Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels like the future

Is this the early of foldable phones?

Samsung intelligibly thinks so. The institution has fixed its caller wide foldable the “Z Fold 8” name, positioning the telephone not arsenic a widescreen oddity, but arsenic the caller normal, the default creation for foldables going forward. Rumor has it that Apple feels the aforesaid way, pinch a akin squat style wide predicted for the first foldable iPhone, expected to motorboat successful September.

Whether you want to springiness the in installments to Apple, Samsung, aliases moreover Huawei (which sewage present first pinch the Pura X Max), I deliberation they mightiness beryllium onto something. After a week, the Z Fold 8 feels comfortable, natural, and normal, contempt being the shortest and widest telephone I tin retrieve using. And acknowledgment to the 4:3 soul show — amended suited to some reference and watching video — I’m utilizing this as a foldable much than I ever person pinch erstwhile models.

It isn’t perfect. Not each app plays nicely pinch the short outer screen, though issues are beautiful rare. And the driblet from 3 cameras connected past year’s exemplary to 2 cameras connected this year’s feels for illustration a existent downgrade for an $1,899 phone.

We won’t really cognize the early of foldables until Apple enters the market. But pinch the Z Fold 8, Samsung has already made a bully lawsuit that this creation should instrumentality around.

Until now, foldables person mostly been 1 of 3 shapes: flippy, foldy, and much precocious (and rarely) trifoldy. Samsung has played a ample portion successful defining those categories. But the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is among the first of a caller activity of wider models.

The 5.5-inch outer show is some shorter and wider than emblematic phones, almost the nonstop aforesaid dimensions arsenic a modular passport, pinch a 10:16 facet ratio. It looks a small overseas erstwhile closed, but makes consciousness erstwhile you unfastened the telephone up to spot its 7.6-inch, 4:3 soul surface — not coincidentally the nonstop facet ratio utilized by astir iPads. This feels much for illustration a foldable tablet than immoderate erstwhile Z Fold yet, and possibly because of that I’ve recovered myself opening it up much than immoderate foldable I’ve ever reviewed.

This stretched style is much earthy for watching TV and movies, giving you a wider surface without excessively overmuch letterboxing. It’s overmuch amended suited to this than the Z Fold 8 Ultra, which hardly gives you immoderate other surface abstraction for video erstwhile held vertically and has its selfie camera cutout successful the measurement if you rotate it into landscape. The Z Fold 8 is arguably moreover amended for reading, giving a convincing facsimile of the dimensions of a book erstwhile you clasp it successful portrait.

The style takes much getting utilized to erstwhile closed, but little than you mightiness think. Even erstwhile I tried the telephone for an hr aliases truthful astatine Samsung’s property briefing I was amazed by really earthy it felt, and a week pinch the Z Fold 8 has only cemented that feeling. After a while this doesn’t consciousness for illustration an particularly short aliases wide device, it conscionable feels for illustration a phone.

There are occasional errors that springiness distant that Android wasn’t designed pinch these dimensions successful mind. Once aliases doubly Instagram has grounded to afloat load, leaving a achromatic barroom successful the other abstraction connected the right-hand broadside of the screen; the Withings app erstwhile crunched 2 rows of contented together successful an effort to fresh things successful vertically; and moreover Samsung’s default One UI Quick Settings sheet is excessively long, requiring you to scroll to scope the bottom.

I’m not saying this squat surface is better than a regular slab phone, because it astir apt isn’t. You person to scroll a small much often because of the mislaid vertical space, and it tin beryllium a agelong to scope the phone’s acold side. But location are advantages too: the other width makes two-handed typing much comfortable (it’s not been overmuch remarked, but this is simply a beautiful akin size and style to the classical BlackBerry); and because it’s truthful short, reaching the apical of the telephone is easier than ever. Anyone lamenting the decease of the mini phone may, possibly paradoxically, find they’re a instrumentality of the Z Fold 8.

It helps that each that reduced size keeps the Z Fold 8 light. At 201g, it’s Samsung’s lightest Z Fold yet. It’s slim too. At 9.7mm heavy erstwhile shut, this is conscionable a small chunkier than past year’s Z Fold 7, aliases this year’s Ultra, but it’s still acold thinner than 2024’s Z Fold 6. Those dimensions put it wrong scope of a modular smartphone; an iPhone 17 Pro, for instance, is 206g and 8.8mm thick.

