Tim Cook Now Recommends the Galaxy Z Fold 8

Tim Cook has finally recommended a Samsung foldable, and Apple can relax, because it is a different Tim Cook.

Samsung New Zealand has put a real estate agent called Tim Cook in a video for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, two days after Apple revealed its first folding iPhone.

Apple has not commented, which is also how Apple comments on everything.

Meet the Other Tim Cook

This Tim Cook sells houses for Harcourts in Palmerston North, a New Zealand city that has never had this much attention from the phone industry. Samsung's video introduces him with the line "Tim Cook has an announcement. And for once, it's about Galaxy."

The timing is not an accident. Apple's own Tim Cook stepped down as CEO on 1 September 2026 and became executive chairman, handing the top job to John Ternus - so for the first time in 15 years, a Tim Cook was technically available.

Samsung's talent scouts are, we assume, already searching LinkedIn for a John Ternus who sells used cars.

If the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Were a House

The ad sticks to phone features, but we could not stop picturing the listing a real estate agent would write for it.

• Street appeal. A 5.5-inch cover screen that does the everyday jobs with the doors shut.
• Open-plan living. Unfolds into a 7.6-inch interior, with a crease reviewers say is mostly gone.
• Easy to carry. 201 grams, the lightest Fold Samsung has built.
• Established neighbourhood. Samsung has been building folding phones since the first Galaxy Fold in 2019.

The new place next door, the iPhone Duo, has the same 7.6-inch living room and weighs 254 grams. That is 53 grams more, or roughly one egg, which in this market is a lot of egg.

Samsung's Very Subtle Fortnight

The Tim Cook video is Samsung's third jab in under two weeks. First came "Welcome to Foldables" billboards in Times Square, Piccadilly Circus, Shibuya and Seoul ahead of Apple's event, then Samsung's US account on X greeted the iPhone Duo with "Let us know when you're done reheating our leftovers."

None of this is new behaviour. In 2012 Samsung ran full-page newspaper ads against the iPhone 5 under the line "It doesn't take a genius".

The punchline Samsung leaves out is that Samsung Display reportedly makes the iPhone Duo's folding screen, under a three-year exclusive deal. The company mocking Apple's leftovers may also be the one cooking them.

Apple's Response, in Full

Apple has not replied to the billboards, the leftovers post or the Tim Cook video. It rarely answers rivals in public, and this week was no exception.

It is busy anyway. The iPhone Duo starts at $1,999 in the US, pre-orders open on 16 October and the phone arrives on 23 October, while the Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899 and has been out since July.

If the Ad Worked on You

Moving from an iPhone to a Galaxy is easier than any listing makes it sound. Samsung Smart Switch for Android brings your contacts, photos and more across by cable or from an iCloud backup, and nothing needs installing on the iPhone.

Prefer a copy on your computer first? The desktop Samsung Smart Switch for Windows backs up Galaxy phones and can bring content over from an iTunes backup.

Holding out for the iPhone Duo instead? 3uTools makes a full local backup of your current iPhone on a Windows PC without an Apple ID, and the free version of CopyTrans Studio shows your iPhone photos in File Explorer like a normal folder.

What Is Actually True

Quick questions

Two Tim Cooks, two foldables, and only one of them sells houses.

Get Samsung Smart Switch for Android if the open home won you over, or tell us which Tim Cook you would trust with your next phone.