Huawei is having a great 2024. After breaking revenue records and positioning itself as the first smartphone company in its country, the company’s next milestone is to knock Samsung off a seemingly unshakable throne (even though there were already hints that it might fall) from the throne of the foldable phone.

Shipments of both Huawei and Honor increased significantly in the first quarter of 2024, according to Counterpoint data. Motorola also helped boost the foldable segment during this period: Folding sales increased by 49% year-on-year.

This figure represents the highest growth rate in the last six quarters. This rebound was due to an increase in shipments among major Chinese manufacturers, according to the consultancy. In Huawei’s case, the company was able to surpass Samsung, thanks in part to the Huawei Mate X5.

In its home country, Huawei has no restrictions on using 5G networks. Strong support from the national government, combined with the lack of interest in Google services in China, completes a cocktail of positive factors for the company to continue to soar in sales.

In particular, Huawei’s annual growth rate in the last quarter was 257%. It’s simply a brutal number, but it’s slightly dwarfed by Motorola’s figure: 1,473% growth in the last quarter of 2024. Despite this, the American company, now owned by Chinese Lenovo, ranks fourth in shipments of folding devices.

Honor grew by 460% and is now fighting for third place. Samsung suffered a brutal 42 percent decline. Market share of the South Korean giant It fell to 23%, and in the first quarter of 2023 it was close to 60%.

The first quarter of 2024 was also the first quarter in which book-type foldables surpassed clamshell foldables in shipments. In particular, 55% of the foldables sent were in book format. Despite these data, the consultancy firm has high growth expectations for the clamshell folding market for 2024.

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in Xataka | The future of smartphones is foldable ones. They only have two problems to overcome