Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 overview: Fresh, fun, but frustrating

Price When Reviewed

$1,899

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8

A new category of folding phones is emerging, and Samsung is leading the charge. The Z Fold 8 is the first globally available phone to adopt this new passport-sized form factor, and rumours say Apple will be following suit, with Xiaomi and Honor potentially hopping on the bandwagon, too.

This new design gives you a very compact, shorter, and wider device when it’s folded down, and opens up to reveal a more traditional 4:3 tablet shape. It’s a novel new approach that feels extremely fresh, but of course, it comes with compromises – which we’ll get into later.

Samsung has positioned the Fold 8 in the middle of its Z Fold lineup. It’s cheaper than the Z Fold 8 Ultra (the natural successor to the Fold 7), which maintains the traditional taller and slimmer foldable design, and it’s more expensive than the Flip 8. Is this the goldilocks foldable? I’ve been using it for the past week to find out.

one of the most exciting phones available

Design & Build

• Glass back, aluminium frame
• 210g, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 
• IP48 rated for dust and water protection

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 keeps the Z Fold 7‘s design language intact, with sharp, squared-off corners, and Samsung’s iconic traffic-light-style camera arrangement. The big difference, of course, is the shape.

People have been using the term ‘passport-shaped’ for a reason; it’s genuinely about the same size. 

When folded shut, the screen is about a full inch shorter than most typical bar-phones, and around a centimetre wider. People have been using the term ‘passport-shaped’ for a reason; it’s genuinely about the same size. 

Unfolded, the interior screen is almost the same size as an iPad Mini, but without the chunky bezels. So you get roughly the same screen real estate and aspect ratio, but in a smaller overall package – that’s much slimmer, too.

The phone only weighs 21g, meaning it’s lighter than the non-folding Galaxy S26 Ultra. It’s also incredibly slim; the device is just 4.5mm thick when unfolded, or 9.7mm folded shut.

The cover display is protected by Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, while the back panel is made from Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The back has a matte finish that’s completely immune to fingerprint smudging, and the frame is colour-matched in matte aluminium.

When it comes to colours, you can choose between Graphite, Cream and Lavender options as standard, while Pistachio is exclusive to Samsung’s online and retail storefronts.

The Z Fold 8 has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner/power button and a volume rocker, and both are positioned very naturally. Somewhat oddly, this phone only has a single physical SIM card slot, though, so if you need more than one SIM, you’ll have to use an eSIM.

This is one of the most interesting phones I’ve used in recent years. It feels completely different to anything I’ve used before, and there are plenty of good and bad things that come along with this dramatic change in design.

I absolutely love the way two-handed typing feels on the wider cover display, as the keyboard is noticeably more spacious. But one-handed typing is a real challenge, as you really have to stretch your thumb to reach the other side of the screen. I say that as a man with pretty large hands; if you have smaller digits, it’ll pose even more of a challenge.

it feels fantastic in your pocket, and it sparks excitement and curiosity every time you pull it out

One other thing to watch out for is compatibility with car phone holders. It fits in my Ugreen car cradle without a case on, but it’s pretty tight, and I think it would likely be too wide with a case installed. Of course, this could be remedied with a MagSafe mount, but it’s something worth thinking about.

On a more positive note, it feels fantastic in your pocket, and it sparks excitement and curiosity every time you pull it out. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that. 

Screen & Speakers

• Outer: 5.5-inch, 1248 x 1972, OLED, 120Hz
• Inner: 7.6-inch, 1828 x 2448, OLED, 120Hz
• Stereo speakers

Both the inner and outer screens are brighter than last year’s Fold 7, now able to reach 3000 nits at peak. Samsung is one of the biggest display manufacturers in the world, so it won’t surprise you to learn that both screens look excellent.

you get a much shallower crease that’s almost imperceptible when viewed head-on

Just like its pricier sibling, the Z Fold 8 benefits from the new Flex Titanium screen tech. This means you get a much shallower crease that’s almost imperceptible when viewed head-on; it should stay that way for much longer and be more durable, too.

