In 2014, Apple and Samsung were duking it out to rule the U.S. smartphone market. Samsung was selling devices with large screens, and iPhone fans were demanding a response.<\/p>\n
It took Apple some time, but the company finally released the iPhone 6, breaking with previous iterations and giving consumers a large-screen option. The iPhone won.<\/p>\n
But more than a decade later, recent smartphone sales and shipment figures signal that the Apple-Samsung fight has returned. And once again, it\u2019s all about the screen.<\/p>\n
In the second quarter, shipments from Samsung surged in the U.S., with its market share rising from 23% to 31% from the prior period, according to data from Canalys. Apple\u2019s market share during the quarter declined to 49% from 56%.<\/p>\n
Apple remains on top of the U.S. smartphone market, taking the majority of new smartphone sales in the U.S. It\u2019s often in second place around the world, but the recent slips point to turbulence for Apple for the first time in well over a decade.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one reason investors have sent Apple shares down 7.5% this year, underperforming all of the U.S. megacap tech companies other than Tesla.<\/p>\n
Samsung\u2019s stock, meanwhile, is up about 35% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Apple reported a 13% increase in year-over-year iPhone sales in its July earnings.<\/p>\n
In July, Samsung introduced a pair of innovative new phones that feature foldable screens. One model, the Z Fold 7, can effectively turn into a tablet, while the Z Flip resembles an old-school flip phone with modern smartphone features. They were added to Samsung\u2019s catalog of phones released this spring under its Galaxy brand, including a thin-and-light phone called the Galaxy S25 Edge. <\/p>\n
The devices are also getting a lot of traction on social media, particularly around durability tests.<\/p>\n
One user posted a livestream that showed him bending the Z Fold 7 over 200,000 times in a row. The video has been clipped and shared widely on social media, with one version of the clip accumulating more than 15 million views on YouTube.<\/p>\n
In the past month, Samsung\u2019s premium devices, including the Z Fold 7, were mentioned over 50,000 times on social media, and 83% of those mentions were positive or neutral, according to data from Sprout Social, a social media analytics company.<\/p>\n
The market share numbers aren\u2019t just the result of user preferences. Much of the shift in shipment figures in the June quarter, analysts said, can be attributed to tariffs, which are causing \u201cdisruption\u201d in the industry as smartphone makers use different strategies to minimize the impact on their business.<\/p>\n
But Samsung\u2019s gains also reflect the company\u2019s ability to offer a much wider range of products at different prices compared to Apple. That includes low-end phones, which accounted for much of Samsung\u2019s second-quarter U.S. improvement, as well as high-end devices that cost more than any individual iPhone.<\/p>\n
Samsung\u2019s Galaxy and Z phone lineup \u201cstretches from $650 up to $2,400. That is a massive span of devices,\u201d said Canalys analyst Runar Bjorhovde. <\/strong>\u201cThere is an idea that you can target people at every single price point, and you can meet them at every spot.\u201d<\/p>\n The iPhone has pretty much looked the same since 2017 \u2014 a rectangular piece of glass with a touchscreen on the front, and a few cameras on the back. These days, the company offers a series of four slates ranging from $829 to $1,599. Samsung and others are starting to go beyond the so-called candy bar shape and experimenting with new form factors.<\/p>\n Apple is expected to start doing the same \u2014 beginning with a potential launch next month of a slimmer iPhone that will compete with Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Edge.<\/p>\n \u201cApple is clearly betting that its 5.5mm Air model is going to lift its fortunes as testing suggests a strong desire for the new form factor,\u201d wrote Loop Capital managing director John Donovan in May.<\/p>\n JPMorgan Chase analyst Samik Chatterjee wrote in a report last month<\/a> that Apple may release a folding phone next year to compete with Samsung\u2019s Z Fold.<\/p>\n \u201cInvestor focus has already turned to the 2026 fall launches with Apple expected to launch its first foldable iPhone as part of the iPhone 18 lineup in September 2026,\u201d Chatterjee wrote.<\/p>\n Trying new form factors offers Apple the opportunity to sell devices at higher prices, according to Bjorhovde.<\/p>\n Apple\u2019s most expensive phone, the iPhone 16 Pro Max<\/a>, currently starts at $1,199 for 256GB of storage and can go up to $1,599 for a version with 1TB of storage. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, which was announced last week, starts at $1,999 for the 256GB version and tops out at $2,419 for the 1TB version.<\/p>\n Chatterjee said he thinks Apple\u2019s version of a folding phone could start at $1,999.<\/p>\n Folding phones finally mature<\/p>\n Samsung\u2019s first folding phone was released in 2019, but got off to a rocky start. The initial launch was delayed after reviewers \u2014 including CNBC<\/a> \u2014 discovered that the early devices would break along their folding crease.<\/p>\n But Samsung says this time is different, and that folding phones are finally ready to go mainstream, especially with respect to durability.<\/p>\n \u201cThere really are no longer trade-offs towards owning a foldable device,\u201d said Drew Blackard, vice president of mobile product management at Samsung Electronics America.<\/p>\n The South Korean company doesn\u2019t provide sales numbers, but Blackard said the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the latest version, had 25% more preorders than any previous Samsung folding phone and that sales are outpacing the device\u2019s predecessor by nearly 50%<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSamsung with the foldable is able to actually optimize for innovation,\u201d said Bjorhovde. “Try to be ahead, show that something is different, and there\u2019s a certain halo effect from that.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Counterpoint Research, a firm that estimates smartphone sales to customers, Samsung\u2019s sell-through increased 16% during the June quarter, thanks to demand for high-end devices, including a \u201cslight boost\u201d from the slim S25 Edge.<\/p>\n The rise of artificial intelligence is also heralding new form factors for consumer electronics that could one day replace the iPhone.<\/p>\n OpenAI in May acquired<\/a> the startup of former Apple design guru Jony Ive for $6.5 billion. The AI startup plans to develop the next generation of hardware, and other AI startups have released pins<\/a>, pendants and glasses<\/a> that rely on users\u2019 voice to control the devices.<\/p>\n