TL;DR
- The Galaxy Z Fold 8 places both speakers on one side, reducing stereo separation when the phone is unfolded in landscape orientation.
- Apple puts the iPhone Duo’s speakers on opposite halves diagonally, creating a more balanced layout for videos, games, and music.
- Apple’s first foldable also beats Samsung’s eighth-generation model in several other areas, despite costing only slightly more.
Samsung has spent seven years refining book-style foldables, so its $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 8 should represent the category at its most mature. At that price, buyers should not have to excuse obvious compromises as quirks of the form factor. Yet Apple has entered the foldable race with the iPhone Duo and, on its first attempt, addressed several limitations Samsung still expects Fold buyers to accept and live with.
One clear example is speaker placement. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has two speakers, but Samsung placed both in the half housing the cover display. That arrangement works as expected when watching something on the outer screen in landscape orientation, with a speaker firing from either side.
