Industry watchers expect the foldable phone market to decline for the first time in 2025, ever since Samsung gave birth to the foldable phone segment more than half a decade ago. The global foldable phone segment has grown year-on-year since 2019, but 2025 might have a different outcome. However, it's not all bad news. This decline might be a signaling a revolution.
First, here's how things went last year, according to Counterpoint Research. In 2024, the growth rate for global foldable phone shipments dropped to a mere 2.9% year-on-year.
Even though most foldable phone manufacturers experienced double or triple-digit growth in 2024, Samsung, which is by far the largest foldable phone maker, saw negative growth.
Samsung's unfavorable performance offset the growth of other companies, and overall, the global foldable phone market as a whole barely saw any improvement.
2025 may be worse, but paradoxically, it's not a bad sign
Market watchers now predict that the foldable phone market will experience negative growth for the first time this year. Global foldable phone shipments will decline year-on-year, but as paradoxical as it may sound, experts don't view this as a bad sign.
Analysts believe this possible decline won't mean the foldable market has peaked. On the contrary, they see signs across the supply chain that the foldable segment may experience a short period of contraction in 2025 before booming in 2026.
Counterpoint analysts say that the foldable market doesn't look like a segment that has plateaued but “like a market that is about to transform.” This kind of transformation requires more planning and a slight pullback.
Samsung and other major players may experience a period of slow or negative growth as they focus on setting up new supply chains and infrastructures that will kickstart a foldable phone revolution. 2025 might not look very exciting in terms of global shipments, but the foldable market might be reborn in 2026.
Rumors say that Samsung might plan on releasing its first Fan Edition flip phone later in 2025. And the company may also unveil its first tri-folding phone this year. Meanwhile, market watchers suspect Apple will enter the foldable segment in 2026.