Samsung Electronics launched a publicity campaign for its foldable phones on Wednesday, September 10, touting its hardware advantage and years of head-start experience as it braces for a major new challenge from Apple, which unveiled its first foldable iPhone the day before.

Apple's Entry Into Foldables

Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo on Wednesday, a folding iPhone priced at $1,999, aimed at shaking up a category long dominated by Samsung and Chinese manufacturers like Huawei, whose foldable devices have historically struggled to move beyond a niche audience. Notably, Apple's design closely follows the passport-shaped form factor Samsung introduced less than two months earlier with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which is priced at $1,899 and runs on Alphabet's Gemini AI.

A Bold Pricing Move

Analysts flagged Apple's pricing strategy as a particularly notable detail. "Apple's pricing was one of the most impressive parts. Keeping the iPhone Duo just under the $2,000 mark, at $1,999, and only about $100 above the Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks like a pretty bold move by Apple," said Liz Lee, associate director at market research firm Counterpoint. By pricing so closely to Samsung's flagship foldable rather than positioning itself as a premium outlier, Apple appears to be signaling it wants to compete directly on value rather than relying purely on brand prestige to justify a much higher price.

What Analysts Expect for Market Share

Lee predicted a significant shift in the competitive landscape: "We expect that Apple will really change the competitive landscape in foldables, and Samsung will see the most visible share pressure. But Samsung also has scale, years of experience and strong global distribution." Counterpoint expects Apple to capture roughly 25% market share in its debut year, closing in on Samsung's projected 38% share for 2026 — a meaningful shift given Samsung has effectively defined the foldable category since its inception.

Samsung's Billboard Blitz

Samsung responded with a coordinated global publicity push, putting up billboard advertisements in major cities including Seoul, Tokyo, and London, with slogans such as "Welcome to Foldables" and "The World's Lightest Fold," emphasizing the thin, lightweight engineering of its devices. The company also published a detailed post on its website Wednesday outlining its long-running, multi-generational efforts to reduce the weight of its foldable phones.

Samsung's Sarcastic Social Media Response

Beyond formal advertising, Samsung took a noticeably sharper tone on social media, launching a flurry of sarcastic posts on X mocking what it portrayed as a lack of meaningful innovation in Apple's design — including jabs like "reheating our leftovers" and "So far, so same."

Apple's Own Dig at Existing Foldables

The rivalry cuts both ways rhetorically: Apple's new CEO John Ternus criticized existing foldable phones as being "like two phones awkwardly stuck together" — a pointed critique of the design compromises that have long characterized the category, even as Apple's own device reportedly borrows heavily from Samsung's established form factor.

Samsung's Foldable Track Record

Samsung launched the first mass-market foldable phones in 2019, though the initial rollout hit early setbacks when reviewers reported broken screens and other display issues, forcing the company to delay its launch. Since then, Samsung has released eight generations of foldable phones, gradually refining the technology while facing growing competition from Chinese rivals, particularly Huawei.

An Ironic Twist: Apple Is Using Samsung's Own Supply Chain

Adding a layer of irony to the rivalry, Apple's foldable reportedly relies significantly on the supply chain Samsung itself built for foldable phones, including foldable display panels manufactured by Samsung's own display-making unit, Samsung Display — meaning Samsung stands to profit from component sales to Apple even as the two companies compete head-to-head for consumer foldable market share.

The Bigger Picture

This clash marks one of the more direct and publicly combative product rivalries in recent smartphone history, with both companies leaning into aggressive public messaging rather than letting the products speak entirely for themselves. With Apple's scale and brand loyalty now entering a category Samsung has spent seven years cultivating, the coming months of sales data will offer the clearest signal yet of whether Apple's late but well-priced entry can meaningfully disrupt Samsung's foldable dominance. For continuing coverage, see the full Reuters report via Business Recorder.