Pre-orders don’t lie. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 pulled in 1.44 million reservations in just one week, the biggest pre-order number in Samsung’s entire smartphone history. And 70% of those were specifically for the Fold 8. So yeah, Samsung is scrambling to make more.
According to ET News, Samsung has decided to ramp up Fold 8 production by 1 million additional units beyond its original plan. The company already had 2.8 million units lined up for the year, which was already the highest allocation in the Galaxy Z8 lineup. Now it’s pushing total Fold 8 production to somewhere north of 3.8 million units. That’s a serious commitment for a device that only just launched.
What makes this interesting is the form factor itself. The Fold 8 is Samsung’s first wide foldable, built around a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the taller, narrower shape Samsung has used for years. The cover screen sits at 5.5 inches and the main display opens up to 7.6 inches of foldable OLED. It looks more like a small tablet than a phone when open, and clearly that’s clicking with buyers.
To put the numbers in perspective, 1.44 million pre-orders is a 38.5% jump over last year’s Galaxy Z7 series, which hit 1.08 million. It also beats the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung’s flagship slab phone from earlier this year, which landed 1.36 million pre-orders. A foldable outselling a mainstream flagship in pre-orders is not something you would have predicted even two years ago.
This is also the second consecutive Galaxy Z series where Samsung has had to increase production mid-cycle. The Fold 7 was the first foldable Samsung ever ramped up after launch. Back-to-back production increases suggest foldables are no longer a niche category that appeals to a small group of tech enthusiasts. They’re genuinely going mainstream.
There’s another angle here worth watching. Apple is reportedly launching its first foldable iPhone in September, also using a 4:3 wide-screen design. Samsung is clearly trying to build as much momentum and market share as possible before that happens. Getting 3.8 million Fold 8 units into people’s hands before Apple shows up is smart strategy. Industry insiders also point out that a double storage promotion, offering 512GB at the 256GB price during pre-orders, likely pushed early buyers to commit faster given current memory chip pricing.
The foldable wars are about to get real.