Samsung’s Return to London Unpacked Echoes a Risky Apple Playbook

Samsung will hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event in London on July 22, the first time the company has brought its flagship launch to the city since the Galaxy S3 debuted there in 2012. The show starts at 2 p.m. BST (9 a.m. ET) and streams on Samsung.com, Samsung Newsroom and Samsung’s YouTube channel. Samsung is expected to unveil a reshaped foldable lineup built around a Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and a shorter, wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 aimed squarely at Apple’s still unreleased foldable iPhone.

Samsung is betting London repeats 2012, not 2025.

Samsung Splits the Fold Line in Two

For seven generations, Galaxy Unpacked meant one direct successor to the previous Fold. That changes this year. According to Android Central’s reporting on the event, Samsung is expanding the line rather than simply replacing the Fold 7.

The book-style successor is expected to carry the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra name. A separate, shorter and wider device, closer to a passport than a paperback, is expected to take the plain Galaxy Z Fold 8 name instead. That device is reportedly built to fold out into a roughly 4:3 tablet-style display, positioning it directly against Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone before Apple has shipped one.

A Bluetooth SIG filing had already pointed to the Z Fold 8 Ultra name weeks before Samsung sent its own invitation, so the naming split was not a total surprise. What is still missing is an explanation. Samsung has not said why a Fold flagship and a completely different form factor now share adjacent names, and the tech press has noticed.

Here is what else is expected to walk onto the London stage:

• Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra – the book-style successor to the Fold 7, expected to carry a refined hinge and crease treatment.
• Galaxy Z Fold 8 – a new, shorter and wider passport-style device built to compete with Apple’s rumored foldable.
• Galaxy Z Flip 8 – the successor to last year’s Flip 7, with no confirmation yet on whether a lower-cost Flip 8 FE returns.
• Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 – the first update to the Ultra line since it launched, reportedly running Qualcomm’s newer wearable chip.
• Galaxy Glasses – Samsung’s AI eyewear, listed by Android Central as a possible reveal rather than a confirmed launch.
• New Galaxy Buds – mentioned as a possibility, with no specific model identified.

Leaked hinge details for the Ultra point to a further crease reduction, the same pitch Samsung has made every year since the first Fold. That fix reportedly comes with a catch of its own, and readers can find the specifics in the site’s earlier report on the crease fix leaked ahead of the Ultra’s debut.

London Was Ground Zero for Samsung’s Last Apple Fight

The last time Samsung brought Unpacked to London, the stakes were just as high. On May 3, 2012, Samsung launched the Galaxy S3 at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. It was the event that, in Android Central’s own words, saw Unpacked break free of the trade show circuit and become a standalone spectacle.

Weeks later, Apple filed for a preliminary injunction against the S3, asking a California court to block its U.S. launch over alleged patent violations. The judge declined to fast-track the request, and the S3 shipped on schedule. Apple and Samsung went to trial that July, and Apple won.

The court loss did not slow the phone down. By the third quarter of 2012, research firm Strategy Analytics found the S3 had overtaken Apple’s iPhone 4S to become the world’s best-selling smartphone, a milestone the firm announced that November. London, that year, was the launchpad for a phone that beat Apple in the market even while losing to Apple in court.

The Last Time Samsung Tried This Play, It Flopped

Samsung has since tried the same trick again, and it did not go the same way. Ahead of Apple’s rumored ultra-thin iPhone Air, Samsung rushed out the Galaxy S25 Edge in May 2025, a slimmed-down flagship meant to claim the category first.

It did not work. According to Hana Investment and Securities, the S25 Edge had sold only around 1.3 million units by that August, compared with 8.28 million for the standard S25 and 12.18 million for the S25 Ultra over the same stretch. A Samsung insider told Newspim, “I don’t know if the slim line will come back, but it doesn’t look easy at the moment.” Samsung scrapped a planned Galaxy S26 Edge follow-up within about five months of the original phone’s launch.

The table below lines up all three attempts side by side.

As Forbes contributor Ewan Spence noted after the Edge’s cancellation, Samsung’s foldables were the part of the portfolio actually selling ahead of expectations, with Counterpoint Research tracking Z Fold 7 sales running two and a half times ahead of the Z Fold 6’s pace. That is the business Samsung is protecting by splitting the Fold line now, not the thin-phone business it just walked away from.

Why Is Samsung Racing a Phone Apple Hasn’t Launched Yet?

Apple’s first foldable iPhone still does not exist in stores, but supply chain reporting has it arriving fast. Multiple outlets now expect a September 2026 launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro line, with a book-style design, a roughly 7.8-inch inner display and a starting price above 2,000 US dollars.

