The Galaxy Z Fold 8 helps Samsung reach new foldable market heights, but Apple's supremacy is near
With 69 percent of global sales in Q3 2026, Samsung's foldable market domination might seem impossible to threaten. But the iPhone Duo is coming for that crown.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few months, the Galaxy Z Fold 8's massive worldwide popularity shouldn't come as a big surprise. And if you've ever seen a global foldable market report since this segment was established more than six years ago, you will also not be shocked to learn that Samsung holds a huge advantage over all other major vendors right now.
But that advantage may not be large enough for the company to retain its leading position in foldable sales soon, as a Cupertino-based newcomer looks set to jump from zero to millions of unit shipments in just a few months despite some pretty widely reported durability concerns.
Almost seven in ten foldables sold in Q3 2026 belonged to Samsung
That's right, Samsung captured a mind-blowing 69 percent share of the world's foldable smartphone shipments between July and September of this year, up from an already impressive 60 percent during the same timeframe of 2025 and only 15 percent in Q2 2026.
Samsung was a dominant leader of the global foldable market in Q3 2025, and is even more dominant now. | Image by Smart Analytics Global
69 percent, mind you, represents the tech giant's best result since 2023, when the foldable category was of course much younger and less competitive than right now.
What's perhaps even more remarkable is that Samsung managed to improve its foldable sales figures by 13 percent year-on-year in addition to enlarging its slice of the pie while almost all other vendors lost steam, leading to an overall market decline of 2 percent... that analytics firms never saw coming.
Poll
0 Votes
Do you think Apple will become the world's number one foldable vendor?
The passport-style Galaxy Z Fold 8, of course, was by far its maker's number one seller in Q3 2026, accounting for nearly 55 percent of Samsung's quarterly foldable volumes and crucially contributing to the company's double-digit shipment growth in both South Korea and Europe (but apparently, not the US as well).
Apple should help the market bounce back to a double-digit progress
Yes, it appears that the highly anticipated, long overdue, and intensely debated iPhone Duo could drive much of the foldable segment's rapid Q4 2026 recovery... even if SAG (Smart Analytics Global) is not ready to make a firm new prediction regarding the handset's initial sales tally.
Recommended For You
Despite all the Crackgate controversies, the iPhone Duo is still likely to become a big box-office hit. | Image by PhoneArena
This was previously estimated at anywhere between 5 and 6 million copies this year, and whether Apple will meet, fail, or exceed that goal, the company is forecasted today to snatch Samsung's crown away for the final three months of 2026.
Obviously, that's not going to be enough for Apple to become the world's number one foldable vendor for the entirety of the year, as Samsung appears to have sold over 5 million Galaxy Z-series devices in Q3 alone, but the gold medal battle is likely to be very interesting and evenly contested next year.
How is everyone else doing?
In short, not great, starting with Q2 2026 champion Huawei, which is massively down from an 18 percent market share in Q3 2025 to only 14 percent now.
That's still enough for a silver medal placement, although the bronze medalist is inching closer to Huawei's position after boosting its market share from 6 to 8 percent year-on-year. We're obviously talking about Motorola there, which benefitted (slightly) from the global rollout of the Razr 70 series while still looking unable to fulfil its true potential... for the time being.
The Motorola Razr 70 may have quietly sold in decent numbers around the world. | Image by PhoneArena
Taking Samsung out of the equation, foldable vendors saw their combined sales figures drop by 24 percent in Q3 2026 over the same period of last year, which is definitely not a good result for a market segment that was widely expected to flourish year after year for at least a decade or so at its inception.
With that in mind, it's almost miraculous that total foldable sales only declined by 2 percent this quarter to around 7.5 million units, which continues to represent a small drop in a smartphone ocean estimated by some research companies at 255 million a quarter.
Check out these other articles about the world's most popular foldables:
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: