The foldable phone market is experiencing a renaissance. Well, foldable phones never went away, thanks to Samsung, but the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Apple's iPhone Duo brought the spotlight back to foldables.

Industry watchers at Smart Analytics Global (SAG) say global foldable smartphone shipments dropped 2% year-on-year in Q3 2026. Despite this, Samsung actually increased its foldable phone shipments by 13% year-on-year.

Samsung was, of course, the leading foldable phone vendor in Q3 2026, but the margin was surprisingly wide. No pun intended.

The Korean company captured a foldable market share of 69% in Q3 — its highest since 2023 (via Android Headlines).

Samsung also increased foldable phone shipments 13% year-on-year at a time when other foldable OEMs faced “mounting challenges.” Excluding Samsung's performance, global foldable shipments from other brands fell 24% year-on-year. Samsung kept this ship sailing.

Industry data shows that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has been a massive success for Samsung. The new wide foldable model accounted for nearly 55% of Samsung's foldable phone shipments in Q3, and analysts call it a success.

For Samsung, the realest threat now isn't Huawei or Motorola, but Apple. Thanks to the launch of the iPhone Duo, market watchers say Apple will likely overtake Samsung and become the world's largest foldable vendor in Q4 2026.

Then again, that sounds a little optimistic considering the iPhone Duo's troubled launch. Many pre-order customers won't get their foldable iPhones shipped before the end of the year.

Regardless, with both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the iPhone Duo offering a new form factor, wide foldable phones may exceed 65% market share in Q4.