The phone also opens completely flat this time around, while the Z Fold 7 sat at a very slight V-shape. This means it feels even more like a tablet when you’re using it unfolded. Note that the phone is only open or closed, unlike what we’re used to from Samsung’s foldables and this means sacrificing an important software feature I’ll talk about later.

The folding screen coating has also been improved. It’s way less shiny, and it’s anti-reflective, so you’ll have far fewer distractions when using the main display. Foldables with a more matte finish on their screen, like the Oppo Find N6, are even better at rejecting reflections, but they attract fingerprints like crazy. This is a nice middle-ground, as it’s not super shiny, but also doesn’t smudge up too easily.

The bezel is nice and slim around the main display, and it’s mirrored exactly on the cover display. That said, they do look bigger on the cover display, with its more traditional glass coating. It’s no big deal, but I have a feeling this cover display will quickly start to look dated when wide foldables become more prevalent.

Samsung has once again opted for a punch-hole selfie camera on the folding display, rather than using its under-display camera tech. That’s a good thing, overall, as it means you’ll look a lot better when using the main screen for video calls, but I think the positioning could be better.

The punch hole matches the one on the cover screen, which means it’s in the centre of the right-hand portion of the screen. I wish Samsung moved it into the corner, as this punch hole tends to interrupt the viewing experience in both portrait and landscape orientation. It’s not a dealbreaker, by any means, just slightly annoying.

The speakers are quite good, but they’re not as full-sounding as the S26 Ultra’s. Not too surprising, given the size constraints. You get dual stereo speakers that fire from the top and bottom when the phone is folded shut. They’ll give you a stereo effect when watching landscape content on the cover screen, or vertical content on the folding screen.

Personally, I would have preferred the opposite orientation. YouTube videos and games don’t sound too great when you’re using the bigger screen in landscape mode, as all the sound is coming from the left side. Conversely, though, vertical videos sound great, so I guess it depends where your priorities lie.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• 12GB / 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, and as ever, it’s a specially tuned “for Galaxy” version, which should unlock some extra performance. 

My sample is the base model, which comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. The 512GB model also gets 12GB RAM, and if you opt for the 1TB model, that’ll be bumped up to 16GB – but it’ll cost you a pretty penny.

When it comes to gaming performance, the Fold 8 does a decent job, but I was hoping for more

With my normal usage, the Z Fold 8 was as rapid as the spec sheet suggests. Apps open quickly, multitasking is no problem at all, and it can run some graphically demanding games, too.

Thermal performance, however, doesn’t seem to be the best. Even with light use, just browsing social media and messaging, I could feel the phone heating up around the cameras on the rear panel. Both screens dim quite significantly to reduce heat build-up in these conditions, and when you’re out in the summer sun, that can be quite frustrating. 

There’s nothing unusual about this behaviour; all foldables do it, but this one seems to dim a little quicker than most. Perhaps due to the lack of surface area available for heat dissipation.

When it comes to gaming performance, the Fold 8 does a decent job, but I was hoping for more. Titles like Genshin Impact are extremely well optimised, but the phone struggled more with Wuthering Waves. I needed to lower the graphics preset to “balanced” to get a smooth experience at 60fps, but even then I experienced dips into the low 40s.

Of course, Wuthering Waves is notoriously challenging (which is why I use it), and the phone fares a lot better in other titles. So it depends on what you’re trying to play. The upside is that games look superb on the folding screen.

Game UIs and cutscenes scale a lot better with this aspect ratio than your typical almost-square folding display, and the phone feels slightly more ergonomic, too. It’s even better if you dabble in emulation, as older titles in 4:3 make use of the entire display – PS1 games never looked so good!

