This is what the Galaxy Z Fold 8 tells me about the foldable iPhone

Now that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a reality, we have a wide-folding flagship from Samsung that has given us a taste of what Apple’s upcoming foldable iPhone will be like. But more importantly, in my opinion at least, it has also given us a glimpse at how the iPhone Ultra — as it’s being called — can be expected to perform.

And I’d like to discuss that.

The iPhone Ultra will sell like crazy

For starters, reviewers who got to use the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in advance are raving about it. Our Galaxy Z Fold 8 first impressions revealed a very capable phone that didn’t feel awkward or unpolished.

So, Apple’s decision to make its highly anticipated foldable flagship a wide-folding phone doesn’t seem that odd anymore. Clearly, there is demand. Even I, who was very skeptical about this new layout at first, am coming around to it faster than I’d like to admit.

It’s a form factor that works

Any skepticism that people had for the wide-folding layout seems to dissipate once they use the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Watching video content looks so much better and viewing photos is also a more pleasant experience.

Sure, the phone is a lot smaller when folded, but you only really use it for quick, unimportant tasks when it’s like that. If you get pulled into an app, you unfold it and said app looks a lot better than it would have on the traditional foldable layout. Though that is, of course, subjective.

Apple has got the display crease it desired

This one is a bit more conjecture on my part, but reports indicate that the crease on the foldable iPhone Ultra will at least be as shallow as the one on both of the Fold 8 models. And as the crease on the Fold 8 models is spectacular, that means that it won’t be a problem on the iPhone Ultra in the slightest.

It might not be the completely flat display that Apple had originally hoped for, but honestly, it’s as good as one.

The camera experience will be lackluster

Unfortunately, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 only has two cameras on the rear while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has three. The telephoto lens is sorely missed on the Fold 8 and it will be missed just as much on the iPhone Ultra as well.

If Apple had to cut down on a camera for one reason or another, then it makes sense to get rid of the telephoto: most customers probably use the ultra-wide more for group photos. However, that means that you can’t take the kind of awesome photos that you can with other Samsung and Apple phones.

Apple will market it as the next step up

A long time ago, a report told us that Apple plans to market the iPhone Ultra a little differently to Samsung. The foldable won’t be a phone that is adjacent to the iPhone 18 lineup for people who want to buy something a little more eccentric. It will instead be marketed as the next step up from the iPhone 18 Pro Max, hence the ‘Ultra’ moniker.

And I think that Apple will be able to get away with that. As I have recently said, foldable smartphones have peaked, and you should now definitely consider a foldable over traditional phones if you have the budget.

If the foldable iPhone is able to match the crease control, display quality, durability, battery life, and overall user experience of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, then it will have surpassed the iPhone 18 Pro models.

And if it does that, then no one will call out Apple for marketing it as the next step up from the Pro Max models, because it will be right to do so.

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