Almost a month after Apple unveiled its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, on September 9, CEO John Ternus said the device “It shows what’s possible,” Apple CEO John Ternus said, “when hardware and software are engineered together and redefines what it means to use a foldable phone.” That claim implies Apple believes competitors solved hardware before building software around it — but the assertion does not align cleanly with the current state of the market.
iPhone Duo versus Galaxy Z Fold 8: software maturity
When foldables first arrived, that criticism was more clearly true. The original Galaxy Fold, launched in 2019, felt like “two phones attempting a relationship they weren’t prepared for”: the software was clunky, apps often failed to adapt to the larger inner display’s aspect ratio, and continuity between the cover and inner screens was not consistently good. The device’s fragility compounded the problems, with some reviewers breaking their review units shortly after unboxing.
That era, however, is not the current baseline. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 — the iPhone Duo’s most direct rival — is significantly improved: it offers stronger split-screen multitasking, features such as App Pair, and is far more durable than earlier foldables. Samsung has introduced several One UI improvements after eight generations of software iteration, which undercuts a straightforward reading of Ternus’s critique.
Remaining gaps and what Apple must prove
Samsung’s software is not flawless: for example, foldables currently show a single, combined measure of screen time across both displays rather than separate metrics for the cover and inner screens, which suggests Samsung’s software still treats foldables as devices with an extra screen rather than as a unified two-screen experience. Apple, meanwhile, still has work to do. Real-world, large-scale user feedback will be required for iOS on the iPhone Duo to reach the level Ternus described.
As presented, Apple’s advantage appears to be tighter hardware–software integration, while Samsung’s advantage is the accumulated breadth of features built over nearly a decade. Neither manufacturer yet offers a device where the distinction between two screens fully disappears into a seamless experience. The iPhone Duo’s launch therefore does not guarantee Apple will dominate the foldable market, nor does it mean Samsung will necessarily lose the position it has built over nearly a decade.
