Apple's iPhone Duo-saster is boosting the Z Fold 8's sales again

Published Nov 4, 2026, 10:06 AM EST I've been covering Android and other mobile technology for close to ten years now, with a specific interest in phone accessories, e-readers, and what makes each individual phone different from another. I delight in looking at the phone market from as many angles as possible, and while my opinions may be odd, at times, they're always from the heart as much as the head. I have a background in the mobile accessories world, which explains my odd enthusiasm for cases and things that clip onto smartphones. I worked for Digital Trends from 2017 to 2025. Sign in to your Android Police account The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is enjoying another boost in sales numbers, and just like before, it seems to be down to Apple's iPhone Duo. Samsung has been profiting from Apple's foldable phone for a while now. We first saw a boost in sales after the iPhone Duo was revealed in September. Now, it seems Samsung's sales are jumping again because of the Duo's disastrous launch, and it's an even larger jump than before (via 9to5 Google). Samsung profits from Apple's disaster Turns out foldables are harder to make than it seems The iPhone Duo was meant to herald Apple moving into a new age of smartphones, but instead, it seems to have shown that not even the golden boy of smartphones is immune from hardware snafus. The iPhone Duo released on October 23, and almost immediately, it became clear there were problems. By far the biggest problem is the so-called "crackgate", an issue where the device's foldable inner screen is cracking. While Apple has been quick to repair and replace the affected units, the damage has very much been done, and for many of Apple's customers, their first impressions of foldable devices is a negative one. Samsung will likely sympathize with Apple's plight to some extent. The Korean company has had its own major hardware problems in the past, of course. But, that won't stop it being happy that Apple's loss is its gain. According to reporting from the Korean Herald, sales for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 are up again in Samsung's home market of Korea. Specifically, sales numbers are said to have jumped by an enormous 20% for the week from October 23 to October 29, compared to the week before. We don't have specific numbers for that jump, but a boost of 20% is likely to be significant one way or another. Credit: Apple That timing is very unlikely to be coincidental. The iPhone Duo released on October 23, and that huge launch will have brought more attention to foldable phones as a whole, and especially to the Z Fold 8 for Android fans. Plus, when it became obvious the Duo was having problems, even more attention would have been shone onto Samsung as the company doing it correctly. It helps the Z Fold 8 was already something of a popular choice. Eschewing Samsung's long-held book-fold format, the Z Fold 8 embraces a passport-size book fold that makes it smaller and squatter than pretty much any other smartphone. This also being the iPhone Duo's style likely doesn't hurt the Z Fold 8's sales, since it's a clear alternative. This is likely to be the cherry on top of an already cherry-topped cake for Samsung, since the Z Fold 8 has been nothing but an enormous sales hit from the very start. Samsung is supposedly already working on follow-ups for the phone, and with the iPhone Duo off to a shaky start, it's likely we'll see more domination of the foldable space from Samsung for the foreseeable future. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 9/10 SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy Display type Dynamic AMOLED 2x 120Hz Display dimensions 7.6-inch open / 5.5-inch closed Display resolution 2448 x 1848 open / 1972 x 1248 closed