Apple's foldable iPhone makes the Galaxy Z Fold 8 look affordable in some markets

Apple has priced the iPhone Duo at $1,999 in the US. That makes it only $100 more expensive than the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which starts at $1,899.

With such a small difference, comparing the two phones as direct competitors makes sense. The iPhone Duo even offers several features missing on Samsung’s foldable.

Apple’s foldable has IP68 water and dust resistance and will gain Apple Pencil support (for both displays) later this year. It also offers Flex Mode-style functionality that allows it to remain open halfway in a laptop-like position or stand in tent mode. The Fold 8 supports only the latter.

The iPhone Duo appears to have an advantage in battery life as well, at least according to the companies’ official video-playback figures. Apple claims up to 31 hours of playback using the foldable display, compared with up to 26 hours on the Fold 8.

Apple has even added a nano-texture finish to the foldable display, giving it a paper-like feel and considerably reducing reflections (more so than the anti-reflective coating on the Fold 8's inner display).

But that $100 difference is mostly just an American thing.

In the UK, the iPhone Duo costs £1,999, while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at £1,699. The difference is £300.

Apple is charging €2,339 for the iPhone Duo in France and the Netherlands. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 launched in both markets for €1,999, making it €340 cheaper.

The gap grows to C$600 in Canada, where the iPhone Duo and Galaxy Z Fold 8 cost C$2,999 and C$2,399, respectively. Australian buyers are looking at an even larger difference of A$800: A$3,499 for the iPhone and A$2,699 for the Fold 8.

India is the most extreme example. The iPhone Duo starts at INR 299,900, compared to INR 179,999 for Samsung’s foldable, a difference of almost INR 120,000.

These are all prices for the base variants with 256GB of storage. Compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the iPhone Duo costs approximately:

Apple deserves credit for giving its first foldable several features that you don't get on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (or even the Fold 8 Ultra). If the iPhone Duo cost only $100 more everywhere, those omissions would be particularly difficult for Samsung to defend.

But it doesn’t. In several major markets, customers must pay considerably more to get Apple’s advantages. The difference is large enough that the iPhone Duo and Galaxy Z Fold 8 don’t necessarily occupy the same price category, even if their US prices suggest otherwise.

Samsung still needs to address the features missing from the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Apple achieving IP68 protection and stylus support on its first attempt proves that those features are possible on this form factor. In fact, stylus support was available on the Galaxy Z Fold lineup for a long time before Samsung decided to remove it with the Fold 7.

However, Apple hasn’t simply delivered more for almost the same money worldwide. Depending on where you live, it is charging a substantial premium for those extras, making the Galaxy Z Fold 8 look surprisingly affordable in the process.