- Global foldable smartphone shipments up 49% in Q1 2024, driven by Huawei, Honor and Motorola.
- Honor and Motorola’s shipments outside of China rose sharply compared to a year ago.
- Book-type foldables are gaining popularity, with their shipments exceeding those of clamshells for the first time in 11 consecutive quarters.
Huawei overtakes Samsung to capture 35 per cent of the foldable smartphone market in the first quarter despite US sanctions.
Huawei’s transition to 5G in foldables was a key driver of its 257 per cent year-on-year growth in the quarter, according to Counterpoint Research.
A year ago, Huawei’s foldable portfolio consisted solely of LTE devices. However, by Q1 2024, the proportion of 5G-enabled foldables surged to 84 per cent of the brand’s total foldable shipments.
Launched in September last year, Huawei’s first 5G book-type foldable, the Mate X5, has been one of the bestsellers in Chinese market for three consecutive quarters.
In April 2024, Huawei also released its first clamshell model Pocket 2, significantly contributing to the Q1 shipments. Despite facing challenges in securing supplies for its self-developed 5G SoC , Huawei will continue to treat foldables as a priority, considering their higher price positioning.
In contrast to Huawei’s focus on the Chinese market, Honor and Motorola have achieved substantial shipment growth in overseas markets.
Honor’s global foldable market share jumped from 3 per cent a year ago to 12 per cent in Q1 2024, making it the third-largest player. Its shipments outside of China grew 12500 per cent YoY, driven by the slimmest infolding book-type model, the Honor Magic V2, which became the most shipped foldable phone in Western Europe in Q1 2024.
Similarly, Motorola increased its global market share to 11 per cent to rank fourth, with the Razr 40 (aka Razr 2023) becoming a top model in North America.
Samsung capturing the second spot with 23 per cent market share despite falling 42 per cent year on year.
Samsung aims to reclaim its market leadership with the upcoming Z Flip 6, which promises enhanced performance and reliability. Huawei is also setting aggressive targets for the clamshell market, planning to add a lower-priced model to its portfolio. Both Honor and Xiaomi are poised to enter the clamshell competition for the first time, intensifying the market dynamics.
The global foldable market grew 49 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2024, marking its highest rate of increase in six quarters, primarily driven by significant shipment increases at several Chinese OEMs,
In Q1 2024, book-type foldables accounted for 55 per cent of the global foldable market shipments, surpassing the clamshell type for the first time since 2021 when the foldable smartphone market began its notable growth following the release of the Samsung Galaxy Z flip 3.
The clamshell market, predominantly led by Samsung, has always enjoyed popularity due to its more accessible pricing, except in the Chinese market.