For years, the foldable phone market had one conspicuous absence: Apple.
That changed this week. Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, and Samsung wasted little time reminding everyone that it has been doing this for years.
The result is more interesting than another round of social-media sniping between two smartphone giants. Apple has entered one of the few premium phone categories where Samsung has a genuine head start, and suddenly foldables have the rivalry they have been waiting for.
Samsung has been waiting for this moment
Samsung launched its first mass-market Galaxy Fold in 2019. The early hardware had well-publicised problems, but the company stayed with the idea, iterating on hinges, displays, durability, software and weight across successive generations.
Its latest Galaxy Z Fold8 is the product of that long development cycle. Samsung says the device weighs just 201 grams, down from 253 grams for the Fold5, while retaining the large-screen experience that defines the category.
Apple, meanwhile, has arrived with the iPhone Duo at US$1,999. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 starts at US$1,899, putting the two devices unusually close together at the top end of the smartphone market.
Samsung’s response has been anything but subtle. Reuters reports that the company has launched a global campaign built around the message “Welcome to Foldables”, while promoting the thin and light design of its current devices and poking fun at Apple on social media.
Behind the jokes is a serious competitive threat.
Apple does not need to invent the category to change it
Apple has a long history of entering established product categories after other companies have already done much of the early experimentation. The iPhone was not the first smartphone, the Apple Watch was not the first smartwatch and AirPods were not the first wireless earbuds.
The company’s bet is usually that timing, integration and an enormous installed base matter more than being first.
That is why the iPhone Duo matters to Samsung even after eight generations of Galaxy foldables. Counterpoint Research estimates, according to Reuters, that Apple could capture around 25% of the foldable market, while Samsung is expected to hold about 38%. If that forecast is even close, Apple could become one of the category’s largest players almost immediately.
There is an additional twist: Apple is entering the market partly through a supply chain Samsung helped build. Reuters reports that Samsung Display supplies foldable screens for the iPhone Duo.
Samsung has something Apple cannot buy: experience
The strongest argument for the Galaxy Z Fold8 is not that Samsung got there first. It is what the company learned by getting there first.
Foldables create problems conventional phones largely avoid. Hinges have to survive years of opening and closing. Flexible displays need protection without becoming unpleasant to touch. A large internal screen is only useful if apps and multitasking make sense on it. And every extra gram matters when a phone effectively carries two display surfaces.
Samsung has spent years working through those compromises in public.
Its current Z Fold8 uses a 5.5-inch cover display and opens to a 7.6-inch main display. Samsung has also built its Galaxy AI and Gemini experiences around the larger canvas, including multitasking features designed specifically for the foldable format.
Apple is approaching the same challenge from the other direction. The iPhone Duo opens to a 7.6-inch display and runs a reworked iOS 27 experience with Split View, allowing two apps to run side by side. It uses Apple’s A20 Pro chip and starts at the same 256GB storage tier as its closest rivals.
On paper, this is no longer an experimental device category. These are two mature smartphone ecosystems competing over which company can make folding hardware feel ordinary.
The real winner could be the foldable phone itself
Samsung has another reason not to panic: Apple’s arrival validates the market Samsung spent years trying to create.
Foldables have remained a relatively small part of global smartphone sales. High prices, concerns about durability and unfamiliar form factors have kept many buyers on conventional slab phones.
An iPhone that folds changes the conversation. Millions of people who may never have considered a Galaxy Fold will now encounter the format through Apple stores, carrier advertising and the wider iPhone ecosystem.
Samsung is already seeing signs that the category is gaining traction. The company said this week that combined European sales of the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra were 50% higher than the Fold7 generation over a comparable period. Samsung also says its Smart Switch data shows a year-on-year increase in iPhone users moving to its latest foldables.
Those are Samsung’s own figures, but they underline why the timing of Apple’s arrival is fascinating: foldables may finally be gaining momentum just as the industry’s biggest smartphone rivalry moves into the category.
Now the foldable war actually begins
For consumers, the most important outcome is competition.
Samsung can no longer rely on being the obvious foldable choice for buyers who want a polished mainstream device. Apple now has an incentive to prove that its first-generation product can compete with Samsung’s years of experience. Google and Chinese manufacturers have their own reasons to push harder as the category attracts more attention.
That pressure should eventually show up where buyers actually care: thinner designs, stronger hinges, less visible creases, better batteries, more useful multitasking and, perhaps most importantly, lower prices.
Samsung helped turn the foldable phone from a fragile experiment into a credible flagship. Apple’s iPhone Duo may now help turn it into a genuine smartphone battleground.
The question is no longer whether Apple will make a foldable. It is whether arriving late has given Apple enough time to challenge Samsung at the thing Samsung has spent eight generations learning to do.
Sources: Apple Newsroom; Samsung Newsroom; Samsung Newsroom UK; Reuters.
