In a stunning fold of technology fate, Huawei Technologies has usurped Samsung Electronics to claim the throne as the world’s best-selling foldable smartphone brand in the first quarter of this year. Yes, you heard it right—the US-sanctioned Chinese giant has risen to the top of the foldable charts, leaving Samsung in its wake, according to the latest data from research firm Counterpoint.
Huawei, based in Shenzhen, has seen an astronomical 257% year-on-year increase in its foldable smartphone shipments for the first three months of the year. To put it in perspective, in the same period last year, Samsung was ruling the roost with a whopping 58% share of the global foldable smartphone market, while Huawei was barely scraping by with 14%. Fast forward to this year, and Samsung’s share has plummeted to 23%, while Huawei’s has skyrocketed to 35%, according to Counterpoint.
The secret sauce behind Huawei’s meteoric rise? Their new 5G models. Counterpoint’s data reveals that a staggering 84% of Huawei’s foldable shipments in the March quarter were 5G-enabled. This is a massive leap from last year when Huawei’s foldable offerings were stuck in 4G LTE limbo. Huawei’s booklet-type Mate X5 and the clamshell-type Pocket 2 have become the darlings of the foldable world in China, driving this surge in shipments.
Last year, Huawei staged a dramatic comeback in the high-end 5G handset market with the unexpected launch of its Mate 60 Pro series in August. This launch not only sparked intense speculation about the source of the device’s advanced system-on-a-chip (SoC) under stringent US tech export restrictions but also ignited a wave of patriotic fervor that sent Huawei’s domestic sales soaring.
Huawei’s resurgence didn’t stop there. In the first quarter, the company reclaimed the top spot in China’s smartphone market, according to research firm IDC. Counterpoint also noted a nearly 70% year-on-year rise in Huawei’s smartphone shipments in China for that quarter, although it placed Huawei in fourth place globally, behind Vivo, Honor (Huawei’s budget spin-off brand), and Apple.
Despite the challenges in securing supplies of its self-designed 5G SoC, Huawei is likely to continue betting big on foldable smartphones. After all, these devices come with a higher price tag, making them a lucrative segment to dominate. And it seems Huawei’s gamble is paying off. The foldable smartphone market in China is booming, with shipments more than doubling to 7.01 million in 2023 from 3.2 million in 2022, according to an IDC report.
Globally, foldable smartphone shipments rose 49% year on year in the first quarter, largely thanks to Huawei, along with significant contributions from Honor and Lenovo Group-owned Motorola, which saw shipments grow by an eye-popping 460% and 1,473%, respectively, according to Counterpoint.
So, in the world of foldable smartphones, the times they are a-changin’. With Huawei leading the charge, the foldable future looks more exciting—and competitive—than ever.
(Source: Android Police | Business Korea | SCMP)
