The Chinese market is starting to show certain trends in the field of foldable mobile phones. Despite having a marginal presence, the growth of this segment exceeded 90% year-on-year in Q3 2023, with 1.96 million units sold (compared to almost 300 million units sold in Q3).

The most curious fact: Samsung, the leadership of the Honor/Huawei group and the undisputed leader of Spain, is not content with being in third place behind other giants such as OPPO.

Huawei fever in China: Honor and Huawei are having one of their best moments in China, which is the exact opposite of their situation in Europe. The manufacturer that sold the most foldable devices so far this year is Huawei, with a 31.7% market share in the foldable segment.

Besides this good news for Huawei, we also know that its sister Honor now holds the crown in sales in China. With an overall market share of 19.3%, OPPO is ahead of Apple and Xiaomi.

OPPO is getting stronger. If we talk about foldable products, the second largest manufacturer in China is OPPO. The Chinese giant reaches 17.1% market share in foldable products, especially thanks to OPPO Find N3 Flip sales. It manages to position itself above Samsung and its plan to conquer Europe with its foldable products is already underway.

Recently, BBK group launched OnePlus Open as a global alternative to OPPO Find N3. A device that wants to compete head-to-head with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 and is the best foldable device of the moment both technically and overall.

Samsung is far from winning in China. Although Europe is one of the strongest positions for Samsung, the data in China is not that great. This does not mean that they are negative, because the South Korean manufacturer is in third place with an exponential market share of 15.4%. Honor follows very closely with 15.1%.

Honor’s position in the Chinese foldable market is intriguing because it is quite close to Samsung, despite competing in the market without any Flip. Their offering is the Magic V2, a direct competitor to the Fold.

A similar yet different trend in Spain. Spain is far from the leadership in the hands of Huawei, but the trend in terms of sales multiplication is similar. According to DSCC data, exponential sales increased by 42% in the context of a decline in the global market. These data should be treated with caution because the exponential growth is quite extraordinary given the low numbers on which it is based.

We’re still some way away from a foldable market where prices are tailored to markets like Europe, doubling the average selling price of smartphones in the region.

Image | Huawei

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