At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event, the phone-maker announced three new folding phones, including its first-ever Ultra foldable phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the true successor of last year’s Fold 7, while the Fold 8 enters with an all-new wide-fold design.

These devices are still priced high enough to put them out of reach for many, but they pack subtle design improvements that might make a big impact in daily life. I love the new anti-reflective coating, easier-to-unfold design and battery upgrades, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 remains a powerful and capable device – especially if you can get it at a rare discount.

The two book-style foldables differ mainly in experiential upgrades rather than spec bumps. It might be hard to get an idea of what’s exactly new. That’s why I put them side by side during my hands-on to find out.

Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is roughly the same size as the already thin-and-light Fold 7. It weighs the same but is a millimeter slimmer when unfolded. Both phones are comfortable to hold, but the new model is easier to open.

Samsung has made the Ultra’s sides slightly slimmer so its bezels don’t run all the way to the corners. This gives you a slight gap between the sides to make it easier to unfold. In comparison, the Fold 7 has flat sides with zero gap when the phone is folded shut, making it more difficult to unfold.

Both phones have a 6.5-inch AMOLED cover screen and an 8-inch AMOLED folding display with a 120Hz variable refresh rate. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s inner screen is brighter at 3,000 nits (versus 2,600 nits on the Fold 7). It also has a matte finish, along with my long-requested feature: an anti-reflective coating for better legibility in harsh lighting conditions and outdoors.

I held both phones indoors in direct light, and the difference was noticeable. My Fold 7 was more susceptible to glare and harder to see under direct light when compared to the new model. 

Samsung has also improved the crease situation. It is minimal and can’t be seen unless you’re specifically looking for it. The phone-maker has added a new display structure that combines titanium-alloy film with an enhanced titanium plate to strengthen the display and balance the “hinge mechanics, display tension and magnetic force to make unfolding feel smoother, lighter and more natural,” says Samsung.

Both foldables are IP48 rated for dust and water resistance. So, they aren’t truly dust-tight like the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and Honor Magic V6, but they can survive being dunked in water for at least 30 minutes (the “8” in IP48). But they won’t protect against dust particles smaller than 1mm (the “4” in that rating).

Performance and battery

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, as compared with the Fold 7’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. Both phones come in three storage variants: 256GB, 512GB and 1TB, with the top-end model getting 16GB of RAM (the 256GB and 512GB models are again paired with 12GB of RAM).

Samsung says it has created more space in the internals for better heat dissipation, so you can theoretically expect better thermal management.

As for the battery, this is the first time Samsung is using the silicon-carbon anode technology. It has allowed the phone-maker to upgrade the cell capacity from 4,400 mAh to 5,000 mAh on the new model. The Ultra also supports faster wired charging at 45 watts (the Fold 7 offered 25 watts).

On paper, it is still behind Chinese rivals like Oppo and Honor, which include over 6,000-mAh batteries in their respective folding phones, but I’m hoping this spec bump will help me get through a day with ease.

Both phones have Qi wireless charging, but no inbuilt magnets. You’ll have to buy a separate magnetic case to add compatibility with Qi2 wireless chargers and other magnetic accessories.

Camera, software and AI

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s camera array is mostly unchanged from last year’s model, with one exception: the ultrawide sensor. You get a 200-megapixel main camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom on both phones. However, the 12-megapixel ultrawide camera has been upgraded to a 50-megapixel sensor. You can expect higher-quality images, but I’ll wait for CNET’s tests to identify the real differences.

Both foldables shoot video in 8K at 30 frames per second, but the Fold might appeal to more creatives. The new model adds support for the APV codec and adds a Cine LUT to give cinematic color and tone control directly from your phone. This adds greater flexibility for editing and production workflows for professional creators.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 launched with Android 16 onboard last year, and the Fold 8 Ultra is coming with Android 17 (with One UI 9 on top). You get a similar software experience on both phones, and the Z Fold 7 will get the update to Android 17 with One UI 9.

The two devices support the full suite of Samsung’s Galaxy AI features alongside Gemini access. There’s AI Select for on-screen search support, an object eraser tool in the Gallery app and contextual AI features like Now Nudge for first-party apps. The latter displays contextual actions based on on-screen information. Like, if you’re having a chat in the Messages app, and they send you an invite with the date, time and address, Samsung’s Now Nudge feature will show a pop-up to add it to Calendar.

The phone-maker also demoed a new agentic AI feature at my demo, which wasn’t very impressive. Ideally, the new Gemini feature would help book a hotel just by looking at an on-screen photo of the Eiffel Tower, but in its current state, it was unreliable. But since the Z Fold 8 Ultra gets seven years of software updates and the Z Fold 7 has six more years to go, there’s plenty of time for both phones to continue to improve on these features.

To see more differences between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Z Fold 7, check out the specs chart below.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Z Fold 7: Specs and prices

Prakhar Khanna is a Writer at CNET with bylines in ZDNET, Forbes, and other major outlets. A digital nomad at heart, he thrives in chaos–mixing deadlines with travel, often writing stories on planes, trains, and cafe tables while hunting down the best pizza spots wherever he lands. His backpack usually carries one phone too many, and his playlists are stacked with 2000s Bollywood. Find him across social media @ParkyPrakhar.
Contact: parkydoesstuff(at)gmail(dot)com

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