Cameras

• 50Mp f/1.8 main sensor
• 50Mp f/1.9 ultrawide
• Dual 10Mp f/2.2 selfie cameras

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 has two cameras on the rear: a 50Mp f/1.8 main camera with a modest 1/1.57-inch sensor and a 50Mp f/1.9 with a 1/2.5-inch sensor. Compared to last year’s Fold 7 and the Fold 8 Ultra, it’s a big step down. There’s no dedicated telephoto, and far fewer megapixels on the main camera. However, it’s still a better showing than the Flip 8, which only has a 12Mp ultrawide.

Photos have that signature Samsung style: very sharp, just vibrant enough, with high levels of HDR and natural colours

You get a 10Mp selfie camera that pokes through either display, but they’re not identical. The one on the folding screen has a wider FOV, which is really nice for video calls. I would say it’s good for group photos, too, but the ultrawide on the back is far better, and the folding shape makes it almost as easy to use for selfies.

If you’ve taken pictures with a recent flagship Samsung phone, these cameras will feel very familiar. Photos have that signature Samsung style: very sharp, just vibrant enough, with high levels of HDR and natural colours that are unlikely to wow or offend.

You can, of course, give photos much more personality if you delve into the filters – and I think it’s well worth doing so. They’re all highly customisable, and if you want something that really stands out, using filters is the way to go. You can also shoot in RAW if you want a more professional workflow.

In the daylight, photos were solid. These cameras are very consistent and reliable; they don’t really have the wow-factor of Ultra-class flagship phones, but they’ll rarely let you down. At night, graininess can be an issue, but wide apertures on both of the rear cameras mean that motion blur isn’t too much of a problem, and images rarely look too dark.

The big drawback is the lack of a telephoto camera. It’s exceedingly rare to find a phone this expensive that doesn’t have one, and if you’re used to having one available, you’ll immediately notice the difference.

The camera app will still let you digitally zoom to 10x, but it doesn’t look that great when you do. Really, you can’t go much past 4x without a noticeable drop in image quality, and that feels incredibly limiting. You might not notice it every day, but the second you go to a concert, it’ll really sting.

Video performance is great with the excellent stabilisation and microphone quality that we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s flagship devices. The fact that you can unfold the phone and use the cover screen as a preview monitor makes this a neat little tool for vlogging, too.

The Z Fold 8 also benefits from some of the newer professional video features that debuted on the Galaxy S phones. You can record at up to 8K 30fps on both rear cameras, and 4K 120fps on the main. There’s also Samsung’s excellent Log profile, the fancy new APV codec, and horizontal lock stabilisation.

There are also a couple of new additions. There’s a mode called FanCam that lets you select a single subject from a wide shot, and it’ll automatically crop in and follow them throughout the frame in an aspect ratio of your choosing. Some new dual video recording options allow you to film your surroundings and your reaction at the same time, as well.

Battery Life & Charging

• 4800mAh battery
• 45W wired charging
• 20W wireless charging

Despite being a lot smaller, the Z Fold 8 actually outdoes the Z Fold 7 with its battery capacity. Samsung is finally dipping its toes into Silicon battery tech, and as a result, there’s 4800mAh squeezed into this tiny, slim chassis.

It also ups the charging speeds. You can now charge at up to 45W with a wire, and 20W wirelessly, compared to just 25W and 15W wireless on the Z Fold 7. It might not sound too impressive, with Chinese brands claiming 100W plus, but in reality, it’s just as quick as most of them. 

the Z Fold 8 saw me through an average day’s use without issue

In my testing, this was enough to go from completely dead to over 70% charged in just 30 minutes. If you’re keeping score, that’s a little faster than the Honor Magic V6, which claims 80W speeds.

As for the battery life, the Z Fold 8 saw me through an average day’s use without issue. It’s very good, but I’ve been somewhat spoiled after using the Find N6 so much, with its 6000mAh capacity. Obviously, the Fold 8 can’t compete with that, but it’s good enough for most people’s needs. Just expect to be charging it every night without fail – and maybe earlier than that if you’ve been gaming.

