Counterpoint: European foldable market to grow sharply
Interestingly, the main sales driver is book-style devices, and not flip-style ones. Book-style foldable sales increased 60% year-on-year (YoY) in 2024. And yet, book-style foldables still only represent around 1% of the overall smartphone market.
In 2022, Samsung took 98% of the foldable device market in Europe, but by the end of 2023 its share shrunk to 73% as Honor, Google, OnePlus, and Tecno entered the market. This trend continued in 2024, with the largest impact being made by Honor.
And so, in 2024, Samsung only had 50% of the market, despite growing its sales by 10%. In second place was Honor, at 34% share, with a whopping 377% growth YoY. Google was third with 9% and 72% growth, Oppo was in fourth with 4% of the pie and a 10% growth, and Tecno rounded out the top five with 2% share after an 88% growth.
Its market share collapse in Europe may in part explain why Samsung decided to actually make the Galaxy Z Fold7 more competitive this year, but the Honor Magic V5 is coming to Europe this month and will bring the fight right back to Samsung. Google's Pixel 10 Pro Fold is expected to be released in October, and the big elephant in the room is Apple, now rumored to release its first folding iPhone in late 2026.
Thus, CR expects foldables "to take an increasingly larger share of the premium segment from next year". In the first half of this year, foldable sales in Europe dropped on account of there being no new releases, but this should change in the second half and the growth should accelerate in 2026. By 2028, CR predicts foldable smartphone sales will reach almost 4 million per year in Europe, surpassing 2% of total smartphone sales for the first time in history.
And when it comes to the premium segment alone (defined as devices selling for $800 and above), foldables are said to reach almost 10% of sales, potentially even higher in key markets like the UK and Germany. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7
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