Samsung has had an eight-year head start on Apple in making foldable phones. But after years of rumours, Apple has finally entered the ring, and it’s taking aim at the South Korean tech giant.Announced on 9 September, the iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and in form factor alone, it’s a direct rival to the recently launched Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. Boasting a book-style design, it transforms from a regular smartphone into a near-iPad mini-sized device when you unfold it.But while they might work – conceptually, anyway – in much the same way, Apple and Samsung have presented two very different smartphones in terms of execution. Based on what Apple has announced, I’ve compared the iPhone Duo and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8’s displays, cameras, software, performance, battery life and price.Read more: iPhone 18 Pro vs iPhone 17 Pro iPhone DuoApple’s first-ever foldable iPhone features a 5.4in outer display with a large 7.6in inner screen. It’s expensive and considerably heavier than Samsung’s alternative, but has a flexible hinge, Apple Pencil support and some clever software designed specifically for the folding form factor. It starts from £1,999 and goes on sale in October.Key specifications Outer display: 5.4in OLED, 120HzInner display: 7.6in OLED, 120HzProcessor: A20 ProCameras: 48MP main, 48MP ultrawideStorage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TBWeight: 254gWater and dust resistance: IP68Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8Samsung’s eighth-generation book-style foldable is slimmer, lighter and £300 cheaper than the iPhone Duo. Like the Duo, it features a passport-style design, and its software is brilliantly polished with picture-perfect folding. I don’t like the lack of a telephoto camera, limited dust protection and lack of S Pen support, however – the latter two you get with the iPhone Duo. It starts at £1,699 for the 256GB model.Key specifications Outer display: 5.5in AMOLED, 120HzInner display: 7.6in AMOLED, 120HzProcessor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for GalaxyCameras: 50MP main, 50MP ultrawideStorage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TBWeight: 201gWater and dust resistance: IP48 iPhone Duo vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Design and displaysIt’s a little tricky to know who actually came first when it comes to the passport-sized form factor. While Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 8 a few months before Apple announced the iPhone Duo, it’s been known since early 2025 that Apple was working on a passport-sized book-style foldable.In any case, they have very similar dimensions. Folded, the iPhone Duo has a 5.4in outer display, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 featuring a slightly larger 5.5in cover screen. Open them up, though, and both give you a huge 7.6in OLED display, essentially transforming the phones into mini tablets.But they don’t actually look all that similar. The iPhone Duo has a somewhat controversial asymmetric silhouette. The left side is straight, while the right side is curved, making it look like a “D”. The Samsung Z Fold 8 is all right angles, all the way round.The iPhone Duo is Apple's first foldable phone (Apple)Both phones have adaptive refresh rates of up to 120Hz and can reach up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness.The most interesting thing is that the iPhone Duo’s inner screen features a nano-texture finish, reducing glare and helping to minimise the visibility of the crease. “From a distance, the display on the inside looks a little darker than a normal iPhone screen. It isn’t, it’s a matte finish that keeps reflections down,” Andrew Griffin said in his first impressions.While I’ve not tried the iPhone Duo yet, that matte finish does make it look dimmer and duller, though that will have to be tested at a later date. Samsung’s inner display, on the other hand, is glossy like the cover screen. Samsung has put an anti-reflective treatment over the top, with new Flex Titanium technology reinforcing the folding display and helping to reduce the visibility of the crease. Griffin says there’s no visible crease on the Duo at all. While the Z Fold 8 crease is very nearly invisible, you can still see it if you go looking.Apple has also hidden the selfie camera underneath the Duo’s inner display – and it seems from early coverage that Apple would like users to avoid using that one entirely, using the rear cameras to take selfies instead (more on that below). Samsung, on the other hand, has a conventional 10MP camera embedded in its folding display.There are differences in the hinges too. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 almost forces you to click it into place when you open it fully to 180 degrees, meaning you can’t prop it open at different angles in the traditional Flex Mode anymore. I found flipping it over and standing it on its edges like a teepee was a way around this.The Z Fold 8 has more squared-off edges (Alex Lee/The Independent)Apple, however, has designed the Duo to work in loads of partially folded positions, so you can fold it into a seated position like a laptop, prop it up on its edges like a tent or fold it like a book. One of my biggest gripes with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is that both speakers sit on the same half of the phone. Open it up into landscape and they both fire from the left side of the display, so there isn’t much stereo separation when watching videos.Apple fixes this by placing the iPhone Duo’s two speakers diagonally on opposite halves of the phone. When it’s unfolded, the speakers sit at opposite corners of the display, which should provide much better stereo separation when watching films and TV shows. I’ll need to listen to them myself to see how good they actually sound.The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 does have one pretty huge advantage, however, and that’s the weight. