The Galaxy Z Fold 8’s slimline design and enhanced practicality are driving record pre-orders and attracting a diverse new customer base, marking a major shift in the foldable smartphone market ahead of Apple’s upcoming entry.
Samsung’s latest foldable is finding an audience that earlier generations struggled to reach. According to reports from South Korea, the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s slimmer, lighter passport-style design is attracting younger buyers, including women and some long-time Apple users. That is a notable shift for a product category that has often been dismissed as too bulky or too niche for mainstream use.
The response appears to be strong in hard numbers as well. South Korean media reported domestic pre-orders of 1.44 million units, said to be the highest ever for a Galaxy device, while global sales have already passed 5 million. Samsung has also said that half of pre-order customers were in their teens, 20s or 30s, and that purchases by women more than doubled from the previous model. In Southeast Asia and Oceania, including the Philippines, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series also posted record pre-orders.
Industry commentary suggests the new shape is central to that momentum. The wider, squarer layout is being read as more practical for everyday use than earlier foldables, while reviews have highlighted near-creaseless displays, support for three apps side by side and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. Even so, the phone is not without trade-offs: analysts have pointed to its $1,900 price, the absence of a telephoto lens and the lack of S Pen support on the standard model.
Samsung’s chief executive, TM Roh, has argued that the company’s performance is not simply a product of Korean cultural appeal, but of meeting changing customer needs. That matters because Apple is widely expected to enter the foldable market next month with a competing device, intensifying the race over size, usability and design. For now, however, Samsung appears to have struck a formula that is widening foldable appeal beyond the early adopter crowd.
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