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Foldable phones aren\u2019t a new invention. Google, Samsung and Honor have all had handsets on the market for several years and in 2024, foldables were estimated to have an 11% share in the high-end Android market.<\/p>\n
But with Apple set to join the gang next year, 2026 is poised to be a turning point in the mobile phone industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Right now, foldables sit firmly in the premium sector of the market. Though premium is defined as handsets costing over \u20ac800, the vast majority of the best foldables will set you back at least \u20ac1,300.<\/p>\n
In 2024, foldables accounted for around 2% of Europe\u2019s total smartphone sales and sales increased 37% year-on-year, according to research by Counterpoint.<\/p>\n
The most common form of foldable phone \u2014 think Samsung<\/a> Galaxy Fold or Honor Magic V5 \u2014 is known as the book-type foldable. Sales of those increased 60% year-on-year in 2024, though still only made up 1% of the total handset market in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2026 will be the year for foldable phones<\/p>\n Apple is expected to release<\/a> its long-developed foray into the world of foldable handsets in 2026, though exact details of the handset and its release are yet to be revealed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe think that will boost the market for the adoption of foldable devices,\u201d Adam Cao, president for Western Europe at Honor, told Euronews.<\/p>\n \u201cNext year it’s going to be the most aspirational form factor,\u201d Daniel Hernandez Ortega, global VP of devices and consumer IoT at Telephonica, added.<\/p>\n And while many brands would fear battling against a tech industry heavyweight, Honor doesn\u2019t seem to be worried about an unfair fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not afraid of the competition from the big brands, quite honestly. We just want to have more players in this garden to make more consumers adopt our foldable devices,\u201d Cao explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf that big brand will boost the market and make this foldable devices market explode, we think it’s perfect, we will benefit from this kind of competition. And if the consumers make some kind of comparison between some brands and us, I don’t think we are going to lose the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n Projected growth in a flat market<\/p>\n \u201cThe European market is going to be flat-ish in the next few years. So there will be countries that are going to have small single-digit growth, but overall it’s a saturated market,\u201d Hernandez Ortega told Euronews.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of Western Europe, there is not a single country that projects a double-digit growth at all in the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n According to data from GSMA, in 2024, there were 795 million SIM connections in Europe, equalling a penetration rate of 134%. While some of those SIMs could be tablets, that\u2019s a good basic indicator that there\u2019s already a lot of handsets in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n