As Samsung gears up for its annual folding phone fest, the company is under more pressure than ever to prove its foldables are the ones to beat. At Galaxy Unpacked, due to take place on Wednesday in London, Samsung is widely expected to unveil its next-generation Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip devices – and it needs them to be good.

Samsung’s foldable line dates back to 2019 and the company’s latest devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, both unveiled this time last year, impressed us with their mix of durability, practicality and innovation. But this year, we hope to see Samsung really push its foldables to the next level in response to shifting market sands that mean it can’t afford to rest on its laurels.

Seven years on from launching the first Galaxy Fold, Samsung has established itself as the market leader for this phone category, but the competition is heating up. In 2025, North America saw a 28% year-on-year jump in foldable phone shipments, according to Counterpoint Research, but Samsung’s dominance declined, with Motorola gaining significant ground.

That’s all down to the Razr – a flip phone in the style of the Galaxy Z Flip 7 that costs around $300 less than its Samsung rival. The success of this phone sparked Motorola’s market share to jump to 44% in 2025, an increase of around 14% since 2024, which is almost exactly the same amount as Samsung lost. Motorola now has four foldable phones at a variety of prices, including the Razr Fold – its first book-style foldable, which it introduced earlier this year.

Other competition is coming from Google with the Pixel Fold, and in countries outside of the US, Chinese companies, including Honor and Huawei. If rumors are to be believed, Apple will also join them in a matter of months, with many expecting the company to launch a widescreen, book-style folding phone at its annual September event. Then there’s RAMageddon, the memory shortage that has already forced Samsung to raise its phone prices and will likely impact the company’s new foldables, too.

All of this adds up to a high-stakes moment for Samsung. It can’t afford to simply rely on minor upgrades – it needs to prove it has the chops to dominate the foldable market with both its Flip and Fold phone, but especially the latter.

When it comes to the Galaxy Z Fold, Samsung’s biggest competition comes from a phone that doesn’t exist yet, and from a company that might change the shape of the game altogether. Foldables have yet to become widespread and are largely still in the early-adopter stage, but with Apple expected to unveil its first folding iPhone as soon as this fall, that could change very soon. 

The looming threat of Apple

It’s not that Samsung and other foldable-makers haven’t done a sterling job of architecting and refining this subcategory of phones, but Apple’s track record for mainstreaming emerging tech means it could be pivotal – especially in the American market.

When Apple enters the fray, Counterpoint forecasts that it could absorb a 28% share of the foldables market by the end of this year. Many people buying Apple foldables will be existing iPhone owners, but the research firm also predicts Apple’s offering has the potential to turn the heads of current Android users considering the leap to a book-style foldable.

“The eagerly anticipated Apple foray into this category threatens to reset consumer expectations,” says Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight. In anticipation of this, Samsung will need to put its most competitive foot forward.

“Samsung must use its early market lead, deep experience, and partnerships such as Gemini to exploit the unique capabilities of the foldable form factor fully,” says Pescatore. “Ultimately, this is about delivering tightly integrated hardware, software and services as one seamless experience.”

Already, we’re expecting Samsung to fight off the incoming competition by unveiling a new, wider rectangular device, which is much like Apple’s rumored take on the foldable phone. As Pescatore points out, key to the success of this device will be Samsung’s approach to using this fresh shape and screen aspect ratio to enhance the experience it offers on its standard Fold-style phone.

The company can use the years of insight into how people get the most from their foldable phones to its advantage here. And if it gets it right, it will not only continue to be Apple’s primary rival in all areas of the smartphone space, but it could prove that its pioneering work in foldables has been fundamental to crafting the one market-leading device.

Everything’s to play for and the pressure on Samsung is intense. We can’t wait to see how the chips land.

Katie Collins

Principal Writer

Katie is a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET’s European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET’s Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a “living synth” by London’s Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.

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