Samsung taking market share from Apple in U.S. as foldable phones gain momentum

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/16/samsungs-us-market-share-apple-rivalry-foldable-phones.html

29•mgh2•2h ago

Comments

wraptile•2h ago

I just bought a 2nd hand Fold 6 for 800$ and I'm not going back to slab phones ever. Primarily because I've never done as much reading as I've done in the past month with this phone. Removal of friction here has been such a game changer when it comes to productive use of my phone - now when I would doom scroll otherwise I just unfold my phone and do a bit of reading.

The only drawback is the camera but turns out it's much easier to carry a dedicated camera (Canon g7xm3 in my case) than a dedicated reading device / tablet.

robin_reala•2h ago

Given the price and fragility of foldables, I’m happier to stick to a cheap phone with a small screen to minimise the urge to use it (second-hand iPhone 13 Mini), and carry around a Kobo for reading needs.

bartvk•1h ago

Yup, a friend of mine has been into folding phones for some years now, and he warned me that these foldables seem to last about two years before something happens. (He didn't quite specify what would happen, though.)

theshackleford•1h ago

I got a friend on a fold going on four years now, it's fine. Milage varies I suppose.

williamdclt•1h ago

> I’m happier to stick to a cheap phone with a small screen to minimise the urge to use it (second-hand iPhone 13 Mini)

Me too, but this option is disappearing. As our minis reach end of life, I don't think we'll have other "small" options than foldables, unless you're willing to go for super niche android phones (eg unihertz)

Hopefully the foldables become more resilient by then

wraptile•1h ago

The fragility is mostly a myth. New foldables are very durable.

goosedragons•1h ago

I have one of the newer lowend Razrs. It wasn't that expensive, less than a base model iPhone and it actually helps me use my phone less because it takes intention to actually open it.

rjh29•1h ago

I also bought a 2nd hand Fold 4 for $700... it lasted a year before the wifi/bluetooth broke, it stopped folding all the way, and eventually stopped booting up.

Seem to always have reliability issues with Samsung phones. Hopefully the 6th iteration is more stable.

rcarr•53m ago

I felt this way at one point and vocally proclaimed as such on here. My Fold 5 developed a bubble under the screen protector after about 18 months. I sent it into Samsung through the website to get it repaired. Whoever "repaired" it, just seemed to slice the screen protector down the middle with an knife so it had a big ugly line down the center. Predictably, it was full of bubbles again within a week. I'm not even bothering opening it anymore for fear that it will break the inner screen. Between this and the fact that I had another two Samsung phones that developed hardware faults making them unusable after 2 years of use, I'm absolutely done with Samsung. Before that, I had an iPhone that was still going strong after 7 years. I'm preordering an iPhone tomorrow and selling the Samsung. Doubt I will be venturing into the Android ecosystem again. Might get an Apple foldable depending on what the initial reports are like on durability after it's been around for a couple of years. The time sink of having to transfer a phone across is high and I really cba with doing it because of avoidable screen repair.

Lio•2h ago

If Samsung had a better reputation for privacy they’re the brand I’d switch to for one of their folders.

I’m put off by how Samsung monetise every data source they’re trusted with though. E.g. TV viewing, phone data, Samsung Pay, forced analytics, etc.

As a brand they don't seem to have any restraint when it comes to user privacy.

imp0cat•1h ago

There is a positive side to that though. For example, their alternative to Apple's Find My seems to work quite well.

ourmandave•53m ago

I switched to a Motorola after my Samsung repeatedly nagged me about offers in my area with the ever popular "not now" instead of "f*ck off" button.

I'd like a foldable but not so much to pay $1300 for the Razr.

high_na_euv•1h ago

Flip phones are really the only phone product that actually excites me

Mistletoe•1h ago

Why does it excite you?

high_na_euv•51m ago

It reminds me the phones from 2005, they were really cool and smaller in ya pocket

rjh29•1h ago

Samsung is no longer leading the pack for folding. They refuse to innovate; Fold 7 is almost identical to Fold 4. Cameras are sub-par and they removed pen support. Meanwhile Honor Magic V5 has pen support on both screens, top of the range cameras, silicon-carbide batteries, and is 4.1mm thick unfolded!

rs186•1h ago

So the facts we know are that 1) Samsung market share rising from 23% to 31% and 2) they recently released new foldable phones. But do we know that's the actual primary reason for the increase? I couldn't tell that from the article. The article mentions engagement of specific social media posts, but that's as much as it, without any sales number/estimates from anyone.

thebruce87m•1h ago

Apple are in a bind here since the bend/crease will degrade over time. Other manufacturers get a pass on this sort of stuff (just look at Pixel phones not making emergency calls for a prime example), but apple will be hit with fines and class action lawsuits.

rubzah•1h ago

Been using a flip for four years (Samsung) and will buy another when the time comes (not necessarily Samsung).

