The foldable phone segment will remain a niche market, analysts say

Despite a fourfold increase in sales by 2025, the market share of foldable phones will remain negligible, below 2%, in the years to come, according to the firm IDC.

• Read also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 review: Expensive, but solid, folding phones are here to stay

• Read also: Samsung Galaxy S22 preview: a big year

In 2021, 1.348 billion smartphones were sold worldwide, including 7.1 million foldable models. This only represents a derisory market share, around 0.5%.

By 2025, IDC predicts that this rate might rise to … 1.8%, with annual sales multiplied by four, or 27.6 million copies sold, out of a total of 1.518 billion smartphones sold in the world. world. This nevertheless represents an average increase in sales of 70% per year, but in a market that is still not very competitive.

Image courtesy Samsung

The most compact models, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3, are the most popular in the sector, even if they approach, at best, US$1,000. It is also all these very high prices, which can blithely exceed US$2,000 per device, that mean that this market will remain relatively confidential for a few more years.

Today, these devices all belong to the premium Android market. What is interesting is the battle between manufacturers to find the right format. If demand were to grow one day, then prices would be driven down and, finally, foldable phones would become more popular. But that will obviously not happen for five years.