Foldables: market set to shrink – Will Apple make a comeback in 2026?
Business with foldable smartphones will grow moderately as early as 2024, even declining in 2025. Apple offers hope - but not until next year.
Foldable symbol image: Is Apple involved?
(Image: Shutterstock AI)
The market for foldables is quite special: smartphones with a foldable OLED screen, which appear very futuristic at first glance, are currently only available with an Android operating system and are often quite expensive –. Interested parties pay €1600 and more (ab 1529 €) for current models. However, business has not really taken off recently: market researchers already suggested last December that the sector may have had its best days. A new study by Counterpoint Research has now come to a similar conclusion: Before things get better with foldables, they will get worse – and Apple could soon play an important role.
Apple to rejuvenate the market
The market researchers write that after a small increase of 2.9 percent last year, the global foldable market could even – be in negative territory for the first time ever – for the full year 2025. “We predict single-digit negative growth for 2025,” says Counterpoint. However, there could be another change of direction in 2026. The reason for this is Apple: the rumor mill expects the iPhone manufacturer to finally launch its first foldable smartphone on the market in autumn next year – after years of speculation to this effect. The industry is apparently already preparing for this, as the order books indicate, according to the report.
The poorer figures this year are “definitely not a sign that the market has peaked”, said analyst Jene Park optimistically. Rather, it is a sign of a restructuring before 2026, when the segment will be “excitingly rejuvenated” with the market entry of Apple and a series of new clamshell models.
Chinese companies dominate
This is interesting, also because market observers believe that Apple will break the price barrier of 2,000 euros for the standard model with the first iPhone Foldable.
In 2024, Chinese manufacturers in particular were ahead in the foldable segment. While Samsung had a weak fourth quarter, Motorola, Honor, Xiaomi and Huawei did better. However, some top models are only being brought to Europe with a delay or not at all. This includes Huawei's bi-fold device Mate XT – and Honor's particularly thin Magic V3 was also launched a little later.
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