iPhone Duo vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Battle of the Passport Foldables

G.F.A.L.O.E.

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Apple finally released its first foldable, and it’s the same passport-size format as Samsung’s recently released Z Fold 8.

Senior Technology Reporter

Managing Editor, Mobile

September 10, 2026, 5:05 am ET

Apple has officially thrown its hat into the foldable phone ring with the iPhone Duo. But how does it compare to another eye-catching foldable handset, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8?

The iPhone Duo made its debut during Apple’s fall launch event in Cupertino, California. It starts at $2,000 and goes on sale Oct. 23, with preorders kicking off Oct. 16. It’s got a shorter, squat layout than tall foldables such as the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold, meant more to fit in your hand and unfold into a wider screen than other folding devices, which is suited for watching movies and TV shows. And software tricks and features make swapping between outer and inner screens a smooth process.

Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in July, which has a similar palm-sized build and a 4:3 aspect ratio when opened. It starts at $1,900. (Samsung also debuted the Z Fold 8 Ultra, which maintains a taller, more conventional book-style design that feels like a slab phone when closed.) Foldable fans have flocked to the Z Fold 8 for its smaller format and expansive, wide inner screen.

Here’s how Apple’s and Samsung’s foldable offerings compare, from the displays to the cameras to battery life.

iPhone Duo

iPhone Duo vs. Galaxy Z Fold 8 design and displays

The iPhone Duo’s broad similarity to the Z Fold 8 is uncanny, though both were predated by the squat-and-wide original Google Pixel Fold that launched in 2023. Regardless, Apple’s Duo is undeniably an iPhone, with rounded corners, flat titanium sides and a glossy back marked with the Apple icon.

It’s also got a Camera Control button on the side inherited from the iPhone 17 series, but it’s worth noting that the Duo doesn’t have FaceID or LiDAR sensors, so you must log in with Touch ID via a fingerprint scanner embedded within the side lock button.

The Duo’s 5.4-inch OLED outer display is nice, but its 7.6-inch inner screen sets it apart from Android rivals with a matte, nano-textured finish. The Duo’s software touches distinguish it even further, with content smoothly shifting from the cover to the main inner display in a way that makes other foldables feel unrefined.

The Z Fold 8’s design quickly became one of our favorites this year. It has a 5.5-inch cover display that, despite its compact size, never feels cramped. It’s ideal for firing off a text or email or quickly checking notifications. The squared-off corners of the Z Fold 8 felt slightly more polished than the rounded ones in the Duo, but that might fall to personal preference.

The 7.6-inch inner display is well-suited to multitasking and watching videos, with its 4:3 aspect ratio giving the Z Fold 8 the feel of a small tablet. Samsung positions the phone as an ideal device for content-heavy users. Rotating it to portrait orientation makes it especially well suited to scrolling social media and watching vertical videos. It’s also a lot easier to type in portrait, with a narrower keyboard and an aspect ratio that more closely mimics that of a sheet of paper.

Both devices are thin, with Samsung’s being slightly trimmer. The Duo is 5.2mm when unfolded flat and 11.3mm after folding shut, weighing a comparatively hefty 254 grams. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, meanwhile, measures 4.5mm thick when unfolded and 9.7mm when folded. It weighs a refreshingly light 201 grams.

And how about those foldable display creases? The matte texture on the Duo’s inner display reduces the crease enough to make it virtually disappear with the screen turned on. The Z Fold 8 has a crease, though it’s barely noticeable when the screen is on. Samsung equipped its latest book-style foldables with its Flex Titanium display, which is thinner and more durable than previous Galaxy Fold displays and helps to minimize the crease.

The iPhone Duo wins in durability assurance with an IP68 rating, which should keep out sand and dust and survive dips in knee-deep water for up to 30 minutes. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a slightly less robust IP48 rating, enduring the same liquid immersion but only keeping out particles larger than sand, so you’ll want to keep it safe during beach trips.

iPhone Duo vs. Galaxy Z Fold 8 cameras

With more compact designs, both phones had to scale back their cameras. For telephoto and higher-megapixel shooters, buyers will need to opt for pricier foldables, such as the Z Fold 8 Ultra, or high-end flat phones such as the iPhone 18 Pro.

