IT House reported on September 9 that just before the release of Apple’s much-anticipated folding screen iPhone, Samsung did not feel threatened. Instead, the foldable smartphone pioneer said it “welcomes the competition with both hands.”
IT House noted that the above views came from Hee-Cheul Moon, head of Samsung’s advanced machinery R&D group. He and Seungki Choi, head of Samsung’s smartphone R&D group, accepted an online interview with Wired magazine via Zoom. Before the topic turned to Apple, the two talked about how Samsung has cut the weight of the latest Galaxy Z Fold8 by 75 grams in the seven years since the original Galaxy Z Fold came out.
Weight is key to the success of foldable phones. If the body is thick and bulky, users will be less willing to use it. Over the past two years, the weight of foldable devices launched by Honor, Google and Samsung has dropped rapidly, with each generation adopting a thinner and lighter design. This may be the reason why global pre-orders for Samsung’s new folding phones have increased by 30% compared to last year’s model. Among them, the Fold8, which is more compact and feels better in hand, contributed nearly half of the orders.
Moon Hee-cheol said through a translator: “We are deeply proud to see other brands entering this market. The value of the folding category we created is being recognized by the industry.”
When asked what suggestions Samsung had before the release of Apple’s foldable phone, Moon Hee-cheol said: “To provide the highest user value in this market, the core lies in the weight of the body. As we all know, this is not easy.” It is rumored that Apple’s folding iPhone is named iPhone Duo and is expected to weigh between 230 and 241 grams (iPhone 17 Pro Max weighs 233 grams), which is heavier than Samsung’s latest model.
Samsung has made significant progress this year, with the new Galaxy Z Fold8 weighing less than even its top candy bar flagship phones. The single-screen Galaxy S26 Ultra weighs 214 grams, while the Fold8 weighs only 201 grams thanks to its compact passport-style shape. Samsung said that its own user data and 2024 YouGov survey data show that the thick body is the primary concern of many people who are reluctant to buy folding phones.
Samsung said that the team analyzed every component in the new Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra, covering about 270 main parts and more than 180 auxiliary accessories, ranging from circuit boards and antennas to tapes and fixed components, without exception.
The R&D team tried every means possible to lose weight. For example, redesign the printed circuit board, delete redundant lines, optimize the arrangement of components, and save internal space. Samsung said that it even directly eliminated 15 auxiliary parts and cut the inner screen support plate to about 0.2 mm thick. In order to ensure that this ultra-thin panel is durable enough, Samsung developed a “flexible titanium alloy” screen film. This titanium alloy film is only about one-third as thick as a human hair. It can keep the screen surface flat and prevent the screen from continuing to increase in creases after years of repeated folding.
You can also notice that Samsung’s main foldable phone is no longer equipped with three cameras on the back, but uses a dual-camera system, including the main camera and an ultra-wide-angle lens, and the telephoto lens is cancelled. For users who still need high-end zoom and 200-megapixel main cameras, Samsung has launched the larger Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra as an option. Samsung said that reducing the camera configuration of Fold8 is an active choice to achieve a lightweight passport-style shape.
It is expected that Apple’s folding iPhone will also adopt a wider and shorter passport-style shape, and is likely to use a similar camera solution. Last year, Apple and Samsung both made similar choices to create ultra-thin and lightweight mobile phones.
Cui Chengji said that this all stems from user feedback: Samsung consumers want a foldable device that is “portable and burden-free” and can bring an immersive audio-visual experience when unfolded. “We will continue to collect market voices and remain open to various possibilities,” he said. Most people use smartphones mainly to watch multimedia content. The new shape of Fold8 is specially optimized for audio-visual scenes, and the black border problem has been improved compared to the previous generation Fold model.
However, the pursuit of thinness and lightness also exposes foldable mobile phones to shortcomings in the areas where traditional candy bar flagships excel: durability, dustproofing and waterproofing. Most candy bar phones have an IP68 dust-proof and waterproof rating, which means they will not be damaged even if they are soaked at the bottom of a swimming pool for a period of time; however, the Galaxy Z Fold8 series only reaches an IP48 rating – it can handle water exposure, but dust will bring the risk of failure. Dust problems forced Samsung to postpone the launch of the original Galaxy Fold in 2019. Fine dust can enter through the hinge gaps and damage the screen.
Google’s Pixel foldable model is currently the only foldable phone with an IP68 rating. Even with a higher protection level, dust is still a hidden danger. The disassembly report of iFixit, a maintenance and disassembly agency, shows that dust can still enter the interior of the Pixel 11 Pro Fold, causing the hinge to make a “squeaking and friction sound”, which may cause serious malfunctions in the long run.
iFixit recently dismantled the Galaxy Z Fold8 and gave it a repairability score of only 4 out of 10. The hinge is buried beneath many components, and it happens to be the most susceptible to damage. However, Samsung’s new adhesive solution makes battery removal easier.
Moon Hee-cheol reiterated that Samsung’s foldable phones have “top-level” dustproof and waterproof performance in the industry, and the company is not simply “chasing grades for the sake of numerical indicators.” He also emphasized that although the Fold8 has a slim body, the internal components are easier to disassemble and repair than previous products.
The tension between engineering sophistication and long-term durability is exactly the challenge Apple will face. Although Samsung Fold8 pre-orders have increased, the entire foldable phone market has faced double-digit declines after five consecutive quarters of weak growth.
Nabila Popal, senior research director at International Data Corporation (IDC), believes that this niche market is stabilizing, and the upcoming Apple folding iPhone is expected to drive nearly 13% year-on-year growth in this category, which is the only growth point in the current smartphone market. Drew Blackard, Samsung’s senior vice president of mobile product management, said in a previous interview with Wired that more competition will increase attention to the folding category.
Popal said that now that the durability and reliability of foldable phones have improved, Apple’s entry comes at a time when consumers’ concerns about hardware reliability have eased.
Even if the durability challenge isn’t completely solved, Samsung engineers think they’ve finally found the ideal solution. When the reporter asked the people present what mobile phone they were using, a Galaxy Z Fold8 was held up at the scene. Moon Hee-cheol held up the Z Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra at the same time and said with a smile, “We are also using the Fold8 Ultra.”
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