With both priced well above most conventional flagship smartphones, the iPhone Duo and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra set up a high-profile contest between two of the smartphone industry’s biggest ecosystems. So which foldable stands out?

Design: Samsung is thinner and lighter, Apple favors premium materials

The iPhone Duo and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra share a broadly similar form factor. Both use a book-style folding design that opens into a device with a near-tablet-sized display. When closed, an external screen allows either device to function like a conventional smartphone.

The iPhone Duo is shorter but has a wider body.

The bigger differences are in thickness and weight. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra measures just 8.9mm thick when folded and 4.1mm when open. The iPhone Duo is considerably thicker at 11.3mm folded and 5.2mm unfolded.

Samsung’s device is also significantly lighter. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra weighs around 215 grams, compared with approximately 254 grams for the iPhone Duo.

Materials may partly explain the difference. Apple makes extensive use of Grade 5 titanium to improve durability in a thin device. Samsung opts for a mixed-metal construction, using its “Flex Titanium” technology to reinforce the display area while making the external frame and body from aluminum.

Both devices have side-mounted buttons for unlocking. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra supports facial recognition and a fingerprint sensor, while Apple integrates Touch ID into the side button.

Both also use robust hinges and magnets to keep the devices closed and protect their inner folding displays.

Displays: Samsung goes bigger, Apple prioritizes consistency

Displays are central to the foldable experience, and Apple and Samsung have taken somewhat different approaches.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra features an 8-inch main display with a resolution of 2,504 x 2,256 pixels and a density of 422 ppi. Its 6.5-inch cover screen has a resolution of 1,080 x 2,520 pixels. Both support adaptive refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz.

The iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR inner display. Apple says its screen area is more than 50% larger than that of the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The 5.4-inch outer display offers viewing space equivalent to around 90% of the iPhone 18 Pro screen.

One notable feature is that the iPhone Duo’s two displays have relatively similar aspect ratios, allowing content to transition more naturally between the inner and outer screens. Both support ProMotion, Always-On mode and peak outdoor brightness of 3,000 nits.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, by contrast, uses different aspect ratios for its two displays: 10:16 on the outside and 4:3 on the inside. This gives Samsung a larger cover display, although the transition between the two screens is less consistent than on the iPhone Duo.

Both Apple and Samsung have placed considerable emphasis on reducing the central display crease. Samsung uses a titanium plate and titanium-alloy film beneath the display, topped by an OLED panel, ultra-thin glass and a protective layer.

Apple uses a scratch-resistant coating and a custom polymer nano-texture layer. A high-strength polymer is combined with reinforced glass on both sides of the folding display. The layers are bonded in a way that allows them to slide slightly against one another, similar to pages turning in a book.

Apple also places a titanium plate underneath for additional display durability.

With their large screens, stylus support is another area of interest. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra does not support the S Pen. Apple says the iPhone Duo supports the USB-C Apple Pencil, although it is not compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro.

Cameras: Samsung leads on hardware, Apple makes use of the foldable design

On paper, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has a clear advantage in camera hardware.

Samsung equips it with a 200MP main wide camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. It can also record HDR at the full 200MP resolution.

The iPhone Duo uses a dual 48MP camera system. Its 48MP Fusion Main camera provides 2x “optical-quality” telephoto images through sensor cropping and is paired with a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide camera.

One notable weakness of the iPhone Duo is the absence of a dedicated telephoto camera - a significant omission for a smartphone starting at nearly $2,000.

Apple compensates with features that take advantage of the folding design. When partially folded, the iPhone Duo can act as its own stand, allowing users to take photos from a distance.

Smart Take uses AI to automatically capture a photo when it detects that the subject is posing. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra offers similar functionality through Flex Mode. When folded to a 90-degree angle, users can take photos using gestures or a timer.

Both devices can display a live preview on the outer screen, allowing subjects to adjust their own positioning. Apple also adds animated effects, including Snoopy graphics, designed to attract young children’s attention toward the camera.

Their selfie cameras also reflect different approaches. Samsung uses two 10MP cameras, while Apple equips the outer display with a 12MP Center Stage camera and places a hidden FaceTime camera beneath the inner display, supporting 1080p video.

For video, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra supports 8K recording using the APV codec, along with Cine LUT for control over color and tone.

The iPhone Duo tops out at 4K but supports Dolby Vision at up to 120 fps, alongside features including 2.8K Action Mode, 1080p slow-motion recording at 240 fps and macro photography.

Performance: A20 Pro puts iPhone Duo firmly in flagship territory

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with up to 16GB of RAM. Its eight-core CPU combines two high-performance cores with six efficiency cores, alongside an Adreno 840 GPU and an NPU for AI workloads.

The iPhone Duo uses the A20 Pro, the same processor found in the iPhone 18 Pro. Apple pairs the chip with a vapor-chamber cooling system offering three times the surface area of the one used in the iPhone 17 Pro, designed to sustain performance over extended periods.

The A20 Pro features a six-core CPU, seven-core GPU and upgraded dual 16-core Neural Engines for AI workloads. Both the CPU and GPU also integrate Neural Accelerators to improve artificial intelligence processing.

There are not yet any independent performance tests for the iPhone Duo. Based on their hardware, however, both devices rank among the most powerful foldable smartphones on the market.

Battery and connectivity: iPhone Duo charges faster, Samsung offers more SIM flexibility

Both devices use dual-cell batteries to accommodate their two-part folding designs.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has a dual battery with a total capacity of 5,000mAh and a rated capacity of 4,854mAh. Apple does not disclose the iPhone Duo’s battery capacity but places a high-energy-density battery in each half of the device.

According to Apple, the iPhone Duo can provide up to 31 hours of offline video playback using the inner display and 44 hours on the outer screen. For streaming video, the figures are 26 hours and approximately 37 hours, respectively.

Samsung rates the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for up to 27 hours of video playback.

The iPhone Duo also has an advantage in advertised charging speed. It can reach 50% in around 20 minutes using a 60W charger. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra supports 45W charging and can reach 67% in around 30 minutes.

For wireless charging, the iPhone Duo can reach 50% in approximately 30 minutes using MagSafe or Qi2. The Galaxy supports 20W wireless charging as well as Wireless PowerShare.

Both support 5G, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The iPhone Duo, however, uses eSIM exclusively worldwide and has no physical SIM slot, while Samsung supports both eSIM and nano-SIM.

Durability: iPhone Duo has a major advantage in water and dust resistance

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra carries an IP48 rating, offering water resistance but only limited protection against larger dust particles.

The iPhone Duo is rated IP68, meaning it can withstand immersion in water at depths of up to six meters for 30 minutes while offering full dust protection.

Apple also uses Ceramic Shield 2 on the front and Ceramic Shield on the rear. According to the company, the front glass is three times more scratch-resistant than the previous generation.

Price: iPhone Duo surprisingly undercuts Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra

Pricing is one of the biggest surprises surrounding the iPhone Duo.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra starts at $2,099.99 for 256GB, with higher prices for the 512GB and 1TB configurations. The top model costs $2,699.99.

The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB, rising to $2,599 for 1TB and $3,199 for the 2TB version.

The starting price is lower than earlier expectations, with numerous reports having suggested that Apple’s first foldable smartphone could debut at around $2,500.

Even so, with both devices starting at around $2,000 or more, they remain products aimed primarily at technology enthusiasts, early adopters and consumers willing to spend heavily on premium devices.

Hai Phong