BusinessDayTV Sep 18, 2026
With Mudiwa Gavaza, Technology Correspondent at Business Day, who hosts the Business Day Spotlight podcast
Folding phones have been about two percent of global smartphone sales, Mudiwa Gavaza said, and some estimates have Apple's new folding handset reaching as much as 10% of iPhone sales on its own.
South African consumers are under pressure and smartphone sales overall are falling, with owners keeping handsets longer. Samsung told Gavaza's team the opposite is happening at the top of its range, where growth has continued.
"Even in South Africa, people are holding on to their devices a little bit longer and obviously prices have also been creeping upwards especially because of what we're seeing in the global economy."
Gavaza is Business Day's Technology Correspondent, writing on technology, media and telecommunications for the paper and Financial Mail, and he was in the room when Samsung launched its first folding device.
The full segment is covered here so you can skip it.
Here are the 3 insights that matter.
Key Takeaways
Overall smartphone sales are trending down while Samsung reports continued growth in the premium tier, on handsets costing tens of thousands of rand
Foldables sell to three separate groups: early adopters, buyers who want the flip-phone shape back, and people who want one device instead of a tablet and a phone
Folding phones have been about 2% of global smartphone sales; he thinks Apple's arrival helps Samsung, Oppo and Google rather than hurting them
1. Premium Holds Up
The host's premise was that Samsung remains bullish on South Africa's premium smartphone market, with foldable devices and AI features driving growth in spite of rising electronics costs, and she asked what explains the resilience while consumers are squeezed. Gavaza said the squeeze is the reason the data is interesting.
The direction of travel for the market as a whole
Even in South Africa, people are holding on to their devices a little bit longer and obviously prices have also been creeping upwards especially because of what we're seeing in the global economy.
Mudiwa Gavaza
Against that, he said, Samsung reports continued growth on the premium side. He called it counterintuitive that consumers under pressure are buying handsets worth tens of thousands of rand, and read the data as evidence about a subset of buyers rather than about the country.
Not everyone, but a group that pays
So very interesting data coming out from the team from Samsung and it also just points to the fact that at least in South Africa you've got a set of people maybe not everyone but a certain group of people that are willing to afford those devices are demanding to regularly update those devices and are willing to foot the bill.
Mudiwa Gavaza
2. Three Foldable Buyers
Asked how quickly the foldable market is growing locally, Gavaza went to the history first. Samsung launched a folding phone it then called the Galaxy Z, which became the Z Fold, and the current generation is the eighth.
Samsung moved before anyone else did
So they're the first major manufacturer to actually bank on the foldable device and have invested over the years in South Africa.
Mudiwa Gavaza
He then separated the demand into three groups. The first is the buyers on the bleeding edge who want the newest thing. The second is about the shape of the device, and it answers a debate he remembers from a few years ago.
The question was whether phones had stopped changing
I remember a couple of years ago we were having these debates where people were saying have we reached peak smartphone.
Mudiwa Gavaza
That debate had a specific piece of evidence behind it, which he gave.
One design has held for nearly two decades
iPhone has basically been the same shape since its launch in 2007.
Mudiwa Gavaza
Foldables break that sameness, and part of what they sell is a memory of the flip phones that came before it, Motorola's Razr among them. The third group is about carrying less.
The productivity case is subtraction
Let's get rid of having a tablet and a phone. Let's have a phone that turns into a tablet.
Mudiwa Gavaza
A lot of people carry a laptop, a tablet and a phone, he said, and a device that collapses two of those into one is what the manufacturers are selling to that group.
3. Apple Joins the Category
The host pointed out that Apple is now entering foldables and asked how Samsung defends a lead it already has. Gavaza did not think the lead is the thing at risk.
He read Apple's entry as helpful
I actually think it puts Samsung in a good position.
Mudiwa Gavaza
His reasoning starts with how Apple usually behaves.
Apple does not go first
And the reason I say that is because Apple is known as being the manufacturer that doesn't do certain things first.
Mudiwa Gavaza
Samsung started in 2019 and it is now 2026, he said, and Apple spent that period watching the category develop before jumping in with a large launch. What Apple brings is attention to a category that has not had much.
The category was small enough to be dismissed
Up until now, folding phones were seen as a niche, right? accounting about two or so percent of global smartphone sales
Mudiwa Gavaza
That is roughly true worldwide and in South Africa, he said. The number he cited for what Apple might do with it is someone else's projection rather than his own.
What the outside estimates say
some estimates out there people are projecting that for Apple this could be as much as 10% of iPhone sales
Mudiwa Gavaza
Attention on one folding phone spills over, on his reading: some buyers will take Apple's, and others will decide they want a folding phone and then want an Android one.
Who else gets carried along
And you've got the likes of Samsung, the likes of Oppo, the likes of Google that all have folding devices that I think will also benefit from the attention that we're seeing right now.
Mudiwa Gavaza
Bonus Insights
The host introduced the discussion as the week's tech segment, and Gavaza appeared in the studio rather than by video link.
Gavaza's bottom line is that South Africa's premium smartphone demand comes from a narrow group of buyers who replace handsets often and pay for it, and that Apple entering foldables enlarges a 2% category for every Android manufacturer already in it.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Samsung (Reports continued growth at the premium end in South Africa, and was the first major manufacturer to commit to foldables, now on the eighth generation of the Z Fold)
Apple (Entered foldables in 2026 after watching since 2019; he says its arrival brings attention to a 2% category and that estimates run as high as 10% of iPhone sales)
Oppo and Google (Both already sell folding devices, and he expects both to benefit from the attention Apple's launch brings)
Motorola (The Razr is his reference point for the flip-phone shape that foldables bring back)
Watch the full episode:
More Mudiwa Gavaza interviews and podcast appearances
If this was worth your time, send it to someone closer to the industry than you are.
Get the latest market chatter as it happens: