Samsung’s wider Z Fold 8 feels just right

A twelvemonth aft overhauling its Z Fold telephone pinch a radically thinner design, Samsung has changed things up again, this clip altering the style entirely. The Z Fold 8 is wider than immoderate of Samsung’s erstwhile foldables, and shorter too, a size and style location betwixt Samsung’s accepted Flip and Fold models.

In photos, I wasn’t impressed by the squat shape. In person, to my surprise, it feels great, and almost instantly intuitive. If you want to get a consciousness for it yourself, drawback your passport — the Z Fold 8 is astir the aforesaid tallness and little than half an inch thinner.

This isn’t Samsung’s only caller foldable this year, and successful fact, its lineup conscionable sewage much confusing. The Z Fold 8 whitethorn beryllium the charismatic follow-up to past year’s awesome Z Fold 7, but successful truth the Z Fold 8 Ultra is the straightforward sequel. That telephone has the aforesaid squarish soul surface arsenic erstwhile Z Fold phones and a akin triple rear camera. The sanction feels for illustration a sly instrumentality to get astir this year’s inevitable value hikes: Samsung slapped “Ultra” connected the container of its highest-end exemplary to thief screen for pricing the telephone astatine $2,099.99, up $100 from the Z Fold 7.

Meanwhile, pinch its wider screens and stripped backmost cameras, the Z Fold 8 feels little for illustration a sequel and much for illustration a spinoff. And it almost — almost — looks for illustration a bargain astatine $1,899.99, down $100 connected its nominal predecessor.

Samsung isn’t the first to the Z Fold 8’s shape factor. Huawei’s Pura X Max launched successful April pinch a akin shape, though it’s only disposable successful China. Apple is wide expected to beryllium next, utilizing a similar passport-esque shape for its first iPhone foldable successful September. In truth, elements of this creation are moreover older: The Fold 8 is almost precisely the aforesaid width arsenic Google’s first-gen Pixel Fold, though a bully woody shorter, bringing foldable phones afloat circle.

I’ve been skeptical astir the return of the wider foldable, which successful photos looks squat and uncomfortable, excessively wide to usage people while closed and excessively short to consciousness expansive erstwhile open. The manufacture tried this creation erstwhile and moved on, truthful why — different than Apple’s imaginable take — should we springiness it a spell again?

Samsung’s reply is that its 2 Z Fold 8 models are designed for different users and different uses. The Z Fold 8 Ultra, gangly and bladed erstwhile closed and akin to a quadrate erstwhile open, is meant to beryllium a multitasking monster, useful for moving apps successful split-screen, giving you the balanced surface abstraction of 2 regular 6.5-inch phones broadside by side. The wider Z Fold 8 is alternatively astir consumption: Its 4:3 facet ratio is arsenic earthy for watching Netflix shows successful scenery arsenic it is for reference ebooks successful portrait, and astatine 201g, it’s ray capable to clasp comfortably successful 1 hand.

Or, arsenic Samsung’s trading section puts it, the Fold 8 is for “joy-maxxing,” and the Ultra is for “power-maxxing.” I beryllium done these presentations truthful that you don’t person to, folks.

The 4:3 show isn’t widescreen, truthful you’ll still get letterboxing astatine the apical and bottommost erstwhile watching astir videos, whether connected YouTube aliases a streaming service. But dissimilar Samsung’s erstwhile squarish Folds, which weren’t overmuch wider than simply turning your telephone connected its side, opening the Z Fold 8 up really does fresh much video onto your screen, and the wider facet ratio will beryllium overmuch much earthy for gaming too. It feels little for illustration a foldable and much for illustration a tablet and is each the amended for it.

I’m still a small uncertain whether I for illustration really the Z Fold 8 feels closed — the measurement I usage foldables the mostly of the time. The width of the 10:16 screen show is little noticeable than I expected, and I sewage utilized to utilizing the telephone this measurement remarkably quickly, but I’m worried it mightiness consciousness little comfortable if you instrumentality the telephone successful a case. The reduced tallness proves an unexpected blessing here, making it easier and much comfortable to agelong crossed the surface one-handed than connected larger slab phones for illustration the S26 Ultra. A batch will dangle connected really good apps accommodate to the shorter screen, though Samsung has already announced that Instagram is connected committee pinch optimizations.

