iPhone Duo, Galaxy Z Fold 8 get the same folding animation

Apple showed the iPhone Duo’s folding-screen animation at Apple Event 2026, and a developer has already recreated the effect on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. The result shows what Samsung’s hinge sensor can support, but it is not yet a system-wide feature that Fold 8 owners can install.

When the iPhone Duo opens or closes, the wallpaper appears to dissolve through the moving half of the display before reappearing on the other screen. The illusion uses motion-sensor data, gradients and timed transitions rather than a screen physically becoming transparent.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 recreation uses the phone’s hinge sensor to drive a similar effect. The developer said the sensor provides precise enough values to map the hinge angle to an animation across the inner and outer displays.

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“Felt a bit of FOMO seeing that cool iPhone Duo animation Apple showed off today, so I poked around and found that the Z Fold 8 has a really accurate hinge sensor. I realized it would be pretty simple to take the hinge sensor values and use them to drive a transition animation on both screens.”

Why the Fold 8 version is still a demo

The recreation is an app-based demonstration. It captures screenshots of the display and presents the opening and closing transition rather than replacing the operating system’s behavior. It cannot automatically run across other apps or control the Fold 8's interface at the system level.

Samsung would need to provide the necessary system access and implement the effect in its software before Fold 8 owners could use it as a native transition. The demo shows that the hardware can provide a useful hinge-angle signal, but it does not establish that Samsung can or will expose the feature to third-party developers.

The animation also has practical limits. The developer said it looks convincing when viewed head-on, while changes in viewing angle make the illusion less effective. The effect may also lose its novelty quickly; after testing it, the developer described it as impressive initially but potentially annoying after about a minute.

Samsung’s Fold 8 already has a 7.6-inch inner display, but the animation is not part of the phone’s documented software experience. Our earlier review found compromises in Samsung’s foldable’s camera, cooling, durability and pricing, so a smoother screen transition would address presentation rather than those hardware constraints.

iPhone Duo price and availability

The reporting identifies the iPhone Duo as the only folding phone shipping with this particular animation. Preorders are scheduled to open on October 16, 2026, with pricing starting at $1,999 in the US, £1,999 in the UK and AU$3,499 in Australia.

The recreation does not make the effect available on the Galaxy Z Fold 8. For now, buyers choosing the iPhone Duo are paying for the native implementation, while Fold 8 owners would need Samsung to adopt the idea at the system level.