Despite a fourfold increase in sales by 2025, the market share of folding phones is likely to remain negligible, below 2%, in the coming years, according to IDC forecasts.
In 2021, some 1.348 billion smartphones were sold worldwide, including 7.1 million folding models. This represents a paltry 0.5% of the market. By 2025, IDC predicts that this share could rise to 1.8%, with annual sales rising fourfold to 27.6 million unit shipments, out of a total 1.518 billion smartphone shipments worldwide.
This still represents an average annual sales growth of 70%, albeit for a market that is still not particularly competitive. The most compact models, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, are the most popular in the sector, even though they are, at best, close to $1,000. It is also these very high prices -- which can easily exceed $2,000 per device -- that mean that this market is likely to remain relatively exclusive for a few more years.
Today, these devices all belong to the premium Android sector, where the battle between manufacturers to find the right format is proving particularly interesting. If demand should ever grow, then prices will be driven down and, ultimately, folding smartphones will become mainstream devices. But this appears unlikely to happen within the next five years.
