Arthur Goldstuck | CEO | World Wide Worx | Editor-in-Chief | Gadget.co.za | mail me |
Samsung has launched three folding phones at once, each aimed at a different kind of customer. It is the clearest indication yet that foldable phones have become a market of their own.
The Galaxy Z Flip8 folds into a compact square. The passport-shaped Z Fold8 opens into a screen intended mainly for content. Meanwhile, the Z Fold8 Ultra targets productivity and high-end photography.
The question is no longer about whether a foldable has a place within the market. It’s now a question about which foldable is the right one to go for.
– Justin Hume, Vice-President for Mobile Experiences at Samsung South Africa
That question says more about the state of foldables than a specs-fest of thinner bodies and improved cameras.
Different shapes for different users
Until now, the folding phone’s hinge was the headline. Opening a phone into a small tablet was used to justify both the novelty and the price. The various models were technically different, but generally divided into two shapes. One was a conventional phone that folded in half. The other was a narrow device that opened like a book.
Samsung has now split that second group in two. The familiar book-style Fold has become the Z Fold8 Ultra. Meanwhile, Samsung has transferred the Z Fold8 name to an entirely new passport-shaped model.
It is all about the shape. The Ultra opens into a tall 8-inch screen suited to running apps side by side. The standard Fold8 opens into a wider 7.6-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Turned on its side, it becomes a 3:4 screen. This makes it suitable for reading books and websites. It weighs 201g, which is less than Samsung’s own Galaxy S26 Ultra.
The change creates an unusual hierarchy. In most smartphone ranges, moving down from Ultra means accepting fewer features in exchange for a lower price. The standard model performs essentially the same job, but with less expensive specs.
The Fold8 takes a different approach
The Fold8 does have a less capable camera system than the Ultra. Its main camera is 50MP, compared with 200MP on the Ultra. It also has no dedicated telephoto lens.
Yet Hume objects to describing it as an Ultra Lite:
I’d actually call it a different perspective on the product. The Z Fold8 Ultra is about productivity. It’s about the 200-megapixel camera and high-intensity usage, whereas we are prioritising the Z Fold8 more for content, media and e-book-type utilisation.
In practice, trying it out in the streets of London after its global launch at the Old Billingsgate market, it proved to be delightfully capable. It was also highly portable.
Samsung arrived at this format by examining what Fold owners were doing after the novelty of repeatedly opening and closing the phone had worn off. Content accounts for 56% of the daily activity of owners of the predecessor, the Fold7. They also use multi-window functions five times more often than customers with phones from the conventional Galaxy S range.
One could say this is how a product category begins to break into a market. The defining feature becomes less important than the different jobs people find for it. However, cost remains a barrier.
Price remains a barrier
The Flip8 starts at R26,999 in South Africa. The Fold8 begins at R40,999, while the 1TB Fold8 Ultra reaches R60,999.
These are phones for customers who don’t pay much attention to price tags. However, they are also the best argument yet for foldables.
The foldable that first persuaded the world that Samsung was serious about the category, the Fold5, weighed 253g and was 13.4mm thick when closed.
The Fold8 Ultra weighs 215g and closes to 8.9mm. Its external screen has the proportions of a normal smartphone display. This eliminates the narrowness that compromised earlier Fold models.
That evolution creates an awkward moment for Apple. However, the situation has changed since those earlier expectations were formed.
Apple enters the foldable market
Apple officially unveiled its first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, on 9 September 2026. The company says the device has a 7.6-inch inner display and a 5.4-inch outer display. Apple also describes it as the thinnest iPhone ever when opened.
The iPhone Duo uses a precision hinge, a dual-battery architecture and the A20 Pro chip. Apple has also redesigned iOS 27 to accommodate the folding format. The company says the device supports content viewing, gaming and multitasking across its larger inner display.
Apple has also taken a different approach to its first entry. The company has presented the iPhone Duo as a combination of a pocketable phone and a larger-screen device. It will be available in star white and Night Sky, with pre-orders beginning on 16 October and availability from 23 October.
The arrival of the iPhone Duo changes the competitive landscape for foldable smartphones. Apple is no longer merely expected to enter the category. It has now formally joined it, giving consumers another major ecosystem from which to choose.
Samsung’s answer is choice
Apple has offered one interpretation of a folding iPhone. Samsung’s defence is choice. It already has three interpretations of a folding Galaxy, backed by eight generations of work on the hinges and displays that make them possible.
That difference could become increasingly important as foldable smartphones move beyond their novelty phase. Instead of asking whether consumers want a folding phone, manufacturers can focus on how consumers want to use one.
We’ve now got to a point where we’ve got a foldable that is for everyday immersion, a foldable that’s for maximum productivity, all the way through to one that is for self-expression. These are actually three different phones for three different audiences.
The development also illustrates how foldable smartphones are evolving from a single hardware concept into a broader product category.
In conclusion
Manufacturers are now differentiating devices according to screen proportions, camera capabilities, productivity features, portability and intended use. For Samsung, the strategy is built around offering distinct options. For Apple, the iPhone Duo represents its first interpretation of the format.
As competition intensifies, foldable smartphones are increasingly being defined not simply by the ability to fold, but by what users can do with that flexibility.