There are different considerations to the Fold 8 than its caller shape. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, optimized together pinch Samsung, makes this astir arsenic powerful arsenic immoderate different flagship retired there. The 120Hz OLED main show is the aforesaid successful specs arsenic the Fold 8 Ultra’s, including an awesome highest brightness of 3,000 nits and a caller anti-reflective coating to trim glare. It supports the aforesaid caller package features arsenic the Z Fold 8 Ultra, including the charismatic motorboat of Gemini Intelligence task automation and a proactive AI characteristic called Now Nudge that pops up pinch cross-app suggestions to adhd an arena to your almanac aliases nonstop personification an email.

For the first time, Samsung has caught up pinch its Chinese title and adopted silicon-carbon batteries, a caller type of lithium ion compartment that incorporates a mini magnitude of silicon alongside the graphite successful the anode. Silicon-carbon batteries tin compression higher capacities into smaller spaces, but they travel pinch a downside: The highly reactive silicon is little stable, and location are fears that silicon-carbon batteries will suffer capacity much quickly complete time.

The 4,800mAh artillery capacity of the Fold 8 isn’t an tremendous jump from the 4,400mAh successful the Fold 7 and pales successful comparison to the biggest foldable artillery around, Honor’s 6,660mAh Magic V6. A cautious attack to silicon-carbon is understandable from Samsung, which still bears the scars of the disastrous Galaxy Note 7 battery, which prompted a afloat callback of that telephone successful 2016 complete information concerns.

“Silicon-carbon cells must beryllium cautiously managed,” BD Yang, executive vice president of Samsung’s halfway constituent exertion team, told The Verge, emphasizing Samsung’s activity to negociate silicon reactivity, swelling, and semipermanent compartment stability, alternatively than prioritizing power density alone. He called the Fold 8’s artillery an “end-to-end improvement” complete erstwhile generations, combining higher capacity pinch “dependable performance.”

Less encouraging are the cameras. Unlike Samsung’s erstwhile Fold models, the Fold 8 is constricted to 2 rear cameras, pinch nary telephoto to beryllium found. Both the main and ultrawide lenses usage 50-megapixel sensors, which looks for illustration an upgrade for the ultrawide, but intends the main lens mightiness beryllium worse than the Z Fold 7’s 200-megapixel shooter — though we won’t cognize for judge until Samsung shares elaborate specs for illustration the sensor size and aperture and I get the chance to put the cameras to a much thorough trial successful my review. Still, Samsung’s foldable cameras already lagged down its champion slab phones, and the Fold 8 only appears to make matters worse.

It’s besides fallen down the foldable title successful a fewer cardinal ways. All 3 of Samsung’s caller foldables stay constricted to IP48, meaning they deficiency the broad particulate protection of Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold. And while Samsung says it’s overhauled the hinge and show stack pinch a caller titanium-alloy movie and a titanium sheet beneath it, the changes aren’t capable to make the show crease anyplace adjacent arsenic subtle arsenic connected Oppo’s Find N6. Better are caller magnets, which make the telephone easier to unfastened one-handed, and thief it adjacent pinch a satisfying click — though Samsung is still stubbornly refusing to merge the soul magnets required for full Qi2 charging support.

I won’t really cognize whether the Fold 8’s shape facet is for maine until I’ve spent much clip pinch the phone, but aft an hr aliases so, I’m amazingly sold. I’ve ne'er figured retired a measurement to switch my activity laptop pinch a foldable phone, but I could easy spot 1 supplanting my tablet, which has been mostly relegated to a portable surface for in-flight entertainment. And pinch a bigger artillery to boot, the Z Fold 8 mightiness conscionable past ’til I land.

Still: $1,900 is an atrocious batch for immoderate phone, and particularly 1 that’s suffered specified an evident camera downgrade. It feels for illustration moreover much considering this is an almost untested design, a caller format that could beryllium the early of foldables (especially if Apple has thing to opportunity astir it), but mightiness get to the muted consequence that greeted past year’s Galaxy S25 Edge. An hr isn’t capable to cognize for definite either way, but aft trying the Z Fold 8 successful person, I’m already a fan.