The twist is that Samsung itself has a stake in Apple’s success. Samsung Display, the screen-making arm of the same parent company, has reportedly locked in a three-year exclusive deal to supply the crease-reducing OLED panel inside Apple’s foldable, according to supply chain reporting on the iPhone Fold. Samsung Display reportedly showed off a crease-less panel next to a Galaxy Z Fold 7 at CES 2026 before the booth was quietly pulled.

So Samsung’s phone division is racing to beat a device that Samsung’s own display division is building. Here is the state of that race in numbers:

• 10 million foldable iPhones Apple has reportedly told suppliers to build this year, up from an earlier forecast of 7 to 8 million, per Nikkei Asia reporting cited by MacRumors’ iPhone Fold tracker.
• 2.5 times the pace at which the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has outsold the Z Fold 6, according to Counterpoint Research.
• 3 years, the length of Samsung Display’s exclusive deal to supply Apple’s own foldable screen.
• $2,000, the price floor multiple reports expect for Apple’s foldable, roughly matching what Samsung already charges for the Z Fold 7.

Apple is reportedly chasing a crease measuring under 0.15 millimeters, a figure meant to make Samsung’s visible hinge line look dated the moment the iPhone Fold ships. Samsung getting its own crease fix onto shelves first, even by a couple of months, is worth more to the company than any single quarter of Fold 8 Ultra sales.

Even the Tech Press Wants Samsung to Explain the Name

Reporters covering the leaks are running into the same confusion regular buyers will face at checkout. Two products with adjacent names, one a book-style flagship and one a completely different shape, is not how Samsung has ever organized this line before.

Samsung’s own marketing has leaned into mystery rather than clarity. The invitation for the July 22 show carries no product names at all, just the tagline “A New Shape Unfolds” and a teaser video of a ticket shrinking into a wider rectangle. The site’s earlier coverage of that cryptic teaser campaign built on mystery instead of specs laid out just how little Samsung was willing to confirm before the event itself.

On July 22, Samsung Electronics will host Galaxy Unpacked in London, U.K., a city that moves forward, not by chasing trends, but by setting them.

That is the full extent of Samsung’s own public framing, straight from its Global Newsroom invitation. Everything else, including which device actually gets called the Galaxy Z Fold 8, is expected to come from the stage on July 22 or from whatever answer Samsung gives when reporters ask directly.

After London, the Real Test Begins

Unpacked itself will settle the easy questions: names, colors, a stage full of hardware. The harder questions start the moment the livestream ends.

Samsung has not published a rollout schedule for One UI 9, its next Android interface, on existing Galaxy phones. Samsung has said only that a fuller version of the software arrives on this year’s new flagships, and it is expected to say more about older devices after Unpacked rather than during it. Regional availability is its own open question too. Samsung has skipped or delayed foldable variants in specific markets before, and nothing in the invitation guarantees the Fold 8 Wide launches everywhere at once.

Galaxy Glasses face the widest gap between hype and certainty. Samsung has not published specifications, pricing or a release window, and Android Central lists the glasses as a possible reveal rather than a guaranteed one. A name and a stage demo on July 22 would not be the same as a shipping product.

Apple has confirmed none of this: not a name, not a price, not a date. Samsung confirms all three of its own at 2 p.m. in London on July 22.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time does Galaxy Unpacked start around the world?

The show begins at 2 p.m. BST on July 22, which converts to 9 a.m. ET, 6 a.m. PT and 10:30 p.m. IST the same day. Viewers can set a reminder through the Notify Me option on Samsung’s YouTube stream ahead of time.

Will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 cost more than the Fold 7?

Samsung has not announced pricing for any device expected at the event. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 launched at 2,000 US dollars, and any confirmed figure for the new lineup will not be official until Samsung says so on stage or in its post-event materials.

Is Apple’s foldable iPhone actually confirmed for 2026?

Apple has not confirmed the device publicly. Supply chain reporting, including accounts of mass production progress and a supplier order for up to 10 million units, points to a September 2026 launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro line, though a slip into 2027 remains possible if production timing shifts again.

Is a cheaper Galaxy Z Flip 8 FE coming this year?

Samsung has not confirmed one. Last year’s lineup included a lower-cost Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE alongside the standard Flip 7, but Android Central’s reporting on this year’s event has not identified an FE successor as part of the July 22 plans.

What happened to the Galaxy S25 Edge?

Samsung discontinued the S25 Edge and canceled its planned S26 Edge successor after the original sold only around 1.3 million units by August 2025, far behind the standard S25 and S25 Ultra over the same period. It is the most recent example of Samsung’s pre-emptive strategy against a rumored Apple device falling flat.