Samsung’s foldables are coming for Apple’s iPhones

The global smartphone market is a battle between two heavyweights: Samsung and Apple.

According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung controlled 22% of the global smartphone market as of the first quarter of 2023. That’s just above Apple’s 21% market share — and well ahead of Chinese rivals including Oppo and Xiaomi.

To break up that virtual tie with Apple (AAPL) and capture a greater share of the market, especially in the US where it lags behind its Cupertino, California-based rival, Samsung is going all in on its foldable smartphone. Case in point: At its "Unpacked" event held in South Korea in July, the company positioned its new Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 as its premier devices.

The foldables feature two unique designs. The Fold 5 folds like a book, while the Flip 5 folds like an old-school clamshell phone. And while these are Samsung’s fifth-generation foldables, they’re also the company’s best examples of how the future of such phones will look and function.

They also prove that foldables aren’t just a flash-in-the-pan idea.

They’re making the smartphone market, well, interesting again. “The smartphone wars have really just been large black rectangles and the contest was really just the processor speed and the camera,” IDC research director Ramon Llamas told Yahoo Finance.

“So for me, it's kind of refreshing that we're going into something that's just a lot more visible, and a lot more different than what we've seen before,” he added.

Samsung needs to win over iPhone fans

Samsung’s biggest challenge in winning over Apple fans with its foldables will undoubtedly be convincing them to ditch their iPhones for phones powered by Google's (GOOG, GOOGL) Android. And that’s no easy task.

Apple and Samsung both work to lock users into their respective operating systems via exclusive apps, accessories like watches and headphones, and subscription services. One of Apple’s biggest lock-in apps is iMessage, which allows users to text high-quality images and videos. Texting between Android and iOS limits image and video quality.

Ask any iPhone user how they feel when someone drops a green text bubble into a group chat, and you’ll see how hard it is to break people’s habits.

Samsung’s foldables aren’t going to change that, but they could help push those users who are on the fence or not as dedicated to the Apple ecosystem to take the leap. Samsung is currently running TV and web ads daring iPhone users to make the change.

But Apple could derail that by launching its own foldable, though there’s no guarantee such a device is on its way. (According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is considering a foldable iPad at this point.)

“Apple is doing what Apple does. It stands on the shoulders of the giants that came before them until they make their move,” IDC’s Llamas said.

The foldable phone market is still relatively small, with the industry shipping just 2.52 million units in Q1 2023 compared to the broader market, which shipped 280.2 million in the same time period.

With Samsung posed to lead the market for the time being, it all comes down to whether it can persuade iPhone users to make the switch. Now we just have to wait and see if they'll flip.

To watch the first full episode of NEXT and find out more about Samsung’s quest to take on Apple, click here.

Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.

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