This one Samsung foldable is more popular than every other folding phone combined

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
(Image credit: Future)

The foldable phone market used to be a small niche for just the richest buyers, but it's rapidly getting bigger, and new stats illustrate just the scale of that growth.

Display experts DSCC have published a report on the foldable phone market, looking at 'Q1 2022' or January to March this year. It's been the third-best quarter ever for this kind of mobile, though it struggled behind the Christmas period of 2021.

But there's a clear winner here in terms of shipments: it's the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3, which hoovered up a 51% market share, beating out the Z Flip 3 (which was second place) and the Huawei P50 Pocket (which was third). 

Those three mobiles together made up 91% of shipments with older flagships from Samsung and Huawei, and the likes of the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold and Oppo Find N left to pick up the pieces.

Clamshells (like the Flip and P50 Pocket) were the big winners, getting 70% of the market share, despite those two devices being the only new models in the category.


Analysis: the buyers have spoken

There are lots of numbers flying around, but foldable phone manufacturers likely are getting some major takeaways from this news.

First, clamshells are clearly popular, and with these stats in mind, it doesn't really make sense that only Samsung, Huawei, and Motorola are making these devices - and the latter didn't put out a foldable in 2022.

We'll likely see more companies, like Xiaomi, Honor, and Oppo, look to this form factor.

There's a big benefit in clamshells, and that's in the price department: Samsung's Z Flip 3 was positioned as a budget alternative to the Z Fold 3, and that's because of the sizes. Smaller clamshells just don't require as big screens or as numerous components as their big siblings, and so cost less to buy.

One other small point of interest is that the three phones that made up 91% of foldable phone sales are some of the rare examples of folding devices that went on sale on a global market. Plenty of devices, like the Honor Magic V, Oppo Find N, and Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold, only went on sale in China, and all those exclusive devices clearly made up less than 9% of the sales.

Many companies are likely now realizing that they'll have to expand their scope in order to avoid losing the foldable phone race.

So overall, if companies bear these stats in mind, there could be more choices in clamshell phones, and foldables will ultimately be more affordable.

TOPICS
Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford joined TechRadar in early 2019 as a staff writer, and left the team as deputy phones editor in late 2022 to work for entertainment site (and TR sister-site) What To Watch. He continues to contribute on a freelance basis for several sections including phones, audio and fitness.

Read more
The Huawei Mate XT official imagey
Tri-folds aren't experiments or fads, they're the future foldable devices need
2 Oppo Find N5 devices one open and one mostly closed showing inner display and rear cameras
The best foldable phones 2025: all the top flip phones and foldable tablet phones
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 front angled closed
I want to see a cheaper folding phone, but now is not the right time – here's why
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
More details of the Samsung tri-fold phone have leaked – as the Huawei Mate XT tri-fold gets a global launch
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 in blue
Move over Samsung Galaxy S25, Samsung’s most exciting 2025 launches will be its 4 rumored foldables
A tease of Samsung's product roadmap
Samsung just teased a tri-fold folding phone at Galaxy Unpacked 2025
Latest in Samsung Phones
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could have even smaller bezels - and that could mean an even bigger display
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra on an orange background
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is still full price and I don't know what Samsung's playing at
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
Will Samsung's new Galaxy AI features come to older devices? Here's what we know
'Circle to Search' on a Galaxy S25 Ultra can now identify a song you sing, hum, or play.
Samsung’s clever new ‘Circle to Search’ trick could help you figure out that song that is stuck in your head
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
We celebrate the Samsung Galaxy S25 launch event with a special episode of our podcast
Samsung Galaxy S24 hands on handheld back straight white
Samsung Galaxy S25 AI leak teases major Gemini upgrades and new morning briefings
Latest in News
Brad Pitt looks over his right shoulder with 'F1' written behind him
Apple Original Films will take you behind-the-scenes of a racing cockpit in this new thrilling F1 movie trailer
AI writer
Coding AI tells developer to write it himself
Reacher looking down at another character from the Prime Video TV series Reacher
Reacher season 3 becomes Prime Video’s biggest returning show thanks to Hollywood’s biggest heavyweight
Image showing detail of the Leica D-Lux 8
Still can't get a Fujifilm X100VI? This premium Leica compact costs less, and it's in stock
Man using iMessage on an iPhone
Apple will finally enable encrypted RCS messages between iOS and Android, and it's about time
Google Messages update
Google Messages could soon follow WhatsApp with an upgrade that makes it much easier to join group chats