even as the overall pool of foldable buyers temporarily shrinks.
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