This year is make or break for foldable phones and Samsung needs to lead from the front
Samsung's challenge isn't technical, it's about purpose
Samsung launched the Galaxy Fold in 2019 and in the intervening years we've seen progressive improvements to the Fold and Flip formats. The company has invested a lot into the segment as the defining brand for foldables – but 2026 will make or break the folding phone category.
Samsung's Fold, and the Z Fold models that followed, have been an iterative refinement of the same concept. Each has progressively improved the design, while the external display has expanded to offer an experience closer to a traditional phone.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, thanks to its slim design, attracted more interest than previous models, with Samsung confirming record-setting pre-orders and sharing that the Z Fold 7 had exceeded previous generation purchases by 50% in the first few months of sale.
Traditionally, the Z Flip has outsold the fold, with estimates suggesting a 60-70% share taken by the Flip in previous years. But the Z Fold 7 reportedly shifted that balance, making the book-type device more popular.
But while Samsung is the brand in folding phones, surprise information from IDC outlined that Motorola had over half of market share in the US in 2025 – and that's without offering a book-type folding phone.
The Fold is still seeking purpose
This points to something we all already knew: people like flip phones. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 and rival Motorola Razr Edge 70 Ultra have something that the Fold doesn't. It makes for a smaller phone, surfing on a wave of nostalgia for the phones we grew up with, while still delivering an experience that's the same as a regular handset.
The Fold can't claim that: instead of charm it’s looking to technical proficiency, instead of nostalgia it looks to increased functionality. While there's no denying that the Z Fold 7 scores with the former, it's wide of the mark with the latter.
The problem here is multi-faceted: opening the fold you're presented with a bigger screen, close to square, with very little application for square content.
That's seen a scrabble to make better use of screen size, which for some apps doesn't happen (it's just the normal app), some turn into columns, eating space without really aiding functionality, while others (like movies) waste all that space because the screen is letterboxed.
Wider folding phones could hold the answer
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is thought to move to a wider aspect and that might make for a more usable screen space. That could give you a larger screen with less letterboxing when watching movies, or let you rotate it more like a tablet display for reading, because let's face it, a wide display is not conducive to reading.
The wider aspect will better suit games whether in landscape or portrait, while the whole device could fit into a pocket better.
Don't get me wrong, folding phones aren't bereft of functions: I read and signed a PDF on my Moto Razr Fold just the other day, I used that larger display to show friends the content of another document so all could see and I've found folding phones useful for working on spreadsheets, something that regular devices are terrible at.
But when people who've never used one suggest it might be great for movies, I just want to cry, because it isn't. The Samsung Galaxy S26 UItra will show a larger movie screen than the Z Fold 7. For the Z Fold 8, that may not be the case.
It's going to be an Apple versus Samsung showdown
Ultimately, Samsung will introduce this new format of folding phone, appending the Ultra name to the refreshed taller folding phone. (Samsung was actually using Ultra in 2025, it peppered the announcement of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 with the word ultra.) The new aspect folding phone is expected to take the fight to Apple's similar short and wide device.
But while we know Samsung as a company that throws things out there, often first with a new technology, Apple is more considered. Use case and user experience will be forefront in Apple's software and if it nails it, if Apple gives the iPhone Ultra real purpose, it could change the category forever.
Apple will be able to lean on the iPad experience for the iPhone Ultra and while Samsung is the biggest player in Android tablets, the app experience has never been as good as iPad. There's no shortage of technical brilliance out there, but if Apple can deliver purpose, then folding phones have their place.
The gauntlet will be thrown down and on 22 July we'll see what Samsung has to offer. Apple is expected to follow with its own folding phone in September 2026.
