For most of the western market, Huawei may no longer be a brand that people talk about. With the company facing sanctions from the US government and its allies, Huawei’s operations have been negatively affected. But it looks like the company is bouncing back, especially in the foldables market where Huawei has dethroned Samsung.
This is according to a report from Counterpoint Research. According to their latest figures, Huawei is now the biggest foldable phones maker in the world. In Q1 2023, Huawei commanded 14% of the market. This was but a fraction of Samsung’s own market share which stood at 58% at that time.
Interestingly, for Q1 2024, the tables have turned. It seems that Huawei now commands a whopping 35% of the foldables market, while Samsung has dropped to 23%. This is quite an insane 180 because if the numbers are accurate, Samsung has lost more than 30% of the market to its competitors.
In a way we can’t say we’re too surprised. Many of Samsung’s competitors have put out foldable phones that are more affordable. The Motorola Razr 2023 is a good example, where if you’re more interested in the form factor rather than pure performance, it is an excellent alternative.
This is also why we’re not surprised to hear the rumors that Samsung could be working on a more affordable foldable handset. Samsung will announce its new foldable phones in an event rumored for July. Hopefully we’ll have more details about its cheaper foldable phone then.