Huawei Beats Samsung as top 5G Foldable Smartphone Seller
A consultancy report from Counterpoint has revealed that Huawei Technologies has beaten rival Samsung Electronics, to become the world’s bestselling foldable smartphone brand in the first quarter. This is the first time that Huawei has topped the list, despite Huawei being sanctioned by the US.
Huawei’s unstoppable foldable phones
Global telecom leader Huawei sells products and services for mobile phones, tablets, wearables and broadband devices. Founded in 1987, the company is a leading provider of information and communications technology (ICT), as well as infrastructure and smart devices. Huawei operates in more than 170 countries and serves more than 3 billion people worldwide. It also entered 20,000 use cases of 5G applications, further contributing to global innovation. The company prides itself on digital expansion and ensuring that their customers are better connected worldwide.
The Mobile World Congress (MWC) Shanghai is back this year, 26th - 28th June 2024. Speakers at MWC Shanghai 2024 include Huawei’s Executive Director, David Wang, where he is expected to discuss 5G, one of the MWC’s themes for 2024.
"The communications industry is constantly evolving. 5.5G has been kicked into high gear. Looking ahead, our task is to tackle these five new areas – standards, spectrum, products, ecosystems, and applications. Together, let's stride to 5.5G and build a better, intelligent world," said Wang.
See where we placed Huawei in our Top 10 Leading Global Telecommunication Operators.
Rival electronics manufacturer Samsung is based in Korea and produces smartphones, tablets, TV’s and a range of other devices. Samsung has pushed for 5G delivery, and has services such as radios, chipsets and core network technologies. Earlier this year, Samsung Electronics America was been named as the #1 company for customer satisfaction and #1 overall service quality among 5G mobile devices, in the 2024 American Customer Satisfaction Index Survey. In addition to this, Samsung scored highest for product quality and screen performance.
But that didn’t stop Huawei from taking the foldable crown for the bestselling foldable smartphone brand, in the first quarter of this year. In mobile data published by research firm Counterpoint, Huawei saw its foldable smartphone shipments in the first three months of the year jump 257% year on year.
In 2023, Samsung led 58% of the global foldable smartphone market, while Huawei held just 14%. Samsung’s share dropped down to 23% in the last quarter, surpassed by Huawei’s 35% share.
Foldable smartphones are getting increasingly popular across China. In 2022, shipments of foldable phones sat at 3.2m, but that rose to 7m in 2023.
One cause of Huawei's meteoric rise is down to its new 5G models, the booklet-style Mate X5 and the clamshell Pocket 2.
Clamshell-type Pocket 2
- 4,520mAh battery
- 66W fast charging capability
- 6.94-inch display
- 1136 x 2690 pixels
- 50-megapixel main camera
- 10.7-megapixel selfie camera
Mate X5
- 7.85-inch LTPO OLED main display
- 2,224×2,496 pixel resolution, fortified with Kunlun Glass
- 50-megapixel main camera with an f/1.8 aperture
- 13-megapixel f/2.2 ultrawide lens and a 12-megapixel f/3.4 periscope module with 5x optical zoom.
- 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage
Despite Huawei’s various geopolitical challenges, Huawei is expected to continue to prioritise the manufacturing of these popular foldable smartphones.
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