Samsung says folding telephone shipments reached almost 10 million final yr

Samsung is gearing up the hype machine for the discharge of its subsequent foldables as soon as once more, and forward of the subsequent Unpacked occasion on August tenth, cellular president TM Roh has revealed one other weblog submit making the case that the time for foldables is now — and that extra individuals are selecting up foldable telephones.

“Three years ago, Galaxy foldables could be summed up in a single word: radical,” Roh wrote. “Very quickly, however, it became clear that this groundbreaking, flexible design fit perfectly into modern lifestyles. As a result, what was once a novelty three years ago is now the preferred choice for millions.”

In the submit, Roh says that the trade shipped nearly 10 million foldable smartphones worldwide in 2021, a determine that was up 300 % from 2020. Samsung might be overstating the market a bit bit — Ross Young, CEO of DSCC and a widely-cited show tech analyst, shared knowledge with The Verge that claims there have been 7.9 million foldables shipped, while IDC says there have been 7.1 million foldables shipped. Whatever the quantity is, it could characterize only a fraction of the smartphone market; based on IDC, Samsung alone shipped 272 million smartphones simply in 2021.

But Ross additionally shared knowledge that means Samsung overwhelmingly has the lead within the foldable market. Samsung led by a mile in 2021 with 87.8 % of telephones shipped, based on DSCC, whereas Huawei got here in a distant second at 9.3 %. The backside three on DSCC’s listing had only a tiny share of shipments: Xiaomi had 2.4 %, Royole had 0.3 %, whereas Oppo had 0.2 %. And with foldable shipments estimated to succeed in 27.6 million in 2025, per IDC, Samsung goes to wish to seize as a lot of that potential market as it might probably.

This is all to say that it is sensible why Samsung is starting to roll out the crimson carpet for its subsequent Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip fashions, even when they aren’t anticipated to look a lot completely different from final yr’s: the corporate virtually is the foldable market proper now, and it needs to take that lead even additional. Apple is reportedly exploring foldable ideas, however with any kind of launch apparently at least a year away — or maybe more — Samsung’s upcoming Unpacked occasion is one more alternative for the corporate to maintain its foot on the gasoline.