Samsung’s foldable phones defeat Honor, Vivo, Xiaomi in China

Over the past few years, Samsung's smartphone market share dropped to almost zero in China. However, the company seems to be doing pretty well in the foldable smartphone market in the country. Over the past year, the company's market share in the foldable smartphone space jumped more than 4x, eclipsing local brands like Honor, Vivo, and Xiaomi. Since last year, foldable smartphone sales in China have more than doubled, which means Samsung did a really good job in increasing its market share in the country.

According to a report from Counterpoint Research, Samsung's market share in the foldable smartphone segment in China was 26% in Q1 2023, a massive jump from a mere 6% market share in Q1 2022. It was slightly (by 1% point) behind Huawei and OPPO, both of which had a market share of 27%. That's an impressive showing from Samsung compared to last year. And these figures seem even more special as Samsung had not even launched the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 when this report came in, and the company's new foldable smartphones could improve Samsung's market share even further.

Last year, Huawei was the undisputed leader of the foldable smartphone market in China, with a 57% market share. However, the company's market share almost halved to 27% in Q1 2023 despite releasing an impressive foldable phone like the Mate X3 with a thinner and lighter body, a better zoom camera, a bigger battery, and faster charging than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The Mate X3 event features two-way satellite connectivity for emergency communications.

OPPO, which had an 18% market share last year, improved to 27% to challenge Huawei's dominance. Honor and Vivo also improved their foldable smartphone market share, while Xiaomi's market share dropped despite launching the MIX Fold 2, which is the thinnest foldable smartphone in the world. Lenovo-owned Motorola has a thin slice of the foldable smartphone market in China with its Razr-branded devices.