Pre-orders for the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max started this Saturday. Premium Apple models rarely get discounts and never this early, so we’ll just list their prices here for the sake of comparison with flagship Androids that might lure you away from the siren call of a new iPhone.

So, here are the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. They feature Apple’s first 2nm chip, the A20 Pro, which runs at close to 5GHz (it peaks at 4.93GHz) and posted massive Geekbench scores. Additionally, the new models promise longer battery life, especially the Pro Max. And they have a variable aperture for the 48MP 1/1.28” main camera (f/1.5-f/4.0).

You can save quite a bit of money by getting a Galaxy S26 instead of an iPhone 18 Pro. Both have 6.3” displays (and both are 120Hz LTPO panels at that), but Samsung’s 10MP 3x/67mm telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide cameras are no match for Apple’s Pro setup, which includes a 48MP 4x/100mm telephoto and a 48MP ultra-wide. Samsung still doesn’t do magnetic charging either.

Looking at the 6.9” offerings, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is also a lot cheaper than the iPhone 18 Pro Max (in fact, it’s cheaper than the small Pro too). The Ultra is a lot more competitive when it comes to cameras – it has a 200MP 1/1.3” main, a 10MP 3x/67mm telephoto plus an additional 50MP 5x/111mm telephoto module and a 50MP ultra-wide. The S26 Ultra also offers unique features like the Privacy Display and the S Pen.

Google also has a 6.3” model, the Pixel 11 Pro. However, it’s pretty light on discounts at the moment. The Tensor G6 mostly fixed the battery efficiency woes of the G5, but performance is still nowhere close to the Apple A20 Pro or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. The Pixel does have a more promising set of cameras than the small S26, including a 50MP 1/1.3” main, a 48MP 5x/106mm telephoto and a 48MP ultra-wide. And would you look at that – it has Pixelsnap magnetic wireless charging.

Google’s Pixel 11 Pro XL has a 6.8” screen and the same set of cameras as its smaller sibling. While the Pixel 11 Pro models are currently cheaper than their iPhone 18 Pro counterparts, we think that the price gap should be wider, given the relative strengths of their hardware.

The Galaxy S26+ has a €300 discount, which is good in a vacuum, but there is no world in which we don’t spend the extra €60 to get the S26 Ultra instead. As for the S26 FE, it might be interesting if you have a Prime subscription, but otherwise we’d skip it for now.

The big news this week wasn’t the unveiling of the iPhone 18 Pro models. No, Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, stole the show. Cupertino chose to enter this market with a wide foldable. It’s not available yet, though. Pre-orders will start in mid-October and sales will commence a week later. We have some thoughts on the iPhone 18 Pro (Max) vs. iPhone Duo debate that you can peruse while you wait.

Until Xiaomi decides if and when it wants to launch the Xiaomi 18 Fold in Europe, there just aren’t many wide foldable alternatives. This means that the Duo’s main rival is the Galaxy Z Fold8. The Samsung phone is thinner (9.7mm vs. 11.3mm) and much lighter (201g vs. 254g). The 7.6” inner displays on both are nearly identical in size and aspect ratio, but Samsung has had several years to optimize One UI for foldable use. Meanwhile, this is the first time iOS has had to handle the display size changing all of a sudden. However, Apple offers stylus support and uses an under-display camera, which are features that Samsung abandoned last year.

The two foldables have comparable cameras with a 48MP main camera with sensor shift OIS for the iPhone Duo and a 50MP camera with lens shift OIS for the Z Fold8. They are joined by 48MP and 50MP 120° ultra-wide cameras, respectively. Check out a more detailed comparison between the iPhone Duo and Galaxy Z Fold8 here.

Of course, Samsung also has a larger book-style foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. Despite having a larger 8” inner display (nearly 1:1 aspect ratio) and a larger 6.5” cover display (with a tall and skinny aspect ratio), the Ultra is still a lot lighter than the iPhone Duo (215g vs. 254g). It’s thinner too – in fact, at 8.9mm, the Z Fold8 Ultra is only 0.1mm thicker than the iPhone 18 Pro Max (which weighs 249g, by the way).

This one has a 200MP 1/1.3” main camera plus a dedicated 10MP 3x/67mm telephoto lens, which is missing from both the Z Fold8 and the Duo. There’s a 50MP ultra-wide camera too. The cameras are not as good as the S26 Ultra, but they are better than the Z Fold8 cameras.

Google also makes a large foldable, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The large 8” inner display is built for multitasking and it enjoys several years of Google working on UI enhancements for foldables. But as we mentioned above, the Tensor G6 is no match for the Apple and Samsung chipsets.

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold doesn’t have the same cameras as the other two 11 Pro models. There’s a 48MP 1/1.56” main, a 10.8MP 5x/112mm telephoto and a 10.5MP 127° ultra-wide. At least it gets to keep the magnetic wireless charging.

Unlike the US market, Europe has a few more alternatives when it comes to large book-style foldables. The Honor Magic V6 is as thin as the iPhone 18 Pro Max (8.8mm) and it is lighter than it (219g vs. 249g). Of course, we should be comparing it with the iPhone Duo instead (11.3mm thick and weighs 254g).

Honor loaded the V6 with a 50MP 1/1.56” main camera and a 64MP 3x/70mm periscope and a 50MP 122° ultra-wide. The battery is surprisingly big for a foldable at 6,660mAh and it supports fast 80W wired and 66W wireless charging. The Si/C tech actually goes further than that – the Chinese V6 has a 7,150mAh battery, but the Euro model got dialed back as usual.

There’s also the Motorola Razr Fold. While the brand is best-known for its Razr flips, the Razr Fold is its first entry into the book-style form factor. It is a large device with a 6.6” cover and 8.1” inner display. It’s powered by the not-quite-flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (vs. 8 Elite Gen 5 for the Honor) and a 6,000mAh battery with 80W wired and 50W wireless charging.

The Moto has a triple 50MP camera on its back – 1/1.28” main, 3x/71mm periscope and 122° ultra-wide. While it has great water resistance (IPX8/IPX9), dust protection leaves something to be desired (IP4X vs. IP6X for the Honor). For comparison, the iPhone Duo is rated IP68 and the Z Fold8 is rated IP48.

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