After years of rumors, leaks and anticipation, Apple finally unveiled its first folding phone. The iPhone Duo comes with a familiar short and wide form factor, which has been tried and tested by several Android makers, including Samsung with its own Galaxy Z Fold8.
Apple versus Samsung is as big as it gets in the world of smartphones, and we’ve rounded up a quick specs comparison between the two foldables.
Table of Contents:
You can compare the complete specs sheets or go through the rundown below.
Size comparison
Samsung’s foldable is a sizeable 53 grams lighter and is also thinner in both folded and unfolded states. The weight difference certainly sticks out. The iPhone gets a more premium titanium frame while the Galaxy sticks to aluminum. The iPhone gets a slight edge thanks to its IP68 ingress protection, while the Fold8 is only IP48-rated. Both devices have protruding camera islands, with the one on the iPhone seemingly sticking out more than the Galaxy.
Cover display comparison
When it comes to the cover screen, both devices are nearly identical in terms of dimensions, resolution, refresh rate and peak brightness. Fold8 has a more uniform look, while the iPhone Duo gets rounded corners. The iPhone Duo also brings a larger selfie camera cutout, which is stuck in the corner, versus the more compact and centrally placed one on the Fold8.
Main display comparison
Both phones get the same main display diagonal, with the iPhone Duo offering a slightly sharper 1878 x 2670px resolution and 430 ppi. Apple also gets an advantage for hiding the selfie camera behind the screen for a more uninterrupted look. Elsewhere, both feature variable 1-120Hz refresh rates and up to 3000 nits peak brightness. The iPhone gets bonus points for its Nano Texture finish, which seems to be great at dealing with reflections, and it also boasts stylus support, which the Galaxy does not.
Performance
Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold8
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
3 nm
256GB 12GB RAM
base config
1TB 16GB RAM
top-tier config
iPhone Duo gets the more modern 2nm A20 Pro chipset, which Apple lauds as the “fastest in any smartphone”, though we’ll wait for benchmarks before making any claims. It does get an extra GPU core, with Apple boasting up to 40% faster graphics performance over the A19 Pro. Galaxy Z Fold8 is using last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3nm) – the current best of the best on the Android side.
Both phones come with 12GB of RAM as standard and 256GB base storage. You can configure the Galaxy with up to 16GB RAM on the higher 512GB and 1TB storage trims, while the iPhone Duo can be had with up to 2TB storage.
Camera comparison
Apple
iPhone Duo
48 MP main camera
1/1.28″ sensor
48 MP ultrawide camera
f/2.2
4K@24/25/30/60/120fps
video
Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold8
50 MP main camera
1/1.56″ sensor
50 MP ultrawide camera
1/2.51″ sensor
8K@30fps, 4K@30/60/120fps
video
When it comes to cameras, both phones feature similar setups with a main and ultrawide module on the back. Apple is presumably using a slightly larger 1/1.28″ sensor on its main cam vs Samsung’s 1/1.56″ imager. Sadly, neither phone has a dedicated telephoto module. The Galaxy holds a slight advantage in video recording, where it maxes out at 8K resolution at 30 fps.
Battery and charging
In typical Apple fashion, we did not get an actual battery capacity for the iPhone Duo. Apple promises up to 31 hours of video playback when using the inner display, and 44 hours with the outer display or 24 hours of use when you use both screens equally.
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 has a 4800 mAh Si/C battery, which earned a respectable 13:59h Active use score in our battery test. It managed over 20 hours of video playback during our testing, but that result is sadly not comparable to Apple’s testing procedure.
In terms of charging speeds, the Duo is rated to reach 50% in 20 minutes of wired charging, while Samsung did 65% in the same time during our in-house charging test. The iPhone does bring slightly faster 25W wireless charging compared to 20W on the Galaxy. Both phones offer USB Type-C 3.2 ports, though the Galaxy Z Fold8 benefits from Samsung DeX, while the iPhone does not get a desktop mode when connected to an external display.
Verdict
Rounding out the specs comparison, both phones support Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and UWB connectivity, though the iPhone gets the newer second-gen UWB spec. The Galaxy Fold8 retains the physical SIM slot while the iPhone Duo is eSIM-only. Apple
Apple iPhone Duo • Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8
And then there’s pricing. Z Fold8 currently retails for $1,649/€ 1,929. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999/€2,299. That’s a hefty $350/€370 difference, which tips things in favor of the Galaxy.
