Apple’s iPhone Fold is anticipated to be the driving drive of a 2026 rebound for foldable smartphone orders, falling solely simply behind Samsung’s {hardware}.
Apple is anticipated to unveil its first folding iPhone in late 2026. Although the transfer will mark the corporate’s entry into new smartphone territory, the iPhone Fold might even have a major impression on general orders for foldable telephone screens.
In accordance with Counterpoint Analysis, the iPhone Fold will account for 29% of all folding smartphone show orders in 2026. Huawei, in the meantime, is anticipated to take 24% of the market, whereas Samsung will seemingly stay within the lead with 31% of general orders for folding smartphone shows.
Per Wednesday’s report, Apple’s iPhone Fold orders may even drive the competitors in direction of increased common promoting costs. Excessive-end book-style foldables have reportedly changed value-oriented clamshell folding units because the mainstream kind issue, however “the expansion of in-fold isn’t totally depending on Apple.”
In the meantime, tri-fold units just like the Huawei Mate XT collection and Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold reportedly will not turn into mass-market merchandise anytime quickly. The yield challenges and complexities of tri-fold designs will proceed to function components that restrict widespread adoption.
In accordance with a number of sources and rumors, Apple’s provider for iPhone Fold OLED panels might be Samsung Show, which held 22% of the foldable smartphone display screen market in Q1 2026. That is up from 15% in Q1 2025.
Samsung Show’s share of foldable smartphone show shipments rose to 22% in Q1 2026, whereas BOE’s share decreased from 52% to 45%. Picture Credit score: Counterpoint Analysis.
Foldable smartphone display screen shipments are nonetheless dominated by BOE, although, which held 45% of the market in Q1 2026, down from 52% in 2026.
An April 2026 rumor stated that Apple had determined in opposition to utilizing BOE OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone 18 Professional. We seemingly will not see BOE {hardware} on the iPhone Fold both.
As a complete, although, international shipments of foldable smartphone screens are anticipated to succeed in roughly 27.5 million models for the whole lot of 2026. This implies orders might be up roughly 24% in comparison with 2025, and iPhone Fold panel orders are positive to be a key contributing issue.
