Apple entering the foldable market isn't just an Apple story — it's an entire industry watching its most dominant player finally show up to a party everyone else has been at for seven years. The reactions from competitors this week say almost as much about the state of the foldable category as anything in Apple's own announcement. Here's how the rest of the industry is positioning itself.
Samsung: welcoming Apple in public, worried about it in private
Samsung's public messaging has been almost gracious. Company R&D leads told Wired that Apple's entry is "absolutely welcome," framing it as validation of the category Samsung has spent nearly a decade building. That's the confident version of the statement — the one that says "we told you this mattered."
But read one layer deeper and the tone shifts. Samsung's R&D leadership has been notably specific about weight and hinge durability being "the key to providing the highest customer value" in foldables — a comment that reads less like general product philosophy and more like a preemptive strike on whatever the Duo's hinge engineering turns out to weigh. Samsung also ran a "Welcome to Foldables" ad campaign literally hours before Apple's event, needling the Duo's price relative to the Galaxy Z Fold 8. When a market leader spends its billboard budget the night before a competitor's launch, that's not just confidence — that's a company that knows exactly which numbers it wants people comparing.
The subtext is fair, though. Samsung has years of iteration behind its hinge and weight engineering, and if Apple's first-generation foldable comes in heavier or thicker to hit its durability targets, that's the exact comparison Samsung's marketing has already set up for people to make.
Huawei and Xiaomi: launch first, ask questions later
China's foldable leaders didn't wait for Apple to show up before reacting — they got ahead of it entirely. Huawei launched its Mate XT2 trifold and Xiaomi launched its 18 Fold just two days before Apple's event, a scheduling decision industry analysts have called anything but coincidental. The goal is straightforward: when Apple's foldable actually hits stores, Huawei and Xiaomi want their own newest hardware already sitting on shelves for direct comparison, not looking like yesterday's phone next to Apple's shiny new one.
Both companies leaned hard into a specific talking point — homegrown silicon. Huawei's Mate XT2 runs its own Kirin 9050 Pro chip, and Xiaomi has been vocal about its in-house chip work too. In a year where memory component costs are squeezing every phone maker's margins, both companies are using custom chips as a way to differentiate on value rather than compete purely on brand prestige, which is Apple's home turf.
Worth noting: Huawei currently controls roughly two-thirds of China's foldable market, and it doesn't have to worry about Apple at all in one sense — Huawei doesn't sell in the US, and Apple has never sold particularly deep into Huawei's Chinese foldable stronghold either. The real battleground for the Duo in China isn't unseating Huawei's dominant share overnight; it's converting "aspiring" iPhone loyalists who've been waiting specifically for Apple's version rather than switching to a Chinese or Samsung foldable in the meantime.
Analysts: cautiously bullish on Apple, structurally bullish on the category
Industry researchers have been more measured than either camp of manufacturers, and their framing is useful because it's not trying to sell anything. Counterpoint Research projects Apple could ship around 6 million foldable units this year, translating to roughly a quarter of the global foldable market — with that share potentially climbing toward 40% by 2027 as Apple's typical upgrade cycle kicks in.
That's a bold number for a first-generation product, but the reasoning behind it is less about the Duo being better than existing foldables and more about pent-up demand. Analysts have pointed out that a meaningful chunk of iPhone loyalists have specifically been waiting rather than defecting to Samsung, which means Apple isn't so much fighting for foldable market share as unlocking demand that already existed inside its own installed base.
IDC analysts have also been blunt about what Huawei and Xiaomi's pre-emptive launches actually mean: it's not innocent timing. It's two companies making sure their best current hardware is the thing sitting next to Apple's foldable in every review and every store display, rather than getting relegated to "last year's phone" status the week Apple actually ships.
The bigger picture: everyone benefits from Apple showing up
Every competitor's reaction this week shares one thing in common, whether they'll admit it or not: Apple's entry is good for the foldable category as a whole, even for the companies bracing to compete against it directly. Foldables have spent years as a niche, premium-only product line that most consumers still view with some skepticism about durability and long-term value. Apple entering the category — with its marketing reach, its accessory ecosystem, and its ability to make a form factor feel mainstream rather than experimental — is the kind of validation that grows the whole pie, not just Apple's slice.
Samsung knows this. That's why "welcome to foldables" is genuinely the right marketing angle even while they're needling Apple's price point in the same breath. Huawei and Xiaomi know this too, which is why they're competing on specs and homegrown silicon rather than trying to talk anyone out of buying a folding phone altogether.
The real test isn't whether Apple's foldable is good. It's whether Apple's entry finally convinces the broader smartphone-buying public — not just the early adopters who've been reading spec sheets for years — that a folding phone is worth the premium. If it does, everyone in this space wins, even the companies that spent this week taking shots at the new guy.