---
title: "Samsung’s $1,900 foldable has a $2,000 Apple reference point"
description: "Apple’s iPhone Duo appears to be drawing attention to Samsung’s foldables. That is not yet a measure of additional sales."
author: "Luis Goa"
published: 2026-10-22T18:49:14Z
modified: 2026-10-23T04:41:48Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/samsung-s-1-900-foldable-has-a-2-000-apple-reference-point-e397f0
language: en
tags: ["apple", "samsung", "foldable", "iphone-duo", "hardware", "tech"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Samsung’s $1,900 foldable has a $2,000 Apple reference point

*Apple’s iPhone Duo appears to be drawing attention to Samsung’s foldables. That is not yet a measure of additional sales.*

By Luis Goa · October 22, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/samsung-s-1-900-foldable-has-a-2-000-apple-reference-point-e397f0

## In brief

- Samsung’s reported $1,900 price is $100, or 5%, below the iPhone Duo’s $2,000 price
- Ars reports increased searches for Samsung foldables after Apple’s unveiling; searches do not establish additional sales
- Wider internal screens can better accommodate video, documents and apps not adapted for folding phones
- Retailer discounts may increase Samsung’s price advantage, but no discount amount is specified

$100 separates Samsung’s $1,900 wide foldable from Apple’s $2,000 iPhone Duo at their reported prices. Samsung is 5% cheaper against Apple’s price, before retailer discounts. The more consequential comparison may be the shape: both offer a wider folding screen, giving Samsung a product to sell to people newly interested in the category after Apple’s unveiling.

[Ryan Whitwam at Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/samsung-all-but-confirms-iphone-duo-is-goosing-galaxy-z8-sales/) reports that searches for Samsung foldables increased after the iPhone Duo announcement. That supports a narrower conclusion than an increase in Galaxy Z8 sales. Search activity measures attention. It does not establish how many phones Samsung sold, how many buyers switched from Apple, or whether those buyers would otherwise have bought a different Samsung phone.

## The screen shape changes the trade-off

Samsung released its first folding phone in 2019. The early hardware demonstrated that a phone could open into a larger display, but the resulting devices were cumbersome. Successive generations improved the hardware. Apple’s entry also depends on an existing component supply chain: according to Ars, the iPhone Duo uses Samsung displays. Apple and Samsung compete over the finished phone while sharing part of the machinery that makes it possible.

Samsung expanded its range with a non-Ultra model in time to offer an alternative to Apple’s device. Whitwam suggests that advance leaks of Apple’s design likely informed that decision. That is an explanation of the timing, not confirmation of Samsung’s product-planning process.

![A coral paper roll unfurls toward two open books with blank coral pages, one with a dark blue cover and one with a cream cover, against a teal background.](https://rews.cc/img/2d85043a99b5e9c7bfb7a51a037aff5f42b00c12.webp)

The wider format has a practical purpose. A nearly square internal screen is an awkward match for wide video. A wider display can devote more of its area to the picture and less to unused space. It can also make documents and Android apps that have not been adapted for folding screens easier to use in portrait orientation. The benefit comes from the proportions of the usable screen, rather than the hinge itself.

This gives other manufacturers a reason to adopt similar proportions. Whether they do remains a product-roadmap question; the usefulness of the format does not establish that another vendor has committed to it.

## A smaller premium is still a premium

The $1,900 and $2,000 prices remain the obstacle. Ars reports that Samsung’s wide model has already been discounted at some retailers, but gives no discount amount in the account provided. A lower transaction price would widen its $100 advertised advantage over Apple.

The comparison with conventional phones is also changing. Ars reports that price increases have brought top-end flat phones from Samsung, Google and Apple within a few hundred dollars of their folding alternatives. Foldable prices have risen too, but by less. That can make the extra cost of a hinge look smaller without making the purchase inexpensive.

Apple’s launch could therefore help Samsung in two separate ways: it can introduce buyers to folding phones and give them a $2,000 comparison against which Samsung’s price looks lower. Both are plausible mechanisms. Neither supplies a sales count. The next useful number is additional units sold over a defined period, measured against Samsung’s pre-launch baseline.

## Sources:

[Ars Technica: Samsung all but confirms iPhone Duo is goosing Galaxy Z8 sales](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/samsung-all-but-confirms-iphone-duo-is-goosing-galaxy-z8-sales/)