Samsung has spent seven years and eight generations of the Galaxy Z Fold trying to solve one problem: making a foldable phone people actually want to carry around. Now, with Apple’s foldable iPhone reportedly just weeks away, Samsung’s own R&D chief has boiled that entire effort down to a single piece of advice.
Weight. That’s it. That’s the whole tip.
Samsung’s one-word advice for Apple
Hee-Cheul Moon, who heads Samsung’s Advanced Mechanical R&D Group, sat down with WIRED for a video interview alongside Seungki Choi, head of Samsung’s Smartphone R&D Group. When asked what advice he’d give Apple ahead of its foldable debut, Moon didn’t hedge: “The key to providing the highest customer value in this market is all about the weight of the device. As you know, it’s not easy.”
He’s not wrong, and Samsung’s own numbers back it up. The Galaxy Z Fold8 now weighs 201 grams, a full 75 grams lighter than the original Fold from 2019. That’s not a rounding error. That’s the difference between a phone that lives in your pocket and one you leave in a bag because it’s annoying to carry.
Where Apple’s foldable reportedly stands
This is where things get interesting for Apple. The company’s first foldable iPhone, widely expected to launch under the iPhone Duo or iPhone Ultra name, is rumored to weigh somewhere between 230 and 241 grams. For context, the iPhone 17 Pro Max weighs 233 grams, and that’s a phone with no hinge, no dual battery, and no folding display to account for.
If those numbers hold, Apple’s foldable would land noticeably heavier than Samsung’s current flagship fold, at a moment when Samsung has spent years making the opposite trade-off. Apple is said to be using titanium for the frame’s stress points and aluminum elsewhere to manage weight, and reports point to a liquid metal hinge design meant to keep things thin. None of that is confirmed until Apple actually announces the device, but the rumored weight range has been consistent across multiple supply chain reports.
The durability trade-off nobody’s solved yet
Here’s the part Samsung’s advice conveniently skips over: shaving off weight usually means giving something up, and for foldables, that something is durability. Most flagship phones today carry an IP68 rating, meaning they’re fully dust-tight and can survive being submerged for a while. The Galaxy Z Fold8 is stuck at IP48. It handles water fine, but dust is still a real risk near the hinge.
This isn’t a new problem for Samsung. Dust ingress is what forced the company to delay the very first Galaxy Fold back in 2019, and iFixit’s teardown of the eighth-generation Fold8 found the same underlying issue hasn’t actually been fixed, just managed. Google’s folding Pixel line remains the only foldable on the market with a full IP68 rating.
Whether Apple’s foldable iPhone solves this or simply inherits it is one of the bigger open questions heading into launch. Apple is reportedly aware of the issue and is said to have delayed its own foldable in part to get ingress protection right, but until the phone is officially listed on Apple’s site, that’s still a rumor rather than a spec.
Why Samsung says it’s not worried
Despite all this, Samsung is publicly framing Apple’s entry as a compliment rather than a threat. “Seeing these other brands entering the market, we feel very proud of ourselves that the value that we pioneered with this new category of foldables is being acknowledged and recognized,” Moon told WIRED.
That confidence comes with an asterisk though. Market intelligence firms are projecting Apple could capture close to 40 percent of the global foldable market within its first year, right around where Samsung sits today at roughly 38 percent. IDC expects the broader foldable category to grow more than 12 percent in 2026, with Apple’s entry acting as the main catalyst after five straight quarters of decline in the segment. So while Samsung’s messaging is all goodwill, the timing suggests a company that knows exactly how much ground is up for grabs.
