Samsung Electronics is front‑and‑center in the global foldable‑phone market, launching a fresh advertising campaign that highlights the thin, lightweight design of its devices and the company’s years of experience. The campaign, featuring billboards in Seoul, Tokyo and London with slogans such as “Welcome to Foldables” and “The World’s Lightest Fold,” aims to reinforce Samsung’s leadership as Apple makes a high‑profile entry.
Apple’s Duo challenges Samsung’s dominance
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, a folding smartphone priced at $1,999. The device adopts the passport‑shaped form factor that Samsung introduced less than two months earlier with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which retails for $1,899 and runs on Alphabet’s Gemini artificial intelligence platform. Market‑research firm Counterpoint’s associate director Liz Lee praised Apple’s pricing, noting that staying just $100 above Samsung’s flagship signals a bold market move.
Lee added that Apple’s entry will likely reshape the competitive landscape for foldables, putting visible share pressure on Samsung. Nevertheless, she emphasized Samsung’s advantages: extensive scale, a decade of development, and a strong global distribution network.
Market share outlook
Counterpoint projects Apple will capture roughly 25 % of the foldable market this year, narrowing the gap with Samsung, which is expected to hold about 38 % of global shipments. The forecast reflects Apple’s brand pull and the premium pricing strategy that appeals to affluent consumers willing to pay near the $2,000 mark for a novel form factor.
Samsung’s response and history
In reaction to Apple’s launch, Samsung posted a series of tongue‑in‑cheek messages on X, mocking what it described as a lack of genuine innovation with lines like “reheating our leftovers” and “So far, so same.” Apple’s new chief executive, John Ternus, countered by criticizing existing foldables as “like two phones awkwardly stuck together.”
Samsung entered the mass‑market foldable arena in 2019 after early models suffered screen durability issues. Since then, the Korean firm has released eight generations of foldable phones, continually improving hinge mechanisms, screen protection and overall weight. The company also benefits from its own supply chain, producing the flexible displays used in both its devices and Apple’s new Duo through Samsung Display.
Industry perspective
Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight, noted that Apple has a history of timing product introductions to coincide with market maturity. He suggested that Apple’s entry could accelerate consumer adoption of foldable technology, while also pressuring Samsung to further innovate.
Overall, the unfolding competition underscores a broader shift in the smartphone industry toward flexible‑screen devices. Consumers can expect more choices, and manufacturers will likely continue to refine durability, weight and software integration to differentiate their offerings.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
