We check out how Apple’s new iPhone Duo measures up on paper against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, which we’ve been testing over the last few weeks.
Game On
Apple has officially entered the fold.
After spending the past couple of weeks with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, fact has now had the chance to compare it with the features available from the newly unveiled iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable smartphone.
The arrival is significant, not least because Apple rarely steps into a new hardware category without making noise. But when it comes to foldables, Samsung is hardly waiting at the starting line.
Samsung first previewed its Infinity Flex Display in 2018, before bringing the original Galaxy Z Fold to market in 2019. From there came the Galaxy Z Fold2 in 2020, Galaxy Z Fold3 in 2021, Galaxy Z Fold4 in 2022, Galaxy Z Fold5 in 2023, Galaxy Z Fold6 in 2024 and Galaxy Z Fold7 in 2025, leading to this year’s Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra.
What followed was not simply a succession of new model numbers. Across those generations, Samsung steadily reworked the formula, improving hinges and displays, reducing weight and thickness, developing the cameras and making far more purposeful use of the larger screen through software, AI and multitasking.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 is the latest result of that evolution. Apple is now setting out on the foldable road with an undoubtedly ambitious first device, but Samsung has already travelled much of it — learning, adjusting and refining the experience along the way. And as the similarities between the two phones begin to emerge, that seven-year head start becomes increasingly difficult to overlook.
A Familiar Shape
Apple’s first foldable follows a formula Samsung users will already know well.
Both use a book-style design, both place a conventional smartphone display on the outside and both unfold into a much larger canvas. Apple’s outer display measures 5.4 inches, while Samsung’s is fractionally larger at 5.5 inches. Inside, Apple offers a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display, exactly matching the Galaxy Z Fold8’s 7.6-inch main screen in size.
Apple adds ProMotion, Always-On support and up to 3,000 nits of peak outdoor brightness, while Samsung counters with its Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel and a format we found genuinely useful for reading, streaming and browsing.
The overlap is hard to miss. The difference is that Samsung has already seen those ideas evolve through products in users’ hands.
“Apple’s ideas are clever. Samsung’s feel like part of an ecosystem that has already had time to mature.”
Made to Multitask
The software experience provides the next point of comparison.
Apple has reworked iOS 27 for the Duo and introduced Split View, allowing two apps to run side by side. Users can swap between them, open two windows of the same app and save pairs of apps to return to later. It is a meaningful step for iPhone and one that should make the larger display far more than a novelty.
Samsung, however, makes fuller use of the larger display.
On the Galaxy Z Fold8, One UI 9 supports up to three apps on screen at once, with additional apps available as floating windows. During our time with the phone, we quickly found ourselves juggling messages, maps and whatever else the day demanded. It sounds excessive until you use it; then returning to one app at a time can feel oddly restrictive.
Apple has adapted iOS for a foldable. Samsung has already had time to make multitasking a more established part of the experience.
Refining the Form
Samsung has also worked hard to remove one of the traditional penalties of owning a foldable: bulk.
At 201g, the Galaxy Z Fold8 is Samsung’s lightest Fold yet, and at just 4.5mm thick when open, it felt impressively slim in daily use. Closed, it was surprisingly easy to treat like an everyday phone.
Apple describes the Duo as its thinnest iPhone ever at 5.2mm when open and 11.3mm when closed. It combines grade 5 titanium and a precision hinge with IP68-rated water and dust resistance. Its inner display also uses a nano-texture finish designed to reduce glare and make the crease less noticeable.
Those are impressive first-generation touches. Samsung, meanwhile, has already refined that balance between slimness and everyday usability.
Picture This
Apple’s camera approach enters territory Samsung has already spent years developing, while the Galaxy Z Fold8 already features a broader camera setup.
Apple equips the Duo with a 48MP Fusion Main camera and 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, with an optical-quality 2x Telephoto provided through the main camera. The folding design also allows users to preview themselves on the outer screen and take higher-resolution selfies using the rear cameras.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 pairs 50MP Wide and 50MP Ultra Wide rear cameras, while 10MP cameras sit on both displays. Samsung also offers Dual Recording and cover-screen preview functionality, while Galaxy AI tools make particularly good use of the larger internal display.
Apple’s ideas are clever. Samsung’s feel like part of an ecosystem that has already had time to mature.
The Price of Entry
There is also the question of cost.
The iPhone Duo starts at USD1,999 for 256GB, while the Galaxy Z Fold8 starts lower at USD1,899.99 for the same capacity. That gives Samsung another advantage before the phones are even unfolded.
At this end of the market, price alone will never decide the contest, but it does strengthen the Galaxy Z Fold8’s value proposition — particularly when paired with a foldable experience that already feels fully developed.
The Advantage of Experience
The iPhone Duo is a significant arrival. Apple has entered the foldable market with a device that is clearly intended to compete at the very top end, and this is no cautious first step. Its displays are impressive on paper, the A20 Pro brings serious performance credentials, and its camera and software features show that Apple has approached the format with real intent rather than simply adding a hinge to an existing iPhone.
But much of what Apple is now introducing will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time with Samsung’s Fold series. From multitasking to the way the larger display is used, Samsung has already spent several generations refining many of the ideas Apple is only now bringing to its first foldable.
That is where Samsung’s head start becomes difficult to ignore. The Galaxy Z Fold8 feels settled, refined and deeply adapted to the format, with the benefit of years spent learning what works, what matters and what users actually need from a folding phone.
Apple has arrived in the fold with an impressive debut that nevertheless feels somewhat familiar. Samsung, meanwhile, leaves the stronger impression of a device that feels fully realised.
GO: VISIT SAMSUNG.COM OR APPLE.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.
