Xiaomi, Oppo, Motorola and Samsung Challenge Apple's iPhone Duo as Foldable Market Heats Up
Apple's first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, goes on sale Oct. 23, with pre-orders a week earlier. Xiaomi, Samsung, Oppo and Motorola are competing with passport-style foldables, lower prices and larger batteries, according to Engadget.
The report said most of the competing devices now use a "passport" format similar to the iPhone Duo. Xiaomi and Samsung moved first with wider designs. The Xiaomi 18 Fold arrived just days before the iPhone Duo was unveiled, and its specifications are close to Apple's: a 7.6-inch inner screen and a 5.4-inch outer screen with the same aspect ratio. Xiaomi's device weighs 219 grams, compared with 254 grams for the iPhone Duo, and it has three rear lenses, giving users an extra optical zoom range that the iPhone Duo will not offer. The Xiaomi 18 Fold starts at 10,999 yuan, about $1,640, but for now it is only available in China.
In the United States, Engadget reported that the iPhone Duo's main competitor is likely to be Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8. The new base Z Fold abandons the near-square design of earlier models for a wider passport shape, with a 7.6-inch screen and a 5.5-inch screen. Samsung chose straight edges and no curved corners, unlike Xiaomi. Engadget's review gave the Z Fold8 an 8.9 out of 10 and called it better for watching shows and movies than the more expensive Z Fold8 Ultra, which keeps the original square-ish shape. The Z Fold8 has two rear cameras, like Apple's model. It launched in August and drew attention, but the iPhone Duo could change that. Samsung's device starts at $1,900, only $100 less than the iPhone Duo's starting price.
Oppo's Find N6 takes a different approach, according to the report. It keeps a more conventional foldable design, with a 6.62-inch outer display and an 8.12-inch inner display, but its standout feature is thinness. It is 8.93 mm thick when closed, much closer to the 8.75 mm of an iPhone 18 Pro, while the iPhone Duo measures 11.3 mm when closed. Oppo also packs in a 6,000 mAh battery, 1,600 mAh more than the Z Fold7, and supports 80W wired fast charging. The Find N6 includes IP59 certification and a 200-megapixel main camera. It is aimed at the Asian market, though a global model should work in other parts of the world; it is not officially for sale in the United States. It costs less than the iPhone Duo, starting at 9,999 yuan, about $1,490.
Motorola's Razr Fold is another option available in U.S. stores, Engadget reported. It uses a more conventional foldable design, with a 6.6-inch outer screen that unfolds into an 8.1-inch inner screen and a peak brightness of 6,000 nits, compared with the iPhone Duo's maximum of 3,000 nits. The Razr Fold has a 6,000 mAh battery, 80W charging and a triple-camera system with optical zoom for photos and videos. Its inner display supports a stylus that costs $100 extra. The Razr Fold starts at $1,900.
Engadget reported that Apple has shown it is ready to compete with the iPhone Duo, and many of its best features come down to software. iOS 27 comes with optimizations for the foldable form factor, including animations when users switch between displays and varied usage modes.