Huawei dominated the global foldable smartphone market in the second quarter of 2026, capturing a commanding 48% share of worldwide sales, far outpacing Samsung and leaving the South Korean tech giant in a distant second place just days before Samsung is set to unveil its next generation of foldable devices.
According to data from Smart Analytics Global, Huawei’s Q2 2026 foldable market share climbed from an already substantial 45% during the same period last year, while Samsung managed just 15% of global foldable sales between April and June of this year. The gap means Huawei alone sold more foldable devices during the quarter than Samsung, Motorola and Honor combined.
Why Samsung struggles despite its overall size
Samsung’s relatively poor showing in the foldable category stands in sharp contrast to its position as the world’s second-largest handset maker overall. That broader success stems largely from Samsung’s strong presence in markets such as India and Europe, but the foldable segment specifically remains heavily dependent on sales within China, a market where Samsung has consistently struggled to gain meaningful traction across its device lineup in recent years.
That dynamic has allowed Huawei, along with other Chinese manufacturers, to dominate the foldable category almost entirely on the strength of their home-market sales, a pattern that has persisted even as Samsung continues to compete effectively in traditional smartphone segments elsewhere around the world.
A closer battle for the remaining market share
Behind Huawei’s commanding lead, the competition for the remaining share of the global foldable market was considerably tighter. Samsung’s second-place finish was followed closely by Motorola, which captured 13% of worldwide foldable shipments, while Honor claimed a very close fourth-place finish with 12% market share, essentially matching the combined share held by the entire group of smaller “other” vendors in the category.
Honor emerges as the quarter’s biggest gainer
Despite Huawei’s overall dominance, neither Huawei nor Samsung represented the foldable market’s fastest-growing vendor during the quarter. That distinction belonged to Honor, whose foldable shipments surged 82% year-over-year, dramatically outpacing the more modest, though still solid, growth rates posted by Huawei and Samsung, at 4% and 25% respectively.
Honor’s dramatic growth has been attributed largely to its Magic V6 device, which drew significant attention for its design and reportedly set a new standard for style within the foldable category, one that some industry observers have suggested Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra may struggle to match when those devices launch.
Samsung’s own 25% year-over-year growth reflects continued success from its existing Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Galaxy Z Fold 7 devices, indicating those models performed better globally than their respective predecessors despite the company’s overall distant second-place market position. Huawei’s growth, meanwhile, was driven substantially by its newly launched Pura X Max, which quickly resonated with mainstream global audiences, alongside continued strong demand for its older Mate X7 and Pura X models across several key markets, led by China.
A difficult quarter for Motorola
Not every major foldable vendor fared well during the quarter. Motorola fell from second to third place in the global vendor rankings, shedding 28% of its foldable shipment volume compared with the same period a year earlier. That decline has been attributed largely to what industry observers have characterized as an unfavorable pricing structure for the company’s Razr 70 series, with the latest devices seen as priced too high to compete effectively in key markets including Europe and the United States. Motorola is widely expected to need significant price reductions on future models to remain competitive against Samsung and other rivals going forward.
A surprisingly resilient product category
Despite the intense competitive shifts within the foldable segment, the category’s overall 2% year-over-year sales decline during the quarter was actually viewed as a relatively positive outcome given broader market conditions. The overall global smartphone market contracted by a more substantial 8% during the same period, meaning foldable devices meaningfully outperformed the wider industry even amid their own modest decline, reinforcing the category’s continued position as one of the more resilient segments within the broader smartphone market.
Samsung poised for a comeback, but only briefly
Total global foldable shipments reached 3.4 million units during the second quarter, a figure expected to climb substantially heading into the third quarter, driven primarily by the highly anticipated launches of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 devices. Industry analysts widely predict that Samsung will overtake Huawei to become the world’s top foldable vendor during the current quarter as a direct result of that product launch cycle.
That leadership position is not expected to last particularly long, however, with industry attention already turning toward Apple’s rumored entry into the foldable category, widely referred to as the iPhone Ultra. While it remains unclear whether Apple’s device will launch early or widely enough to challenge for the top vendor spot by the fourth quarter of 2026, most analytics firms broadly agree that Apple is likely to become the world’s leading foldable vendor by 2027, a shift expected to help drive predicted foldable market growth of approximately 38% year-over-year even as overall global smartphone sales continue trending downward.
With Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event scheduled for July 22, where the company is expected to formally unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Flip 8 and the new Z Fold 8 Ultra, the global foldable smartphone competitive landscape appears poised for continued rapid shifts in the months ahead. Whether Samsung’s anticipated third-quarter surge proves durable, or whether Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers quickly reclaim their commanding market position once the initial launch excitement fades, is likely to become clearer as quarterly sales data continues rolling in over the remainder of 2026 and into Apple’s anticipated foldable debut the following year.
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