A gloomy new account on the state of the foldable phones grocery store contains one chink of luminance : Apple is expect to make unnecessary the day in 2026 .
Ross Young , a well - known andimpressively accurateanalyst , published areportearlier this calendar week gentle Foldable Smartphone Market Stalls in 2024 and 2025 . As the name suggests , the reputation is pessimistic about the sector ’s mid - terminus prospects , noting that it saw 40 percent increase in 2023 but predicting that it will produce just 5 percent in 2024 and then shrink by 4 per centum in 2025 .
Young advert various reason for the stagnancy . One is that the foldables food market is predominate by just two blade , Samsung and Huawei , with other companies such as Google and OnePlus , barely making a incision in sales .
“ No third actor has emerge to take on Huawei and Samsung , ” Young writes . “ The two ship’s company have combined for a 70 % share of gore procurement in 2023 and 2024 , and that percentage is belike become to increase in 2025 as a figure of Formosan brand surmount back their foldaway attempt … Some smartphone brands are discontinuing their clamshell efforts due to lack of toll elasticity , modified tolerance , pocket-size sales , and overheating business . ”
Another cistron is the regionality of demand , with sales of Samsung handsets in particular relatively strong in Korea and Europe but sputter in China and the U.S. But this could all convert if Apple ( which is obviously very influential in the smartphone space ) gets involved in foldables – and Young expect this to happen in 2026 .
“ There is reason for optimism , ” Young explicate . “ Apple is expected to enter the folding market in 2H’26 and given [ its ] dominant position in flagship smartphones could bring forth important growth for the foldable smartphone market . Any improvement in form factor , functionality , use cases , durability , etc . could tug fresh demand for this market . ”
So confident is the psychoanalyst in the positive effects of Apple ’s impending entry to the securities industry that he portend 2026 will see 30 % outgrowth and record revenue , and that there will be 20 % maturation in 2027 and 2028 .
Apple watchers have been job for years about the firstfoldable iPhone , and it ’s never been entirely clear that the companywantsto bring together this market . ( One of my colleagues has arguedthat it won’tand another has insistedthat it must . ) As understandably excuse in Young ’s write up , the foldables market has an unsettled future , and Apple generally favour to hold back until it have sex a market is deserving pursuing .
On the other hand , with the market leaders struggling , the metre could be good for Apple to swoop in with the perfect foldable and scoop up all the likely revenue . For all the latest news program and rumor , look into ourfoldable iPhonesuperguide .
