Seven years after Samsung launched the first foldable smartphone, the category remains a small slice of the overall market, held back by high prices, uneven software, and a split between book-style and flip-style designs. With wide-format phones gaining ground and Apple reportedly entering the space this month, that could be about to change.
A Slow Build
Foldables shipped just 1.3 million units in 2019, a mere 0.09% of the smartphone market, according to Market Reports World. That crossed 10 million only in 2022, and reached 18.2 million units in 2025, still under 1.5% of global shipments, per Omdia.
Flip Phones Drove The First Wave
Prices kept the category niche until Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 3 launched at $999 in 2021, finally pricing a foldable like a standard flagship. Shipments jumped 300% that year, per Samsung, helped further by Samsung Display selling its flexible panels to rivals like Xiaomi and Oppo.
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Now, Book-Style Is Winning Again
Flip phones don't actually add screen space, they just fold a regular display in half, while book-style foldables genuinely offer more room, useful now that AI features need larger multitasking canvases. Counterpoint says book-style share has climbed from 51% in 2024 to a projected 65% in 2026.
Hardware Has Improved, Growth Hasn't
Foldables have gotten thinner (17.1mm to 8.9mm since 2019), gained bigger batteries, and reduced their display creases. Yet growth has stalled, up just 12% in 2024 and 6% in 2025, per Omdia.
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Samsung's Z8 Bet ā And Early Success
Samsung split its lineup into the taller Z Fold 8 Ultra and the wider Z Fold 8. Pre-orders hit 1.44 million in South Korea within a week, and in India, the Z8 series drew 271,000 pre-orders in 72 hours, far outpacing last year's launch.
Apple Could Be The Real Catalyst
IDC expects foldables to be the only smartphone category to grow in 2026, up 12.6% to 22.9 million units, largely because of Apple's expected entry. IDC's Nabila Popal said Apple could ship over 17 million foldable iPhones by 2027, capturing roughly 40% of the global foldables market and generating over $45.7 billion in value.
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Where Apple Could Help Most
Software optimisation remains foldables' biggest weak spot industry-wide. Since Apple controls its own chips, hardware and software, it has a real shot at building an experience tailored to the format rather than a stretched phone interface, something a Bloomberg report suggests may already be in the works via an iPad-style app layout.
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