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 weighs just 201g, while the iPhone Duo weighs a hefty 254g. That’s a 53g difference, and given I already found the Fold 8 impressively light for a folding phone, I suspect you’ll notice it.The iPhone Duo is a lot thicker when shut as well – that’s the first thing that caught my eye when I saw pictures of the device. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 measures 9.7mm when folded and 4.5mm when unfolded. The iPhone Duo is more than 1.5mm thicker when shut (11.3mm folded and 5.2mm unfolded).That said, the iPhone Duo has much better protection against dust and sand. It has an IP68 rating, while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is only rated IP48, so you won’t want to take Samsung’s foldable anywhere near the beach.The iPhone Duo can fold like a laptop (AFP/Getty)And, in a slightly bizarre role reversal, Apple is the one offering stylus support. Apple has announced that the iPhone Duo will work with the USB-C Apple Pencil later this year – Samsung dropped S Pen support from the Galaxy Z Fold 8 completely.The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes in four colours – lavender, graphite, cream and pistachio – with the latter reserved as a Samsung Store exclusive.The iPhone Duo only comes in two colours – star white and night sky (black). Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a slimmer, lighter foldable, but the iPhone Duo appears to provide a better overall design experience, with a more flexible hinge, better speaker placement, matte inner display and Apple Pencil support, as well as an IP68 rating.Both the iPhone Duo and Z Fold 8 feature two rear cameras instead of the triple-camera systems on their respective flagship models.The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a 50MP f/1.8 main camera and a 50MP f/1.9 ultrawide. The iPhone Duo is kitted out with a 48MP f/1.6 main camera and a 48MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera. Both feature a 2x optical-quality zoom – no telephoto. That missing telephoto lens was one of my biggest complaints when I reviewed the Galaxy Z Fold 8. The 2x zoom is perfectly serviceable, but you notice less detail at 5x and 10x digital zoom.You can barely see the crease on the Z Fold 8 (Alex Lee/The Independent)The iPhone Duo may have the same issue. You can shoot at 0.5x, 1x and 2x, and there’s a 10x digital zoom, but there’s no equivalent of the 8x optical-quality zoom on the iPhone 18 Pro. The iPhone Duo’s main camera does at least have a wider f/1.6 aperture, as well as sensor-shift optical image stabilisation, so it might take better-quality low-light photos, but I’ll have to test that.On the Galaxy Z Fold 8, you can use the cover screen as a viewfinder while taking selfies with the rear cameras. Apple has taken the same idea and pushed it further. The iPhone Duo’s Preview feature puts a live view of the shot on the outer display so the person you’re photographing can frame themselves in the shot, but you can also flip the phone and use the rear cameras for higher-quality selfies, something Apple has been encouraging content creators to do in its demos.Apple’s also rolled out a Smart Take feature that uses on-device AI to work out when everyone is ready and automatically takes the photo, meaning you don’t have to sprint back into frame after setting a timer. Kid Cue also plays animations on the outer display to persuade children to actually look at the camera.Samsung has some fun camera tricks too. My FanCam can take a wide landscape video and track one specific person in the frame after the footage is taken, reframing it into a vertical clip for socials.The iPhone Duo can record 4K Dolby Vision at up to 120fps on its main camera. It also supports Cinematic mode at up to 4K 60fps and can shoot 4K Dolby Vision time-lapses. Samsung can shoot up to 8K video, but it doesn’t have the same Dolby Vision support.You won’t get a fully-fledged flagship camera experience from either phone. The iPhone Duo might tip the balance on specs alone, however. It has a wider main aperture, better video features and uses the outer display better. Whether it actually takes better pictures, we’ll have to wait to find out.iPhone Duo vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Performance and softwareBoth phones are powered by the latest flagship chips from Apple and Qualcomm. The iPhone Duo has the same A20 Pro chip found inside the iPhone 18 Pro. