The Huawei Mate X, the world’s first triple-foldable phone, was launched this year exclusively in China. Samsung also unveiled its annual Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip releases, as well as the Samsung W25 and W25 Flip models in China and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition in South Korea.
Google also launched the Pixel 9 Pro Fold earlier this year. Yet, despite all these new phone launches, global foldable smartphone shipments saw the market’s first third-quarter decline, with global foldable smartphone shipments falling 1% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024, ending a streak of six consecutive quarters of growth.
Following the report previously published by Counterpoint Research, a new Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) report now suggests that the foldable smartphone display market has stalled and declined for the first time in Q3 2024. The supply chain research company says 2025 could follow a similar trend, and the market is expected to decline. DSCC notes that demand for foldable displays has stalled at 22 million panels and that ‘smartphone display supply fell 38 percent year-on-year in Q3 and is expected to fall year-on-year in four of the next five quarters.’.
Samsung falling performance
The report mentions many different factors, but the main problem seems to be the decreasing performance of Samsung’s foldable devices, the leader of the segment. In addition to Samsung, Huawei’s performance has also declined, causing a further slowdown in the industry. Another reason for the pause is that there is no other company that can be a competitor of Samsung and Huawei. This shows that if Apple steps into the foldable device segment, it could create a major shake-up.
Apple can change everything
Apple has long been rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone, and a patent that appeared in May 2024 strongly supports these rumors. In addition, another recent report indicated that Apple had chosen Samsung to supply the foldable device displays. Although Apple is said not to offer a foldable phone until it can make its product offer much better performance, some rumors indicate that an iPhone with a clamshell design is planned to be released in 2026.
The latest DSCC report also repeats the claim that Apple could enter the foldable smartphone market in the 2nd half of 2026, adding, ‘Their dominant position in flagship smartphones could provide significant growth for the foldable smartphone market. Any improvements in form factor, functionality, use cases, durability, etc. could create new demand for this market.’
