Nach Jahren der Planung immer noch "Andere". Hat Samsung mit seinen faltbaren Bildschirmen in China das Feld verlassen?

On July 9th, Samsung officially launched three foldable smartphones, including the Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, and Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE.

Among them, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has attracted the most attention. Its folded thickness is only 8.9 millimeters, and when unfolded, it is as thin as 4.2 millimeters. The weight has been reduced to 215 grams. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has also been upgraded in terms of materials, imaging systems, inner and outer screens, hinges, AI, etc., making it the thinnest and lightest flagship model in the Z Fold series.

Compared with the "great leap forward" of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 brings few surprises. Its upgrades are mainly reflected in the external screen and AI. Moreover, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 sold in all global markets is equipped with the Samsung Exynos 2500 processor. In addition, Samsung also launched the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE. Since it is not positioned as a flagship model, it has been downgraded in terms of the processor, memory, etc., almost on par with the iPhone 16e.

In addition, the long - rumored Samsung triple - fold smartphone has finally been officially confirmed. Roh Tae - moon, the head of Samsung's mobile business, said that Samsung plans to launch a triple - fold smartphone before the end of this year and emphasized the core position of AI in the company's strategy.

According to leaks, the Samsung triple - fold smartphone adopts a "G - shaped folding" design (the screens on both the left and right sides fold towards the middle simultaneously to form a three - layer stacked structure), competing with the Huawei Mate XT Master. However, Samsung has adopted an extremely conservative "limited release" strategy, only selling it in the Chinese and South Korean markets.

Choi Won - jun, the president of Samsung Electronics' Mobile eXperience division, has high hopes for the three foldable smartphones. "We believe that with the launch of the Fold 7 and Flip 7, we are approaching the turning point to become mainstream."

It remains unknown whether the three foldable smartphones can help Samsung successfully enter the mainstream. However, it cannot be ignored that Samsung has already been squeezed to the edge of the market by domestic smartphone manufacturers. As the competition in the foldable smartphone market intensifies, there is not much time left for Samsung to break through.

01. Difficult to Shake the Status of Domestic Foldable Smartphones

It has been nearly seven years since the world's first foldable smartphone, the Royole FlexPai, was launched in October 2018. Except for Apple, all major smartphone manufacturers have launched foldable smartphones.

In February 2019, Samsung launched its first foldable smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Huawei quickly followed suit and launched its first foldable smartphone, the Huawei Mate X, three days later. The entry of both Samsung and Huawei marked the official start of the high - speed development stage of foldable smartphones.

After the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, it was highly sought after, and its price in the second - hand market was once hyped up to more than 30,000 yuan. In 2019, Samsung ranked second in the Chinese foldable smartphone market, second only to Huawei. However, six years have passed, and Samsung's market share has been declining and has now fallen into the "Others" category.

The China foldable smartphone market report released by market research firm IDC shows that in 2024, the total shipments of foldable smartphones were approximately 9.17 million units, a year - on - year increase of 30.8%. Among them, Huawei occupied half of the Chinese foldable smartphone market with a market share of 48.6%. Honor, vivo, Xiaomi, and OPPO ranked second to fifth respectively, with market shares of 20.6%, 11.1%, 7.4%, and 5.3% respectively. Although no specific data was given for Samsung's market share, it is estimated to be only about 3%.

In 2025, the competition in the Chinese foldable smartphone market has intensified again.

OPPO launched the OPPO Find N5 in February 2025. It has an ultra - thin body of 8.93 millimeters, is equipped with a 5600mAh Glacier battery, and has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of the interactive experience. Through the new "O+ Connectivity" platform, it can achieve cross - device collaborative operation with OPPO tablets and Mac computers, bringing an excellent mobile office experience.

The vivo X Fold 5 launched by vivo in June 2025 is the world's first "three - proof" foldable smartphone. It has further optimized the interconnection with the Apple ecosystem, supporting cross - device transfer and seamless connection with Apple accessories. Through the "Atomic Workbench", it can use one screen for five purposes. In particular, its collaborative ability with Mac computers has been upgraded again, and it can even directly connect to iCloud to manage cloud documents.

In July 2025, the Honor Magic V5 launched by Honor claims to have the world's thinnest foldable body, with an unfolded thickness of 4.1 millimeters and a folded thickness of 8.8 millimeters. It has also integrated the software and hardware ecosystems and greatly improved the office experience.

In addition, Huawei and Xiaomi have respectively launched two small foldable smartphones, the Huawei Pura X and the Xiaomi MIX Flip 2, both of which have been upgraded in terms of AI, hinges, interactive experience, etc.

Although Samsung entered the foldable smartphone business early, with the collective rise of domestic foldable smartphone brands, they have comprehensively impacted Samsung in multiple dimensions such as technology, performance, and interactive experience, gradually eroding Samsung's market share.

Currently, Samsung is showing a trend of continuous decline in the Chinese foldable smartphone market. Data released by IDC shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the shipments of the Chinese foldable smartphone market soared by 53.1% year - on - year, reaching 2.84 million units. Among them, Huawei ranked first with a market share of 76.6%, followed by Honor (9.1%), OPPO (7.1%), and Xiaomi (2.6%). Samsung's market share was only 2.4%, ranking fifth.

