Apple's and Samsung's new foldable phones take very similar photos

Apple's iPhone Duo and Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 take photos that are very close in quality. CNET's reviewer tested both in a garden and said it is hard to recommend one camera over the other. The gap is mostly in how each phone styles a picture, not in how good it is.

What the phones are

Both are foldables with a passport-size design. They have two rear cameras and roughly the same battery capacity. A small cover screen handles quick tasks, and the phone opens to a 7.6-inch inner screen for video and multitasking. The Duo starts at $1,999 for 256GB. The Z Fold 8 starts at $1,900 for the same storage.

How the cameras differ

The Duo has a 48-megapixel wide camera and a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera. The Z Fold 8 has a 50-megapixel wide and a 50-megapixel ultrawide. A megapixel is one million dots of detail, but the reviewer's findings rested on how the photos looked, not on those numbers.

• The Duo leans warmer, with richer, deeper colors and stronger shadows.
• The Z Fold 8 is often brighter and sharper, though sometimes with less fine detail.
• The Duo adds a soft background blur by default, which can be turned off.
• Results can change with lighting and angle.

Across the sample shots, each phone won some. The Duo did better on a garden scene with stone and greenery, a portrait of a raven and a photo of the reviewer reading. The Z Fold 8 won on tree bark and flowers, and on hydrangeas and sky. One shot came down to personal taste.

What they lack

Neither phone has a telephoto camera, which is the lens that zooms in on faraway subjects. That makes the high prices harder to justify. The reviewer also said the wide and ultrawide cameras are not as strong as those on premium non-folding phones such as the iPhone 18 Pro and Galaxy S26 Ultra, which have better optical zoom and larger main-camera sensors.

Who it is for

Shoppers who want a compact foldable and care more about photo style than zoom. If you like warm, rich color, the Duo fits. If you prefer a brighter, sharper look, the Z Fold 8 does. Someone who zooms a lot may be better served by a regular flagship phone.