Love them or hate them, foldable devices are here to stay. Market watchers expect this emerging segment to grow massively by 2023, with Samsung likely to continue dominating the foldable market two years from now.
The foldable device market in 2021 is showing a 3x growth compared to 2020, and Counterpoint Research expects foldable device sales to be around 9 million this year. Samsung will continue dominating the foldable device market in 2021 while holding at least an 88% share by the end of the year.
Fast forward to 2023 and the global foldable segment is expected to grow tenfold. Samsung is projected to lose some ground to rivals in 2023 and account for a market share of around 75%.
The research firm adds that Apple will possibly join the foldable market in 2023. This could legitimize foldable devices and push them even further into the mainstream, or at the very least, Apple's contribution will strengthen the global supply chain.
Foldable devices could be Samsung's answer to China
Huawei's demise has allowed other Chinese brands to flourish in many regions in and outside of China. And although Samsung's market share in China remains negligible, the emergence of foldable devices could allow Samsung to turn the tables and establish a better foothold in the East Asian country.
Counterpoint Research analyst Jene Park believes that Samsung has an opportunity to secure Huawei's vacant spot, especially with the release of new foldable devices. It could be that the Z Fold and Z Flip lineups will allow Samsung to turn the tides in China.
A previous report dating back to May claimed that the foldable display market could soar in demand a hundredfold by 2025, possibly topping 73 million shipments. Samsung Display is the largest distributor of foldable displays, so the company will benefit the most from the increasing popularity of foldable mobile devices over the coming years.
