On the eve of Apple’s highly anticipated folding iPhone, Samsung isn’t feeling threatened. Instead, the folding smartphone pioneer says the competition is “absolutely welcome.”
That’s according to Hee-Cheul Moon, head of Samsung’s Advanced Mechanical R&D Group, who sat with WIRED on a virtual Zoom call with Seungki Choi, head of Samsung’s Smartphone R&D Group. Before the talk veered toward Apple, the pair spoke about how the company managed to shave 75 grams off the weight of its latest Galaxy Z Fold8 in the 7 years since it debuted the original.
Weight is integral to a folding phone’s success. If the device is too chunky and heavy, you’re less likely to want to use it. Over the past two years, folding devices from Honor, Google, and Samsung have rapidly gotten lighter, which each iteration featuring thinner designs. It may be why Samsung saw preorders for its latest folding handsets increase 30 percent globally versus last year’s models, with the Fold8—the device with a new smaller shape that’s easier to hold—accounting for nearly half.
“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 says through a translator.
When I asked what advice the company had for Apple ahead of its folding debut, Moon says, “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.” Apple’s folding iPhone, rumored to be called the iPhone Ultra, is expected to weigh between 230 and 241 grams (the iPhone 17 Pro Max weighs 233 grams), heftier than Samsung’s latest.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Samsung has made notable strides this year in making its main Galaxy Z Fold8 smartphone lighter than top-end candybar-shaped smartphones. The single-screen Galaxy S26 Ultra weighs 214 grams, but the Fold8 is merely 201 grams, thanks to its smaller, passport-style shape. The company says its own customer data and YouGov survey data from 2024 show that bulky designs were a chief concern for people uninterested in folding phones.
The company says it analyzed every single component in the latest Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra—approximately 270 components and more than 180 auxiliary parts—from circuit boards and antennas to tapes and fastening components.
The team looked everywhere to cut weight. For example, it redesigned the printed circuit board to remove unnecessary circuits and improve component layout, reducing the space requirement. Samsung says it even eliminated 15 auxiliary parts and machined the internal display support plate down to roughly 0.2 millimeters. To keep that thinner panel durable, Samsung developed its “Flex Titanium” screen—a titanium alloy film roughly one-third the width of a human hair designed to maintain surface flatness and keep the crease from worsening over years of folding.