Apple’s Foldable Debut Lifts Galaxy Z Fold 8 Sales in Korea

Galaxy Z Fold 8 sales in South Korea rose about 10 percent the week after Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo. Phone-industry sources in Seoul said the lift came from buyers who had waited for Apple, then chose the Samsung phone already in shops.

The two devices share a wide, passport-like fold and a 7.6-inch inner screen. In Korea they do not share a price, a weight, or a date you can walk out the door.

Korean Fold 8 Sales Rose After the Duo Reveal

The telecommunications industry put the gain at about 10 percent from the prior week, speaking on September 17. No unit count was released, so the print is a rate, not a volume. The iPhone Duo had been shown on September 9. It was not on sale.

Industry sources said some shoppers had delayed a foldable purchase until they saw Apple’s first model. After the event they bought the Galaxy Z Fold 8 instead. Price and hardware were cited as reasons, along with the wait for Apple’s ship date.

THE DATES BEHIND THE 10 PERCENT

1. July 22, 2026: Samsung shows the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8 at Galaxy Unpacked in London.
2. August 7, 2026: The Fold 8 goes on sale in South Korea after pre-orders from July 28 through August 3.
3. September 7, 2026: Counterpoint Research publishes its foldable forecast, with Apple still a week from the stage.
4. September 9, 2026: Apple introduces the iPhone Duo in Cupertino.
5. September 17, 2026: Korean industry sources say Fold 8 sales rose about 10 percent week over week.
6. October 16, 2026: Apple starts iPhone Duo pre-orders in first-wave countries, including South Korea.
7. October 23, 2026: Apple’s stated availability date for those countries.

That sequence is the whole trick. Samsung had already finished its home launch. Apple had only finished a keynote.

Samsung Already Priced This Fight in July

In South Korea the 256-gigabyte Galaxy Z Fold 8 lists at 2,278,100 won. The 256-gigabyte iPhone Duo is priced at 3.29 million won (US$2,380). The gap is 1,011,900 won, which is 44 percent above Samsung’s list. The 2-terabyte iPhone Duo is priced at 5.09 million won.

The same two 256-gigabyte phones sit about $100 apart in the United States, where the Fold 8 is $1,899.99 and the Duo is $1,999. Apple’s German list for the Duo starts at €2,299. Korea is the outlier, and it is Samsung’s home aisle.

KOREA PRICE VERSUS U.S. PRICE

Roh Tae-moon, Samsung Electronics co-CEO and head of the Device eXperience division, had already told Korean reporters after Unpacked that the company would keep folding Galaxy prices lowest at home.

Our aim is to offer Korean consumers the most competitive prices anywhere in the world, and we will do our utmost to keep it that way.

Roh Tae-moon, co-CEO, Samsung Electronics, after Galaxy Unpacked

Apple still prices the Duo above Samsung’s Fold 8 Ultra. The Ultra’s 256-gigabyte Korean list is 2,577,300 won. Even that flagship sits well under 3.29 million won. The comparison Apple put on stage in September was the one Samsung had already built into its July price card.

Why the Wait Until October 23 Matters

Apple says pre-orders begin October 16, with availability on October 23 in a first wave that includes South Korea. That is 44 days after the September 9 event. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 will have been on Korean sale for 77 days by October 23.

A buyer who had parked a folding-phone budget until Apple spoke had two clocks. One was the Duo’s store date. The other was a Samsung phone that could be carried home the same afternoon. Industry sources tied the 10 percent print to people who wanted a foldable now, not in late October.

John Ternus, Apple’s CEO, called the Duo the most transformational change to iPhone since the original, and pointed to a large canvas that still fits in a pocket. The pitch is a 7.6-inch inner display with a 5.4-inch outer screen, grade 5 titanium, and iOS 27 laid out for a folding body. That was not in a Korean shop in the week after September 9. The Fold 8 was.

Apple also gets IP68 water and dust resistance, Apple Pencil support later in the year, and a 2TB top storage tier the Fold 8 does not offer. Those are real Duo cards. They are cards you cash after October 23.