Case in point: The iPhone Duo has a 48-megapixel main and 48-megapixel ultrawide camera. The front screen has a 12-megapixel selfie camera, while Apple hasn’t detailed the megapixel count on the camera under the inner display. We look forward to taking the Duo’s cameras out for spin and seeing how they perform.

Meanwhile, the Z Fold 8 has a 50-megapixel wide and 50-megapixel ultrawide camera. Samsung reserved its more advanced camera, which includes a 200-megapixel wide-angle, for the higher-priced Z Fold 8 Ultra. The Z Fold 8 also has 10-megapixel selfie cameras on the cover and inner displays.

Despite those scaled-back specs and the lack of a telephoto lens, the Z Fold 8 still takes quality photos. Sensor cropping on 2x and 4x shots usually does the trick, and images look crisp. For everyday shots, the Z Fold 8’s camera doesn’t feel like a compromise at all.

iPhone Duo vs. Galaxy Z Fold 8 battery life

As is typical for Apple’s phones, the company didn’t detail the specific capacity of the iPhone Duo’s battery on its official specs site. Instead, the company listed its usual expected hours of battery life under different activities — for “typical use,” it’ll last up to 24 hours, which is about the same as is listed for the iPhone 18 Pro. Apple splits up usage estimations between the outer and inner screens: The outer display will last for up to 44 hours when watching videos or up to 37 hours when streaming them, while the inner lasts for up to 31 hours for watching videos or 26 hours when streaming.

The iPhone Duo specs sheet says the handset will get up to 50% charge in around 15 minutes using a 60-watt charger (though an international specs site’s fine print says this was also done with a 40-watt charger, so it’s unclear what its maximum charging rate is). Apple says it can get 50% charge in 30 minutes with a 35-watt wireless MagSafe charger, though elsewhere it says that its maximum is 25 watts via Qi2 charging. We’ll confirm all of these rates in our testing, but it’s worth noting that Apple’s foldable indeed supports MagSafe chargers and accessories.

Samsung upped the battery capacity on the Z Fold 8 compared to last year, thanks to its adoption of silicon-carbon technology. This year’s baseline foldable packs a 4,800-mAh battery — not a game-changing upgrade, but enough to give battery life a modest boost. In CNET’s testing, the Z Fold 8 easily lasted a full day, with enough charge left to carry it into the following morning.

The Z Fold 8 supports 45-watt wired charging, which gets the battery from 0% to 73% in half an hour, and to full in about an hour. One of the phone’s downsides is the lack of built-in magnets for Qi2 wireless charging. But once we slapped on a compatible case, the phone went from 0% to 28% in 30 minutes using 20-watt wireless charging.

Which phone should you pick?

Apple’s brand allegiance could be one of its strongest selling points with the launch of iPhone Duo. Despite the wave of foldable devices that have hit the market lately, many loyalists have been waiting for the iPhone maker to step into the spotlight.

We’ll have to see how the iPhone Duo performs in CNET’s testing, but at least on paper, it has some strong selling points, such as its polished display software, a less visible crease, a Camera Control button and iOS device features such as satellite connectivity.

Still, the Z Fold 8 is a force in its own right. With a sleek design, solid cameras and an all-day battery life, it was awarded a CNET Editors’ Choice Award, and remains one of the most innovative phones released this year.

Despite all the hardware advancements, one seemingly trivial question could ultimately sway you one way or the other: Do you want to be part of Apple’s ecosystem, or would you rather tap into everything Android has to offer? Because at the end of the day, for all the hardware innovation, the decision often comes down to something as simple as whether your texts turn iMessage chats green, or if you prefer to access Galaxy AI and Gemini Intelligence over Apple Intelligence. But if you can look past those (sometimes superficial) considerations, you’re left with the luxury of choosing between two phones that are sure to make a statement.

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