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.The iPhone Duo only comes in two colours (Apple)Apple says the A20 Pro’s six-core CPU is up to 20 per cent faster than the A19 Pro and its seven-core GPU is up to 40 per cent faster and more power efficient. There’s also a new dual 16-core Neural Engine for running Apple Intelligence features on-device. The iPhone Duo also has a vapour chamber to keep everything cool, with Apple claiming up to 35 per cent better sustained performance than the iPhone 17 Pro.I’ve already put the Galaxy Z Fold 8 through its paces, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is seriously quick. Apps open instantly and multitasking is smooth. I haven’t tested the iPhone Duo yet, but given it has the same A20 Pro chip as Apple’s flagship iPhone 18 Pro, I doubt performance is going to be a problem.Software is much more interesting than the performance specs. Samsung’s had years to perfect how the folding experience works on the Z Fold 8, and it’s brilliant. You can run apps side by side using Multi Window, drag and drop content between them and move seamlessly between the cover and inner displays.One UI 9’s Multi Window is ultra versatile, and the tech giant’s Galaxy AI Now Nudge feature can recognise what you’re doing and suggest actions in another window, so you don’t need to constantly move between apps.Apple might be late to the party, but it always does its homework. iOS 27 has been redesigned specifically for the iPhone Duo. The dock and app controls are now on the right side of the phone, making better use of the display (although I’m not sure if this will make it more difficult for lefties to use the phone).And you can finally multitask on an iPhone. The new Split View lets you run two apps side by side and even save pairs of apps you regularly use together as a single app.You can prop both up like a tent (Alex Lee/The Independent)Apple also demonstrated how Zoom can now show both a presentation and the people on a call; Slack can fit more of your workspace onto the screen; and Netflix can expand across the entire display. Apps also adjust to the position of the hinge, which is fascinating to see, especially in the seated fold position.One neat thing I’ve spotted from the demonstrations is how much more visually cohesive the experience looks on the iPhone Duo. “That software experience even extends to the process of opening and closing the phone. Apple has done an astonishing job in ensuring that the phone knows it is opening, and mirrors the content on the little screen onto the big one, so that you almost forget they’re not actually the same thing,” Griffin said in his hands-on review. The inner screen on the Z Fold 8, for example, remains black when you start opening it up, only activating when it’s halfway open.They may be similar in terms of raw specs and performance, but when it comes to software, Apple may take the lead – again, I’ll have to try it for myself.iPhone Duo vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Battery lifeApple doesn’t typically reveal the actual capacity of its batteries, but the iPhone Duo does feature one battery on either side of the device, both working together as one. The company says you’ll get up to 24 hours of typical use, or up to 31 hours of video playback using the inner display and a whopping 44 hours using the outer display.Samsung is a little more forthcoming with the numbers. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 4,800mAh silicon-carbon battery, which Samsung says delivers up to 26 hours of video playback. It’s difficult to compare Apple and Samsung’s video playback figures directly because they use different testing methodologies, but Apple’s battery claims are huge if true.(Apple)The Galaxy Z Fold 8 supports 45W wired charging. It can reach up to 63 per cent in 30 minutes. It also supports 20W wireless charging.Apple says the iPhone Duo can get to 50 per cent in roughly 20 minutes using a 60W-capable or higher adapter. It also supports MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging, potentially getting to 50 per cent in 30 minutes. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the magnets are built directly into the phone, so you don’t need a magnetic case to take advantage of Qi2 charging, though you can charge wirelessly at up to 20W.iPhone Duo vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: PriceNeither phone is cheap, but you may gulp when you hear the iPhone Duo’s price.The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is £1,699 for 256GB of storage, £1,869 for 512GB and £2,209 for 1TB. That’s already pretty expensive, but the iPhone Duo makes it sound frankly cheap.The iPhone Duo starts at £1,999 for the 256GB model, but the 512GB model is an eye-watering £2,199, with the 1TB model costing an enormous £2,599. There’s even a 2TB model for £3,199, which is more expensive than some of the most expensive MacBook Pro laptops and almost as expensive as the Apple Vision Pro.The Z Fold 8 is more than 1.5mm thinner than the iPhone Duo (Alex Lee/The Independent)That means there’s a £300 difference between the entry-level iPhone Duo and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. The 512GB iPhone Duo costs £330 more than the equivalent Fold 8 and the 1TB model costs £390 more.Samsung is the obvious winner on price, but £1,699 is still an absurd amount of money for a foldable phone with just two cameras. We’ll see if Apple can justify that £300 premium after testing.iPhone Duo vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Which should you buy?The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is thinner, significantly lighter and £300 cheaper, and Samsung also has years of experience making foldables, which shows in the Z Fold 8’s polish.But the iPhone Duo looks really compelling. It has a more versatile hinge, better dust protection, a better speaker array and Apple Pencil support. Apple appears to have put a lot of thought into how iOS works over the two displays as well. For Android users, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the only passport foldable you’ll want to buy, and iPhone users finally have a foldable of their own. If you’re not wedded to either operating system, the iPhone Duo looks a little more exciting. I’ll reserve judgement until I get a chance to review the iPone Duo.iPhone Duo: From £1,999 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: From £1,699 For more, we’ve found the best refurbished iPhone deals