Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold was a hit in Europe, driving major growth as Samsung and Oppo shrunk

Ben Schoon | Jun 9 2025 - 9:20 am PT

Foldables are absolutely a niche within the smartphone market, but some brands are starting to see a bit of success with it, including Google which is not only seeing sales of Pixel Fold devices, but is one of the fastest-growing foldable makers Europe right now.

In a new report from Counterpoint Research, it’s shown that Europe’s foldable market as a whole is relatively stagnant. Foldables – including both book and flip form factors – only grew a mere 4% year-over-year when looking at Q1 2025 versus the same time period last year.

Despite minimal growth as a whole, though, the market is shifting dramatically.

Samsung’s portion of the foldable market in Europe has dropped from 56% last year to 41% this year, with Motorola growing to a strong second place and Honor actually shrinking from 18% to just 13% of the overall market. Oppo also dropped from 12% to just 4%. Those changes made room for new and growing brands in foldables, with Xiaomi’s debut already hitting 8% of the overall market.

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Google Pixel and Tecno were the big winners, though, both holding 8% of the market and up from 2% each last year. Tecno was the fastest growing at 336% YoY growth, but Google wasn’t far behind with 265% growth.

Google’s figures here are perhaps even more impressive, too. Tecno offers both book-style and flip-style foldables at more affordable price points compared to Samsung, Motorola, and other brands. Google, meanwhile, matches the high-end price of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series and has for both the Pixel Fold and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, the latter of which is very likely almost entirely responsible for this growth.

Counterpoint says:

…competition has increased markedly over the last year. While Samsung remained the clear leader in Q1 2025, other vendors have grown considerably. Motorola overtook HONOR to become Europe’s second-largest foldable smartphone vendor in Q1 2025, largely due to its more affordable Razr 50 flip phones. Google, Xiaomi and TECNO also saw robust growth over the year following the launches of some impressive devices, some also at more attractive price points.

Google is expected to launch Pixel 10 Pro Fold later this year, while Samsung is gearing up to launch a revamped Galaxy Z Fold 7 next month.