Ever wanted a smaller phone? That's a flip phone, it just happens to expand when you need it. Ever drop your phone and damage the screen ? The closed flip phone is super sturdy. Ever wanted to put your phone on the table and use it with one hand, laptop style? Flip. Even in general use, having it slightly bent towards you is a nicer experience that a fully flat phone.

Yes, it has a slight crease in the middle, it has never bothered me even a little. And now, there's an actual microcrack across the crease, doesn't really bother me either, but for some people it might. Look forward to improvements in the next generations.

542354234235•6m ago

I had the Flip 2, 3, and 5. I just switched to the Moto Razr Ultra and I feel like it is even better. The external screen works almost like the internal screen, making it extremely easy to use. Samsung locks down their external screen pretty hard and you need a lot of work arounds that still don't give me the same functionality as the Razr.

I also got the Clicks physical keyboard case for it, which turns it into a modern Blackberry type phone. I love it. The physical keyboard means no on-screen keyboard taking up your external screen space. I only actually open my phone a few times a day, which really helps keep doomscrolling at bay. Full discloser, the keyboard isn't perfect and definitely has some quirks and tradeoffs but on the whole I'm glad I got it.

kristianp•46m ago

It would be nice if the extra room when unfolded could be used for a real keyboard. Probably too thin for one, though.

out_of_protocol•12m ago

Samsung Folds 1-6 are kinda bad, much worse than competitors. Samsung Fold 7 is really good, so are Honor phones (V3, V5). Honor folds are sold on Amazon in Europe. Currently own V3 one, 1 year in, so far so good, feels really sturdy.

n1b0m•7m ago

Feels like the iPhone Air is just a test run for Apple's own folding phone. If you attach two iPhone Airs with a hinge and a little extra screen to create one seamless display, and boom, there's your folding iPhone.

simmerup•2m ago

And it's still worse than an Honor Magic

broast•6m ago

I've had a flip 3 and flip 5 which both had screen and hinge problems within a year. I love the form factor but just don't take it to the beach.

My flip 5 inner screen is currently unusable so I'm stuck using the small square cover screen which I'm enjoying quite a bit too. I don't know if my next phone should be a flip phone or a small phone, but nothing gets as small or as good hardware as the front cover of these flip phones, vs other small phones

Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers

Using Monday dev for code review tracking

Custom dashboards in Monday dev, what metrics matter?

Care about keeping your design files clean (2018)

Show HN: FSP2 Tested on excerpt "Romeo and Juliet" impressive compresion results

ChatGPT may start alerting authorities about youth considering suicide, says CEO

Apple's A19 Pro beats Ryzen 9 9950X in single-thread Geekbench tests

Posthog's New Website

NASA bans Chinese nationals from working on its space programs

China went to 'EggStreme' lengths to attack Philippines

Ask HN: How far is too far?

What if the $3T AI investment boom goes wrong?

The Evolution of the Treble Clef

Pascaline

The functional form of value normalization in human reinforcement learning

"Let the Forest Flow for Its Forestness"

Scientists Are People, Too

NASA blocks Chinese nationals from working on its space programs

Suspected AI-Generated Articles on Wikipedia

Show HN: Font of Web – Pinterest for Web Design Inspiration

Unlock a world of viewers with multi-language audio

I built my own CDN with Varnish and Nginx

Genkit Go 1.0 and Enhanced AI-Assisted Development

Most school hacks carried out by their own pupils, watchdog says

Show HN: Chat with Long PDFs on Cursor or Claude Desktop

Big clouds scramble as EU Data Act brings new data transfer rules

Show HN: I made a script that gives me fake calls to escape boring moments

Show HN: An open source Vercel/Render alternative for Python apps

How the Tz Database Works

Coco – Solving the Expression Problem in Standard OO (Java, C#, Scala, ..)