Honor Magic V3 (Honor)

Amid Samsung Electronics’ leadership as a foldable phone pioneer, its Chinese rivals appear to be racing to shrink the size of their new phones.

Last week in Paris, Samsung unveiled its new foldable phones the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6, touting them as the slimmer and lighter phones to be powered by its new artificial intelligence features, called Galaxy AI.

Just a few days after Samsung's highly-publicized Unpacked event, China’s Honor launched its own version on Friday, saying the new phone is the “world’s slimmest foldable phone.”

Compared to Samsung’s horizontally folding Galaxy Z Fold6, measuring 12.1 millimeters thick, Honor’s Magic V3 is 2.9 millimeters slimmer and 13 grams lighter.

Another Chinese phone maker, Xiaomi, is also reportedly set to release the Xiaomi Mix Flip and Xiaomi Mix Fold4 later this month at less than 10 millimeters thick.

Honor not only focuses on slimness but also durability. The company boasted that the Magic V3 can endure being folded 500,000 times with wrinkles only 56 microns deeper, ensuring a stable internal display. The battery capacity is 29 percent larger than the Korean tech giant’s vertically folding Galaxy Z Flip6.

As Samsung and Chinese firms adopt distinct strategies for the foldable phone market, industry watchers are paying keen attention to the outcomes. According to a report by market research firm Counterpoint Research, Samsung, which lost its top position in the global foldable phone market to Huawei in the first quarter, is expected to reclaim leadership in the latter half.

However, with predictions that Honor and other phone makers will compete to launch new foldable phones in the second half, the focus is on Samsung's ability to expand its market share against these rivals. These two firms also aggressively increase their market share through cost efficiency and domestic demand.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 (left) and Galaxy Z Fold6 (Samsung Electronics)

Sales of the Galaxy Z 6 series are anticipated to surpass 10 million units, the previous model's estimate. Sales of Samsung's latest foldable phones are expected to increase by 30 percent compared to their predecessors, the Flip5 and Fold5, the report showed.

In the January-March period, the global foldable smartphone market grew 49 percent from a year earlier. Huawei's market share more than doubled on-year to 35 percent, while Samsung plunged to 23 percent from 58 percent over the cited period.

“As the market expands and competition intensifies, it is positive for consumers as they benefit from a more competitive market,” Roh Tae-moon, president of Samsung Electronics, told reporters after the Unpacked event in Paris.

At the same time, he mentioned that the company aims to sell 10 percent more new products compared with the previous model released last year.

Samsung is expected to strengthen the role of AI and connections with peripherals for its foldable phones in addition to the existing AI functions, according to Counterpoint researcher Park Jin-suk.

Additionally, Counterpoint Research predicted that Samsung's foldable smartphone shipments will grow 18 percent annually by 2028, accounting for 35 percent of the global market share.

“Samsung expects to enhance its global market presence with AI foldable phones in the premium segment, excluding certain regions like China, Southeast Asia and Africa," an industry source who wished to remain anonymous said.

"Despite strong competition from Chinese manufacturers in terms of specifications and price, however, Samsung must remain vigilant about maintaining sales volume."

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeun@heraldcorp.com)