2014, apple And Samsung had taken it away to dominate the US smartphone market. Samsung sold the device on a big screen, and iPhone fans were requesting a response.
It took Apple a while, but the company finally released the iPhone 6, breaking previous iterations and offering consumers a big screen option. The iPhone won.
But more than a decade later, recent smartphone sales and shipping figures show that the Apple-Samsung battle is back. And once again, it’s all about the screen.
According to Canalys data, shipments from Samsung surged in the US in the second quarter, with market share rising from 23% to 31% from the previous period. Apple’s market share fell from 56% to 49% during the quarter.
Apple remains at the top of the US smartphone market and accounts for the majority of new smartphone sales in the US, and ranks second worldwide, but the recent slip marks Apple’s turbulence for the first time in over a decade.
This is one of the reasons investors sent Apple stocks down 7.5% this year. Tesla. Meanwhile, Samsung’s stocks rose by around 35% in 2025.
In July, Samsung introduced a new innovative phone that features a foldable screen. One model, the Z fold 7, can effectively turn into a tablet, but the Z flip resembles an old school flip phone with the latest smartphone features. These were released this spring in the catalogue of Samsung’s phones, which were released this spring, including a thin, bright phone called the Galaxy S25 Edge.
The device also gains a lot of traction on social media, particularly when it comes to durability testing.
One user posted a live stream, showing Z-fold 7 bends more than 200,000 consecutive times. The video is widely clipped and widely shared on social media, with one version of the clip accumulating over 15 million views on YouTube.
According to data from social media analytics company Sprout Socile, Samsung’s premium devices, including Z fold 7, have been mentioned over 50,000 times on social media over the past month, with 83% of those mentions being positive or neutral.
Market share counts are not just a result of user preferences. Analysts said many of the June quarter’s shipping figures could be attributed to tariffs that are causing “disruption” in the industry as smartphone manufacturers use a variety of strategies to minimize their impact on their businesses.
However, Samsung’s profits also reflect the company’s ability to offer a wider range of products at a wider range of prices compared to Apple. This includes low-end phones, which account for a large part of Samsung’s second quarter improvements, as well as high-end devices that cost more than individual iPhones.
Samsung’s Galaxy and Z phone lineup “surges from $650 to $2,400. It’s a huge amount of devices,” said Canalys analyst Runar Bjorhovde. “There’s the idea that you can target people at any price and you can meet them everywhere.”
The iPhone has looked almost the same since 2017. There is a rectangular glass with a touchscreen on the front and several cameras on the back. Recently, the company offers four slates ranging from $829 to $1,599. Samsung and others are beginning to experiment with new form factors beyond what is called candy bar.
Apple is expected to start the same thing. It starts with the potential launch next month of the slim iPhone, which competes with Samsung’s Galaxy Edge.
“Apple is clearly betting that the 5.5mm Air model will unlock property as testing suggests a strong desire for a new form factor,” wrote Loop Capital Managing Director John Donovan in May.
JPMorgan Chase analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote in a report last month that Apple could release a folding phone next year to compete with Samsung’s Z fold.
“The investor focus has already changed to the fall 2026 launch, with Apple set to launch its first foldable iPhone in September 2026 as part of its iPhone 18 lineup,” writes Chatterjee.
According to Bjorhovde, when you try out the new form factor, Apple offers the opportunity to sell your device at a higher price.
Apple’s most expensive phone, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, currently starts at $1,199 with 256GB of storage, and up to $1,599 for the version with 1TB of storage. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, announced last week, starts at $1,999 for the 256GB version and costs $2,419 for the 1TB version.
Chatterjee said he believes Apple’s foldable phone version could start at $1,999. Apple declined to comment.
On July 8, 2025, a person holds a Samsung Galaxy Z-fold 7 phone during an event held in New York, USA.
Gina Moon | Reuters
Folding phones are finally mature
Samsung’s first folding phone was released in 2019, but it has gotten off to a rocky start. The initial launch was delayed after reviewers including CNBC discovered that the early devices broke along the folding fold.
But Samsung says it’s different this time, and its folding phones are ready to eventually become mainstream. Especially regarding durability.
“There’s no more trade-offs to owning a foldable device,” said Drew Blackard, vice president of mobile product management at Samsung Electronics America.
The Korean company doesn’t provide a sales number, but Blackard said the latest version, the Galaxy Z Fold 7, has 25% more pre-orders than previous Samsung folding phones, with sales almost 50% more than the device’s predecessor.
“The foldable Samsung can actually be optimized for innovation,” says Bjorhovde. “Try to go ahead and show that something is different, then there is a certain halo effect.”
Samsung’s sell-through rose 16% in the June quarter, thanks to demand for high-end devices, including a “slight boost” from Samsung’s Splim S25 Edge.
The rise of artificial intelligence is telling you a new form factor for home appliances that can one day replace the iPhone.
Openai acquired the former Apple Design Guru Jony Ive startup for $6.5 billion in May. AI startups are planning to develop next-generation hardware, while other AI startups have released pins, pendants and glasses that rely on user voice to control their devices.
Samsung devices and other Android phones Google’s Gemini is widely considered to be one of the best AI models along with Openai’s ChatGpt. Gemini has several features that users cannot get from Siri or Apple Intelligence.
Blackard said folding phones have a larger display and are suitable for AI. Google’s Search through Circles feature allows users to simply circle what they want to know on the screen, Blackard said.
On Samsung’s folding phone, users can see the original screen with swirled content and another screen with supplementary information, he said.
“It’s much more productive to be able to come and go,” Blackard said.
Investors are worried that delays in Apple’s AI, including the next-generation Siri, scheduled to be released next year, could hurt sales. But many analysts say Apple’s brand loyalty and lock-in will be given years before iPhone customers begin to flee their competitors.
Chatterjee told CNBC that the strategy with Apple’s devices is to wait until technology is ready for mainstream. At that time, it may be a foldable device.
Apple “never tried to get to the market first,” Chatterjee said. “It’s about being monitored, matured, knowing there are no major obstacles to adopting that technology, and then moving forward.”
