Foldable market in Europe: hardly anyone wants them

Six years after the announcement of Samsung's first market-ready Galaxy Fold, the foldable market is still minuscule when compared to traditional smartphones. According to the latest figures from Counterpoint, it accounted for just 1.5% of smartphone sales in Europe in the first quarter of 2025. Sales increased by just four percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the previous year.

For a product segment that is potentially in an early growth phase, the almost non-existent increase is "a worrying sign," says Jan Stryjak from Counterpoint. "Despite all the attention that new foldable devices are getting, they are still too expensive to appeal to the mass market," Counterpoint continues. In addition, most customers are still not sure what a foldable smartphone is good for. Furthermore, many still have concerns about the durability and longevity of the devices.

With losses: Samsung remains the market leader in the foldable segment

Nevertheless, supply in the foldable market has increased and numerous manufacturers are offering products in this device category. In addition to Samsung, which has been serving the segment for the longest time with its Galaxy Fold series, Motorola, Honor, Google and others are also on board, some of which are growing massively.

Although Samsung remains the market leader for foldables in Europe with an impressive 41% share, the company has lost ground compared to the same quarter last year. In Q1 2024, the Group's market share was still 56%. According to Counterpoint, last year's second-placed manufacturer Honor has also lost market share and has to settle for third place. In second place is now Motorola, which appears to have done something right with its Razr series in flip format.

With growth of 265%, Google is in fourth place, followed by the rather unknown manufacturer Tecno, which has achieved growth of 336%. However, such large growth spurts only occur when a manufacturer enters a market for the first time and/or offers excellent devices. In Tecno's case, the fact that the manufacturer's foldables are relatively inexpensive plays a role. Google impressed with its Pixel 9 Pro Fold, but it is anything but cheap.

The foldable market is changing

According to Counterpoint, the European market for foldables is in flux. Samsung has dominated the segment for years, but the differences between the models were too small. This was not the case with competitors such as Honor or Motorola, who brought out foldables such as the Honor Magic V3 or Motorola Razr 50 and declared war on Samsung.

The competitors' models appeared more innovative and modern than a Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Flip 6. Samsung seems to have noticed this in the meantime and teased a new generation of foldables a few days ago, which are supposed to be thinner and "more premium".

However, the competition is not sleeping: Honor has published the first images of its Magic V5, which is so thin that there is hardly any room left for the USB-C port. Despite the device's thickness, Honor doesn't have to worry about the battery, as the manufacturer has been using silicon-carbon batteries for a while now, which have a higher energy density and can therefore pack more capacity into a smaller space.

Now manufacturers just need to reduce prices, make the devices more robust – which they are also working on – and find sensible uses for the device category.

(afl)