A new forecast shows that the foldable market is poised to continue growing, with book-style foldables taking over the popularity of clamshell devices – but Samsung is no longer the king, instead fighting for second place.
Omdia reports that the global foldable smartphone market is set to grow by “more than 20% annually through 2028,” totalling around 36 million units by then. In the first half of 2026 alone, shipments reached 5.1 million units. That was down over 20% year-over-year, in part because flip phone (clamshell) foldable shipments are down 47% year-over-year.
Book-style devices are taking over. In the first half of the year, 69% of foldable shipments were book-style devices, and the report brings out that wide devices like Samsung’s hit Galaxy Z Fold 8 are set to build future growth.
Yet, Samsung is not the leader in this space anymore.
Instead, it’s Huawei with the top spot. The Chinese manufacturer currently accounts for 57% of global foldable shipments, while Samsung made up just 18%. That’s when zoomed in to look at just the first half of 2026, though, so it’s not accounting for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 launch. Still, it’s a staggering difference given that Samsung founded the category, and that Huawei is largely limited to sales in China alone.