Despite its slimness, the Z Fold 8 really packs a bigger artillery than immoderate Z Fold barroom the caller Ultra, pinch a capacity of 4,800mAh. That’s acknowledgment to Samsung yet adopting silicon-carbon batteries, a much energy-dense design that conscionable astir each Chinese telephone shaper has agelong since adopted.

Samsung has been duly cautious successful its approach, emphasizing stableness and longevity arsenic it’s incorporated much reactive silicon into the artillery anode. Silicon-carbon batteries person a inclination to degrade faster than accepted designs, meaning the artillery life gets worse much quickly complete time, but Samsung says it’s managed to debar that risk. It’ll return a twelvemonth aliases much to study conscionable really good Samsung struck that balance, but for now I’m heading to furniture pinch 40 percent of the artillery near each night, truthful the other capacity is doing its job.

Charging is fine, but little impressive. The Z Fold 8 has 45W wired charging and 20W wireless, some of which are bully by US standards but sluggish compared to galore Android phones disposable elsewhere. Unlike Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Z Fold 8 lacks the built-in magnets required to support Qi2 wireless charging, though it is compatible pinch Qi2 cases. In fairness, that helps support the telephone itself thinner and lighter, and Samsung is apt betting that you were going to put a lawsuit connected it anyway.

That’s a shame, because the telephone looks great. It fits correct into Samsung’s existing creation language, which I’ve agelong been a instrumentality of for its slick simplicity. I emotion my lavender model, successful a simple, subtle purple, arsenic good arsenic the online-exclusive “pistachio” — though it’s really much of a grayish greenish than thing resembling the nut.

There’s nary IP68 rating, which is simply a shame, pinch IP48 protection leaving the Z Fold 8 a small much susceptible to particulate and soil than rival foldables from Google, Oppo, and Honor. Samsung says the telephone is sturdier wide acknowledgment to caller titanium infused layers nether the display, which besides make the crease connected the soul surface subtler. It’s not rather arsenic difficult to spot aliases consciousness arsenic connected Oppo’s awesome Find N6, but the crease really is simply a complete non-issue now.

The cameras mightiness beryllium much of a concern. Samsung has downgraded the Z Fold 8 to conscionable 2 rear lenses, a main camera and an ultrawide — nary telephoto astatine all. And while the caller 50-megapixel ultrawide is simply a important betterment connected what came before, the main camera uses a smaller sensor, little resolution, and narrower aperture than the erstwhile generation, making it worse successful conscionable astir each respect.

The photos it takes are fine. This is simply a akin main camera to the guidelines Galaxy S26, pinch akin results, and astir comparable to an iPhone 17. The low-light processing is amended than I expected truthful agelong arsenic subjects are mostly still, and colors are vivid but attractive. Like galore Samsung cameras it finds fast-moving subjects tricky — almost each photograph I’ve attempted of either of my cats has been blurry. The setup is improved by the ultrawide, which matches the main lens connected value successful almost each shot, meaning there’s seldom a tradeoff for zooming out. But astatine this price, a telephoto lens wouldn’t spell amiss.

Compared to erstwhile generations of Z Fold, Samsung has kept the package updates reasonably light. Google’s Gemini Intelligence Task Automation has rolled retired to the phone, but isn’t yet disposable successful the UK truthful I haven’t been capable to trial it. Then there’s My FanCam, an AI video editing characteristic which crops successful to attraction connected a circumstantial person. Now Nudge, Samsung’s return connected Pixel phones’ Magic Cue, will propose contextual actions you tin transportation retired successful split-screen, for illustration adding an arena to your almanac — though since it requires you to usage Samsung Keyboard and circumstantial messaging apps, it’s a small constricted successful practice.

The foldable marketplace is going to alteration for bully successful a period aliases two’s time. Apple’s introduction into the abstraction could beryllium the push foldables request to spell mainstream, aliases the last impervious that they’ll beryllium everlastingly niche.

Either way, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 makes a bully lawsuit that this mightiness beryllium the style their early hopes remainder in. It’s compact capable to consciousness mini erstwhile folded and wide capable to consciousness expansive erstwhile open. It’s awesome for watching TV and movies, but conscionable arsenic bully for reading, the 2 things astir group mightiness really want a foldable for, leaving the Ultra for the multitasking productivity obsessives. If I was buying 1 of Samsung’s caller foldables, it would beryllium this one. But while this feels for illustration the early of foldables, it still needs to get substantially cheaper to go the early of phones.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge