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

In 2014, Apple and Samsung were duking it retired to regularisation the U.S. smartphone market. Samsung was selling devices with ample screens, and iPhone fans were demanding a response.

It took Apple immoderate time, but the institution yet released the iPhone 6, breaking with erstwhile iterations and giving consumers a large-screen option. The iPhone won.

But much than a decennary later, caller smartphone income and shipment figures awesome that the Apple-Samsung combat has returned. And erstwhile again, it's each astir the screen.

In the 2nd quarter, shipments from Samsung surged successful the U.S., with its marketplace stock rising from 23% to 31% from the anterior period, according to information from Canalys. Apple's marketplace stock during the 4th declined to 49% from 56%.

Apple remains connected apical of the U.S. smartphone market, taking the bulk of caller smartphone income successful the U.S. It's often successful 2nd spot astir the world, but the caller slips points to turbulence for Apple for the archetypal clip successful good implicit a decade.

That's 1 crushed investors person sent Apple shares down 7.5% this year, underperforming each of the U.S. megacap tech companies different than Tesla. Samsung's stock, meanwhile, is up astir 35% successful 2025.

In July, Samsung introduced a brace of innovative caller phones that diagnostic foldable screens. One model, the Z Fold 7, tin efficaciously crook into a tablet, portion the Z Flip resembles an old-school flip telephone with modern smartphone features. They were added to Samsung's catalog of phones released this outpouring nether its Galaxy brand, including a thin-and-light telephone called the Galaxy S25 Edge. 

The devices are besides getting a batch of traction connected societal media, peculiarly astir durability tests.

One idiosyncratic posted a livestream that showed him bending the Z Fold 7 implicit 200,000 times successful a row. The video has been clipped and shared wide connected societal media, with 1 mentation of the clip accumulating much than 15 cardinal views connected YouTube.

In the past month, Samsung's premium devices, including the Z Fold 7, were mentioned implicit 50,000 times connected societal media, and 83% of those mentions were affirmative oregon neutral, according to information from Sprout Social, a societal media analytics company.

The marketplace stock numbers aren't conscionable the effect of idiosyncratic preferences. Much of the displacement successful shipment figures successful the June quarter, analysts said, tin beryllium attributed to tariffs, which are causing "disruption" successful the manufacture arsenic smartphone makers usage antithetic strategies to minimize the interaction connected their business.

But Samsung's gains besides bespeak the company's quality to connection a overmuch wider scope of products astatine antithetic prices compared to Apple. That includes low-end phones, which accounted for overmuch of Samsung's second-quarter U.S. improvement, arsenic good arsenic high-end devices that outgo much than immoderate idiosyncratic iPhone.

Samsung's Galaxy and Z telephone lineup "stretches from $650 up to $2,400. That is simply a monolithic span of devices," said Canalys expert Runar Bjorhovde. "There is an thought that you tin people radical astatine each azygous terms point, and you tin conscionable them astatine each spot."

The iPhone has beauteous overmuch looked the aforesaid since 2017 — a rectangular portion of solid with a touchscreen connected the front, and a fewer cameras connected the back. These days, the institution offers a bid of 4 slates ranging from $829 to $1,599. Samsung and others are starting to spell beyond the alleged candy barroom signifier and experimenting with caller signifier factors.

Apple is expected to commencement doing the aforesaid — opening with a imaginable motorboat adjacent period of a slimmer iPhone that volition vie with Samsung's Galaxy Edge.

"Apple is intelligibly betting that its 5.5mm Air exemplary is going to assistance its fortunes arsenic investigating suggests a beardown tendency for the caller signifier factor," wrote Loop Capital managing manager John Donovan successful May.

JPMorgan Chase expert Samik Chatterjee wrote in a study past month that Apple whitethorn merchandise a folding telephone adjacent twelvemonth to vie with Samsung's Z Fold.

"Investor absorption has already turned to the 2026 autumn launches with Apple expected to motorboat its archetypal foldable iPhone arsenic portion of the iPhone 18 lineup successful September 2026," Chatterjee wrote.

Trying caller signifier factors offers Apple the accidental to merchantability devices astatine higher prices, according to Bjorhovde.

Apple's astir costly phone, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, presently starts astatine $1,199 for 256GB of retention and tin spell up to $1,599 for a mentation with 1TB of storage. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which was announced past week, starts astatine $1,999 for the 256GB mentation and tops retired astatine $2,419 for the 1TB version.

Chatterjee said helium thinks Apple's mentation of a folding telephone could commencement astatine $1,999. Apple declined to comment.

Samsung's archetypal folding telephone was released successful 2019, but got disconnected to a rocky start. The archetypal motorboat was delayed aft reviewers — including CNBC — discovered that the aboriginal devices would interruption on their folding crease.

But Samsung says this clip is different, and that folding phones are yet acceptable to spell mainstream, particularly with respect to durability.

"There truly are nary longer trade-offs towards owning a foldable device," said Drew Blackard, vice president of mobile merchandise absorption astatine Samsung Electronics America.

The South Korean institution doesn't supply income numbers, but Blackard said the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the latest version, had 25% much preorders than immoderate erstwhile Samsung folding telephone and that income are outpacing the device's predecessor by astir 50%.

"Samsung with the foldable is capable to really optimize for innovation," said Bjorhovde. "Try to beryllium ahead, amusement that thing is different, and there's a definite halo effect from that."

According to Counterpoint Research, a steadfast that estimates smartphone income to customers, Samsung's sell-through accrued 16% during the June quarter, acknowledgment to request for high-end devices, including a "slight boost" from the slim S25 Edge.

The emergence of artificial quality is besides heralding caller signifier factors for user electronics that could 1 time regenerate the iPhone.

OpenAI successful May acquired the startup of erstwhile Apple plan guru Jony Ive for $6.5 billion. The AI startup plans to make the adjacent procreation of hardware, and different AI startups person released pins, pendants and glasses that trust connected users' dependable to power the devices.

Samsung devices, arsenic good arsenic different Android phones, get entree to Google's Gemini, which is wide considered to beryllium 1 of the champion AI models alongside OpenAI's ChatGPT. Gemini has respective features that users can't get with Siri and Apple Intelligence.

Blackard said folding phones, with their larger displays, are good suited for AI. Google's circle-to-search feature, which allows a idiosyncratic to simply ellipse thing connected the surface that they'd similar to larn much about, is an example, Blackard said.

On a Samsung folding phone, helium said, users tin inactive spot the archetypal surface with the contented they circled, arsenic good arsenic different surface with supplementary information.

"It's overmuch much productive being capable to spell backmost and forth," Blackard said.

Investors person disquieted that Apple's AI delays, including its next-generation Siri that's present scheduled to travel retired adjacent year, could commencement hurting sales. But galore analysts say that Apple's marque loyalty and lock-in volition springiness it a play of years earlier iPhone customers commencement defecting for competitors.

Chatterjee told CNBC that Apple's strategy with devices is to hold until a exertion is acceptable for the mainstream earlier embracing it. That clip whitethorn beryllium present for foldable devices.

Apple has "never been astir trying to beryllium the archetypal to market," Chatterjee said. "It's astir being watchful, seeing a exertion mature, knowing that determination are nary large roadblocks to that exertion adoption, and past moving ahead."