Even though various Chinese smartphone makers have introduced their foldable phones off late in the market, Samsung is still the undisputed leader amongst all. It's Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are already third-generation foldable devices and have the maximum exposure compared to any other foldable phone.
While both the phones might give a tough competition to other phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 seems to be the most preferred phone with a foldable display as of now.
Samsung is contributing to over 88% of foldable smartphones and has sold over 10 million foldable phones as of now. According to research by Omdia, out of all the devices with a flexible display that Samsung sells, Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the clear winner with a market share of over 52% which roughly translates to over 4.6 million. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 with 2.5 million units sold is 2021’s second most favoured foldable phone.
The research also states that the demand for foldable phones is on an all-time high and the industry has seen a 309 percent uptick – which is driven by Samsung’s latest foldable devices that launched in Q3 2021.
In contrast to Samsung’s numbers, Huawei is in second place with a market share of 10 percent after selling 900,000 units in 2021.
Other brands including Xiaomi, Oppo and Honor have launched their foldable phones already, though most of them are limited to China. Xiaomi is reportedly working on its second-generation foldable phone as a follow up to the Mi Mix Fold which hasn’t been able to get the cash registers ringing as of now.
Oppo has claimed that it has been able to solve the problem of the crease in a foldable display and even though it uses a Samsung display on Oppo Find N, the company boasts it as the best foldable phone right now. Its sub-brands like OnePlus and Realme are also rumoured to be working on a foldable phone each.
Affordability and practical usability are the keys
While foldable displays are the holy grail for productivity, the success of a compact foldable phone tells you that consumers are more inclined towards an affordable solution.
The fact that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is pricier and has massive displays, might make users prefer the clamshell design which offers better protection to the foldable display.
That being said, even Motorola introduced a couple of foldable phones with a flip design – however, both didn’t succeed. Both the Moto Razr and Moto Razr 5G came with a lot of compromises and had plenty of rough edges compared to the Galaxy Z Flip 3 which comes with flagship internals.
We can expect the competition to intensify in the second half of this year as more brands, including Google, are likely to come up with their foldable phones, however, challenging Samsung might be a difficult task.
The South Korean company enjoys the dual advantage of being an early adopter as well as the supplier of one of the most important components of a foldable phone i.e. the display. Both the aspects along with its increased focus on foldable phones can help the South Korean smartphone maker to bring the costs down making the phones affordable thus increasing sales multifold.
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3: how deep are your pockets?
