Samsung takes market share from Apple in U.S., foldable phone momentum
In 2014, Apple And Samsung was shopping to manage the US smartphone market. Samsung was selling devices with large screens and iPhone fans were demanding a response.
Apple took some time, but the company finally released the iPhone 6, broken with previous repetitions and gave consumers a big screen option. IPhone won.
However, after more than ten years, the latest smartphone sales and shipment figures indicate that the Apple-Samsung fight returned. And once again, everything is about the screen.
In the second quarter, shipments from Samsung rose in the USA and the market share rose from 23% to 31% from the previous period. Channels. Apple’s market share in the quarter fell from 56% to 49%.
Apple, with the majority of new smartphone sales in the United States remains above new smartphone sales in the US, but the last shifts have been pointing to turbulence for the first time for Apple for more than a decree.
One reason why investors reduced Apple shares by 7.5% this year, Tesla. Meanwhile, Samsung’s shares increased by about 35% in 2025.
Apple, July earnings in July compared to the previous year, iphone sales have an increase of 13%, he said.
In July, Samsung introduced a pair of innovative new phone with foldable screens. The Z Fold 7, a model, can effectively turn into a tablet, while Z Flip looks like an old Flip phone with modern smartphone features. Samsung’s phone catalog published in this spring, the Galaxy S25 Edge, including a thin and bright phone, including the Galaxy brand was released.
Devices also convened too much on social media, especially in durability tests.
A user has published a live broadcast showing that ZOL 7 bends more than 200,000 in a row. The video was cropped and widely shared on social media, and a version of the clip accumulated more than 15 million views on YouTube.
Last month, premium devices, including Samsung’s Z Fol 7, were mentioned more than 50,000 times on social media, and 83% of these words were positive or neutral according to the data of Sprout Social, a social media analysis company.
Market share numbers are not only the result of user preferences. Analysts said that most of the change in shipment figures in June quarter can be attributed to tariffs that cause “deterioration” in the sector because they use different strategies to minimize the impact of smartphone manufacturers.
However, Samsung’s gains reflect the company’s ability to offer a much wider range of products at different prices compared to Apple. This includes most of Samsung’s second quarter of the United States, as well as low -tech phones that make up high -level devices that cost more than any iPhone.
Canalys analyst Runar Bjorhovde, Samsung’s Galaxy and Z phone series “$ 650 dates back to $ 2,400. This is a big device.” He said. “There is an idea that you can target people at every price point and you can meet them anywhere.”
The iPhone looked almost the same since 2017 – a touch screen on the front and a rectangular glass with several cameras in the back. These days, the company offers a series of four slates between $ 829 and $ 1,599. Samsung and others begin to go beyond the shape of the sugar bar and try new form factors.
Apple is expected to start doing the same thing – it starts with a potential launch of a thinner iPhone that will compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Edge next month.
“Apple, the test of the 5.5mm air model is a strong desire for the new form factor,” Loop Capital General Manager John Donovan makes it clear in May.
JPMorgan Chase Analyst Samic Chatterjee wrote in a report that Apple could publish a folding phone next year to compete with Samsung’s folding Z.
“Investor Focus has already returned to the 2026 autumn launch, and Apple is expected to start its first foldable iPhone as part of the iPhone 18 series in September 2026.”
According to Bjorhovde, trying new form factors offers Apple the opportunity to sell devices at higher prices.
Apple’s most expensive phone, iPhone 16 Pro MaxIt currently starts at $ 1,199 for 256GB of storage and can be up to $ 1,599 for 1 TB storage version. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, announced last week, starts at $ 1,999 for the 256GB version and starts at $ 2.419 for 1 TB version.
Chatterjee, Apple’s folding phone version can start at $ 1,999, he said.
A person holds the Samsung Galaxy Z Kat 7 phone during an event in the US, 8 July 2025, New York.
Jeenah Moon | Reuters
Folding phones finally mature
Samsung’s first folding phone was released in 2019, but it made a rocky start. The first launch was postponed after reviewing – Including CNBC – he discovered that the first devices will break through folding wrinkles.
However, this time, Samsung says that this time is different and that folding phones are finally ready to make main current in terms of durability.
“There is no longer exchange to have a foldable device,” Samsung Electronics America Mobile Product Management Vice President. He said.
The South Korean company does not provide a sales number, but Blackard said the latest version of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has 25% more pre -order than the previous Samsung folding phone and that sales left the device’s predecessor behind. about 50%.
“Foldable Samsung can really optimize for innovation,” Bjorhovde said.. “Try to be ahead, show that something is different, and it has a specific halo effect. “
According to Conseppoint Research, a company that predicts smartphone sales to customers, Samsung’s sale increased by 16% during the June quarter thanks to the demand for senior devices, including a “slight increase” from Slim S25 EDGE.
The rise of artificial intelligence heralds new form factors for consumer electronics that can replace the iPhone one day.
In May, Openai acquired former Apple Design Guru Jony Ive’s initiative for $ 6.5 billion. AI Startup plans to develop a new generation hardware and published other AI initiatives pinsNecklace and glasses based on the sound of users to control devices.
Samsung devices and other Android phones Google’s Openai’s Gemini, considered one of the best AI models alongside Chatgpt,. Gemini has several features that users cannot get with Siri and Apple Intelligence.
Blackard said that folding phones with larger screens are very suitable for AI. Blackard, Google’s user wants to learn more on the screen, the search for a circle in the apartment is an example, he said is an example.
Samsung said on a folding phone that users can see the original screen with the content they still draw apartments and another screen with additional information.
“It is much more productive to go back and forth,” Blackard said.
Investors are concerned that Apple’s AI delays, including the new generation of Siri, which is planned to be released next year, may begin to damage sales. However, many analysts say that Apple’s brand loyalty and locking will give a period of time before iPhone customers start to escape for competitors.
Chatterjee, CNBC’ye Apple’s strategy with devices, a technology is ready to be ready for the mainstream before hugging it, he said. Then it can now be for foldable devices.
Chatterjee, Apple’s “was not about trying to be the first market,” he said. He continued: “This is to be careful, to mature a technology, to know that there is no major obstacle in the adoption of this technology, and then to progress.”
