Despite the iPhone Duo is only the brand's first foldable, Apple should get second place in the chart of the best-selling brands in this segment. You'll just be behind Samsung.
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31/10/2026
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O iPhone Duo was officially released in stores about a week ago and despite some problems found by users, the success of the mobile phone is already guaranteed. The adhesion of Apple's followers has been such that many believe that the iPhone Duo will contribute to the growth of this segment of foldables.
TrendForce's latest report indicates that, given the high demand for iPhone Duo, Apple will be able to achieve a 29.8% share in the global market for folding phones next year.
The forecast notes that Samsung should keep the first place in the table with a market share of 31.9%, but the fact that with its first folding phone Apple gets second place is still something impressive.
Huawei, a brand that also frequently bets on folding phones, should be in third place with a market “slice” of 21.3%.
“ TrendForce notes that Apple’s biggest advantage lies in its ability to integrate its ecosystem of developers, chips and operating systems”you can read it in the report on the evolution of folding markets. “ As application compatibility and hardware reliability continue to improve, iPhone Duo is expected to expand more the practical value of foldable screens by helping to change the competition in the market of mobile phones that can fold innovation in design for multiple task efficiency”.
With regard to global sales of the mobile phone market, TrendForce expects this segment to reach 23.5 million foldables sent to stores in 2027, which represents an increase of 16.3%.
Cell phone market has worse performance in the last 14 years
The latest report shared by Counterpoint Research concerning the third quarter of 2026 indicates that the number of mobile phones sent to stores had a 20% drop – this being the worst result since 2012.
For the same period last year, only Samsung and Apple managed to increase market shares during the third quarter. While in 2025 Samsung and Apple had market shares 19% and 18% (respectively), in 2026 they were 23% and 22%.
In this period we find Xiaomi in third place with 10% (less than 14% of 2025), Oppo with 9% (which had 12%) and Vivo with 8% (less than 9% had last year.
The report concludes that this breakdown in the mobile phone market is due to the scarcity of RAM memory that has been felt in the world of technology, being a direct result of the greater demand these components have had from Artificial Intelligence companies that are dedicated to the development of their own language models.
As for the fact that Samsung and Apple were the exceptions to this “break”, Counterpoint Research indicates that the premium segment remained resilient and, in the case of Samsung, South Korean technology has to thank the good performance in the shops of the foldable Galaxy Z Fold8, Fold8 Ultra and Flip8.
As for forecasts for the future, it is believed that the mobile phone market will continue to have major challenges, with manufacturers seeking to maintain profit margins while reducing the number of units sent to stores.