Yet another report backs Galaxy Z Fold 8 success story, but the iPhone Duo threat looms large
Samsung has clearly struck gold at the global box-office with its first wide foldable, although everything could change once the iPhone Duo is released.
The Z Fold 8 is vastly outselling the Z Fold 8 Ultra
I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, I never expected the wide Z Fold 8 to prove significantly more popular than its Ultra brother, at least not immediately after the two's joint commercial debut. That's because the Z Fold 8 Ultra comes with better cameras and more screen real estate, but apparently, the smaller, wider, lighter, and cheaper model delivered a "clear and compelling" enough value proposition to outsell the slightly more advanced and expensive book-style foldable during their first two weeks of availability.
Will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 maintain its appeal once the iPhone Duo comes out?
3 Votes
No, Counterpoint researchers don't have any actual shipment figures to share with the world today, but one number they can confirm in support of the Z Fold 8's superior popularity over the Z Fold 8 Ultra is 57. Specifically, 57 percent. That's the share of the early Z8 series sales that reportedly went to the wide Z Fold 8, and given that the family also includes the Galaxy Z Flip 8, it's safe to assume the Z Fold 8 Ultra accounted for even less than the remaining 43 percent.
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The Z Flip 8, mind you, is almost completely ignored in this report, but not in Samsung's press release from yesterday, where the clamshell model was also highlighted as a hit, especially among brand switchers and first-time foldable owners.
The Z Fold 8 is also more successful than the Z Fold 7
As unremarkable as seeing a new foldable improve on the popularity of a predecessor would have been just a few years ago, the mobile industry in its entirety is clearly going through a tough time in 2026 that makes the Z Fold 8's sales results some of Samsung's greatest ever such achievements.
This is a pretty big improvement by 2026 standards. | Image by Counterpoint Research
In their first two weeks on (physical and digital) store shelves around the world, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8 generated 8 percent higher sales than the combined tally of the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 in the same (relative) timeframe of last year, which is something very few mobile tech companies have managed to pull off this year.
Perhaps even more impressively, the new foldable lineup helped Samsung boost its total global handset sales between August 7 and August 15, 2026 compared to week 33 of 2025 after no less than 12 weeks of almost uninterrupted year-on-year decline. Clearly, this was made possible mainly by the first-of-a-kind Galaxy Z Fold 8, but it remains to be seen if it was just a one-time thing or if the company can now consistently improve its sales by the end of 2026.
Will the Z Fold 8 keep the iPhone Duo at bay?
You might expect an evasive answer from me here, but instead, I think I'm ready to make a (relatively) firm prediction. Yes, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 will probably be able to outsell the iPhone Duo (or iPhone Ultra, or iPhone Fold)... as long as Apple's hugely anticipated rookie foldable effort is not very widely available.
Samsung might be able to keep improving its sales if the foldable iPhone doesn't get a very wide release this year. | Image by Counterpoint Research
After that, we all know what's likely to happen and how hard it's going to be for Samsung to retain its global foldable market supremacy. Of course, we don't really know when the iPhone Duo production issues will be fixed, so the Galaxy Z Fold 8 could (theoretically) hold on to the title of top-selling foldable device worldwide for anywhere between a couple more weeks to a few months.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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