53 Grams Separate Two Passport Phones

Samsung’s own engineering note on the Fold 8 calls it the lightest fold at 201 grams. The iPhone Duo weighs 254 grams, 53 grams more. Folded, the Duo is 11.3 millimeters thick; the Fold 8 is listed at 9.7 millimeters, 1.6 millimeters slimmer. Unfolded, the Duo is 5.2 millimeters thick and the Fold 8 is 4.5 millimeters, the 0.7 millimeter gap Korean industry notes have used in the comparison.

Both inner screens are 7.6 inches. Samsung’s Unpacked first look puts a 7.6-inch main display on the Fold 8 with a 5.5-inch cover, a 4:3 open ratio, and a 4,800 mAh battery. Apple’s outer pane is 5.4 inches. On paper they occupy the same pocket class. In the hand they do not weigh the same.

THE TWO PASSPORT PHONES

Large-screen use splits the same way. Apple’s own demo language is two apps side by side. Korean industry notes say the Fold 8 can run up to three apps at once in split view. Owners walking through the Duo software have hit the same wall: the split does not resize, it stays horizontal, and the outer screen does not split at all. For a buyer who waited for Apple in order to get a folding tablet, that is a short meeting with the product.

Counterpoint Still Puts Apple at 25 Percent

A one-week Korean rate does not rewrite the year. Counterpoint Research, in its September 7 forecast, said lifetime foldable shipments should pass 100 million units by the end of 2026. It still models Apple at 25 percent of the 2026 foldable market, behind Samsung at 38 percent and ahead of Huawei at 22 percent, with up to 6 million foldable iPhones in the short 2026 selling window.

COUNTERPOINT’S 2026 FOLDABLE MAP

• Samsung share: 38 percent of global foldable shipments in 2026.
• Apple share: 25 percent, good for second place in year one.
• Huawei share: 22 percent.
• Category size: Foldables still about 2 percent of all smartphones, with 37 percent growth modeled for 2027.

Liz Lee, an associate director at Counterpoint, tied the 6 million cap to a slow production ramp, not to weak interest. After the Duo event she also called the U.S. $1,999 list, about $100 above the Fold 8, a bold piece of Apple’s launch. That praise is about America. It leaves Korea’s 44 percent gap untouched.

Initial supply for Apple’s first foldable iPhone will inevitably be limited during the early production ramp, which keeps the upper end of our 2026 shipment forecast at 6 million units. Even with the short selling window, we still expect Apple to take 25 percent of the global foldable market and directly move into the No. 2 position.

Liz Lee, associate director, Counterpoint Research

Lee also said Samsung will take the most visible share pressure, and that it still has scale, years in foldables, and a wide channel. The 10 percent Korean week is the channel talking first. It is not a global scoreboard.

The Shoppers Who Stopped Waiting

The 10 percent figure is an industry read, not a published consumer survey. The read still has a shape. People who froze a folding-phone purchase until September 9 were not waiting for a category to be invented. They were waiting for Apple’s version of a phone Samsung had already thinned, lightened, and put on a Korean price that Roh had promised to defend.

WHAT MOVED THE WAITERS

• The till: 1,011,900 won separates the two 256-gigabyte lists in Korea, against about $100 in the United States.
• The door: The Fold 8 has been in Korean shops since August 7; the Duo’s stated store date is October 23.
• The pocket: 201 grams against 254 grams, and a folded profile 1.6 millimeters slimmer.
• The screen: Three-app split on the Fold 8 against two apps, side by side, on the Duo.

Some of those waiters did not land on the base Fold 8. They went to the Fold 8 Ultra after the Duo event, citing a telephoto camera and a lighter body than Apple’s 254-gram foldable. Others treated the U.S. $100 gap as a different argument, and the Korean, Indian, and Brazilian lists as the ones that actually decide a purchase. The Duo can still win on iOS, IP68, and a 2TB ceiling once it is in a store. It cannot win a week in which it is only a keynote.

Pre-orders for the iPhone Duo open on October 16, and stores in the first wave, South Korea included, are due to take the phone on October 23. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has been on sale there since August 7.