Some 14.2 million folding smartphones were sold throughout the world in 2022, according to figures from Canalys published by the Financial Times. The vast majority of them are Samsung models.

Canalys estimates that just under 1.2 billion smartphones were sold in 2022 around the world, which represents a 17% decrease from 2021. This means that only a little more than 1% of sales involved a folding smartphone.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung dominates the sector, with nearly 12 million units sold, or almost 85% of the market. The brand’s latest models, the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4, are available almost everywhere in the world, unlike some of its competitors’ models. And so, Huawei sold a little less than two million folding smartphones in 2022, compared to a few hundred thousand for Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and Honor.

This segment will likely remain niche for a few more years since, despite a steady increase in sales year after year, the market share of folding phones is projected to remain below 2%, at least until 2025 according to Canalys.

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 - AFP Relaxnews