Foldables are growing in popularity – market research company Omg forecasts that foldable display shipments will increase by an impressive 44% this year, following a 12% decline last year.
Note that the forecast is specifically for the inner display of the folding bar and not the folding bar itself – there may be some delay between the time the display component is shipped and when the final product is shipped.
According to the forecast, 29 million foldable displays will be shipped this year. As mentioned above, this may not translate 1:1 into the number of foldable phones shipped, but it’s clear that 2026 will be a good year for the form factor.
Here’s another interesting statistic – wide folding displays will account for 44% of total display shipments this year. In other words, the newest form factor will account for nearly half of the market share (the other two form factors are the larger, square book-style fold-out and the smaller flip-style).
This is to a large extent due to the popularity of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and the Apple iPhone Duo. This is great news for Samsung Display, which builds the panels for both models – Omg predicts it will have a commanding 66% market share, while other display manufacturers (BOE, China Star, Tianma and Visionox) will see their shares shrink.
According to the analysts, the demand for foldable moments is weak in China. However, more Chinese are looking to get into the wide folding market, so things are heating up. Huawei pioneered the form factor, but it seems that other manufacturers have little faith that it will be successful.
Finally, the vast majority of foldable displays manufactured this year are the LTPO type – these are more expensive, but their fine-grained control over the refresh rate makes them preferable to the LTPS type. And since foldables are already relatively expensive, you might as well equip them with the best.
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