In fact, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 still have difficulty shaking the status of domestic foldable smartphones. According to South Korean media reports, Samsung has decided to significantly reduce its sales target for foldable smartphones in 2025 to 5 million units (3 million units for the Z Flip 7 and 2 million units for the Z Fold 7), nearly 40% less than the previous sales target of 8.2 million units for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.

02. Samsung Fails to Penetrate the Chinese Market

The Chinese market, as the world's largest and fastest - growing foldable smartphone market, is of crucial strategic significance to Samsung. However, after years of efforts, Samsung's performance in the Chinese foldable smartphone market has always been disappointing.

There are multiple reasons for Samsung's poor performance in the Chinese foldable smartphone market.

Price is the primary obstacle affecting the sales of Samsung's foldable smartphones. Samsung's foldable smartphones have always targeted the high - end market, with high prices. Take the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 as an example. Its starting price reaches 13,999 yuan. In contrast, domestic foldable smartphones have more advantages in terms of price. For example, the starting prices of the OPPO Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 are both 8999 yuan, and the starting price of the vivo X Fold 5 is 6999 yuan. In the small foldable smartphone market, the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 is 7999 yuan, while the starting price of the Xiaomi MIX Flip 2 is 5999 yuan.

The lower prices enable domestic foldable smartphones to attract more consumers. Especially in terms of performance, imaging systems, etc., domestic foldable smartphone brands are not inferior to Samsung at all. In terms of battery life, which most consumers are very concerned about, Samsung even lags significantly behind domestic foldable smartphone brands, resulting in a serious lack of market competitiveness.

Insufficient local adaptation is another reason why Samsung's foldable smartphones have difficulty penetrating the Chinese market. For the Chinese market, Samsung's One UI has shortcomings such as insufficient optimization and lack of local adaptation, resulting in a significant reduction in the user experience. In contrast, Huawei's HarmonyOS, Xiaomi's Pengpai OS, vivo's OriginOS, etc., have all been deeply customized and optimized according to the usage habits of Chinese consumers, making the operation smoother and more convenient. Although Samsung is also actively improving One UI, there is still a large gap compared with domestic foldable smartphone brands in terms of both the optimization speed and the degree of local adaptation.

The weakness of the sales channels has further exacerbated the plight of Samsung's foldable smartphones. In recent years, domestic smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi have strengthened the construction of offline sales channels. As of now, Huawei has more than 60,000 offline stores and counters in the global market, while Xiaomi has approximately 17,000 offline stores in the Chinese market. In contrast, Samsung has more than 700 offline stores in the Chinese market, mainly concentrated in first - and second - tier cities. For smartphone manufacturers, in the current situation where the technological differences are narrowing and the homogeneous competition is fierce, whether they can establish a "visible, tangible, and interactive" connection with consumers through offline sales channels will directly determine their market competitiveness.

All signs indicate that Samsung will still have difficulty penetrating the Chinese foldable smartphone market in the short term. With the collective rise of domestic foldable smartphone brands, Samsung's living space has been severely squeezed. In addition, there are reports that Apple may launch its first foldable smartphone in 2026, which means that Samsung will face a more severe competitive environment. If Samsung cannot find a breakthrough as soon as possible, it may be further marginalized.

03. Can AI Be the Lifesaver?

Since Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy S24 series in January 2024, AI has become its new area of focus.

At the launch event of Samsung's three foldable smartphones, Roh Tae - moon, the head of Samsung's mobile business, repeatedly emphasized the strong correlation between the products and AI. "As we delve deeper into the field of AI, the role of smartphones has become even more important. Smartphones are no longer just tools but have become AI partners that can observe, understand, and respond to what users see in real - time. The company plans to embed AI functions into the existing 400 million Galaxy devices globally as much as possible before the end of this year."

Roh Tae - moon also said, "From flagship products to the Galaxy A series, as long as the hardware conditions allow, we will expand the Galaxy AI functions. Our vision for Galaxy AI is to enable as many consumers as possible to use mobile AI."

Most industry views also believe that for foldable smartphones to achieve large - scale popularity, a complete revolution from "form innovation" to "experience reconstruction" is needed, and the key to this revolution is AI.

The imagination space for AI smartphones is huge. According to IDC's prediction, since 2024, the sales volume of the new generation of AI smartphones will increase significantly, driving a new wave of smartphone replacement. By 2027, the shipments of AI smartphones will reach 150 million units, accounting for more than 50% of the market share. Canalys also predicts that in 2024, global AI smartphones will account for 5% of smartphone shipments, and this proportion will rise to 45% by 2027.

However, Samsung may not be the beneficiary of AI smartphones. Currently, the foldable smartphones of mainstream smartphone manufacturers such as OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Honor have all deeply integrated AI and developed various functions according to consumers' usage habits. It remains unknown how much of the "cake" brought by AI smartphones Samsung can get due to its "poor adaptation".

In fact, for Samsung, AI is not the core competitiveness. The real core competitiveness should be the insight into consumers. In the field of foldable smartphones, technological leadership does not equal market success. If Samsung wants to break through the dilemma, it must first complete the transformation from "engineer thinking" to "consumer thinking"; otherwise, it will only become a supporting role in the market.

This article is from the WeChat official account "DoNews" (ID: ilovedonews), author: Zhang Yu, published by 36Kr with authorization.