Chinese smartphone brand Honor surpassed Samsung Electronics to become the No 1 foldable-handset maker in western Europe, according to data from industry consultancy Counterpoint Research.
Honor – a spin-off from Huawei Technologies – took that crown for the first time in the second quarter. Western Europe is the second-largest foldable handset market after China and a fierce battleground for players including Motorola, Oppo, OnePlus and Google, according to a new Counterpoint report.
Honor, which launched its popular book-style Magic V2 outside China last September, saw its global foldable shipments grow 455 per cent in the second quarter, the largest year-on-year rise among all brands, the report showed.
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The Shenzhen-based smartphone maker is set to debut the next-generation Magic V3 internationally this week, after introducing the model in China in July. Measuring 9.8mm thick when folded, the V3 is touted by Honor as the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone.
Globally, Honor’s crosstown rival Huawei remained the largest foldable-handset brand for the second consecutive quarter based on strong performance in the China market, according to another report by Counterpoint.
During the second quarter, over half of the foldable smartphones shipped worldwide went to China, pushing global shipments up 48 per cent from a year ago, according to Counterpoint data.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 phone. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 phone. Photo: EPA-EFE>
Samsung, which used to dominate the overseas foldable handset market, faces rising challenges from Chinese manufacturers, which are churning out new upgrades and expanding aggressively internationally amid heated competition in the home market.
While US-sanctioned Huawei remains focused on the China foldable market, holding an over 35 per cent share, according to CINNO Research, Honor, Xiaomi and Vivo have all brought their latest foldable models outside China this year.
Samsung is expected to reclaim its top position in the global foldable market in the third quarter after launching the new Z6 Series, but “the intensified competition will likely result in a significant [year-on-year] decline in its market share”, Counterpoint wrote.
Samsung, however, remained the world’s top vendor of all smartphones combined in the second quarter, according to IDC.
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