Software & Apps

• One UI 9, based on Android 17
• New Now Nudge features
• New Galaxy AI and Gemini features

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 runs the latest version of Samsung’s One UI 9 software, built on Android 17. Fundamentally, it’s very similar to the software on all recent Samsung flagships, but this new form factor presents fresh challenges, and there are some new features to explore, too.

you can now run three apps side-by-side in split screen mode to make full use of the wide folding display

To get the basics out of the way, One UI is renowned for its speediness and customisability, and all of that remains true. It looks slick by default, and there are almost endless ways to make it feel like your own. Samsung also promises 7 years of updates and security patches, so it’ll remain usable for many years to come.

My one major criticism is that it feels cluttered right out of the box. Samsung has so many first-party apps and features, and it works closely with Google to implement all of its latest features, too. A lot of these apps and features are trying to accomplish the same thing. Should I use Samsung Wallet or Google Wallet, for example, and Gemini or Bixby? You get the idea.

This time, multitasking has been reworked, and you can now run three apps side-by-side in split screen mode to make full use of the wide folding display. It’s an excellent upgrade, and means you can get some serious work done on an impossibly small device.

The Now Nudge functionality has been expanded, and it’ll now appear in more places, offering actionable prompts like “add to calendar?” when someone proposes a date via text message. Gemini Notebook also comes preinstalled, which seems to be a rebranding of Google’s Notebook LM, as all my previous Notebook LM sessions appeared when I first opened it.

This tool lets you upload documents and then ask questions or generate content from those documents. It used to be restricted to things like PDFs, but it now works with audio, video, images, and more. Once uploaded, the AI can generate slides, infographics, a podcast – or you can use it like a regular chatbot and talk about your uploaded media.

While the new passport-like shape has plenty of benefits, I feel like One UI isn’t fully optimised for it yet. There are a few oddities that make the experience feel less polished than usual.

The one that bugs me the most is that I can only have up to four apps on each row on the cover display, while the home row can have five. Even the Z Fold 7 (the narrowest phone that Samsung makes) can have five apps on a row, so why, on this wider screen, am I stuck with four?

Another annoyance is that the homescreen apps all jump about when using the phone unfolded and switching from portrait to landscape. So if you’re used to your apps being in a particular order, you’re sure to get frustrated. Perhaps more bizarrely, you can’t add an app to your homescreen in portrait mode on the folding display; it has to be in landscape. Again, I can’t fathom why.

As mentioned earlier, the hinge on the Z Fold 8 is either open or closed, so you can’t leave it semi-open like a laptop. This helps with opening and closing but means there’s no Flex Mode, which is a shame. This lets you do hands-free video calls, camera previews, and use half the screen as a control panel or gamepad for select apps.

Barring Flex Mode, I’m sure these will be ironed out in time, and they’re far from dealbreakers, but I feel like One UI needs some tweaks to let this form factor truly shine.

Price & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is available to pre-order now in most regions globally. In the UK, it’ll be in stores and shipping to customers from 7 August. 

The Z Fold 8 will set you back £1,699/$1,899/€1,999 for the base model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. That rises to £1,869/$2,099 for the 12/512GB version or £2,209/$2,499 for the 16/1TB variant.

I feel like Samsung has attempted to pull a fast one with the pricing. The Z Fold 8 is cheaper than the Z Fold 7 was at launch, which seems like a good thing, but it’s not really a successor to that phone. It’s a completely different shape and has less impressive cameras, so it’s not as high-end. In reality, the Fold 8 Ultra, which is very similar to the Fold 7, has received a £100/$100 price hike, as has the Flip 8. 

As for the Fold 8, though, it doesn’t have any direct competition at the moment, so it’s hard to judge the value here. Sure, there’s Huawei’s Pura X Max, but that never launched outside of China. It’ll be interesting to see how Apple prices its iPhone Ultra foldable in a few months.

For now, you can check out how we rank the best foldable phones.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an excellent phone, and the new shape provides some much-needed novelty to the market. When I first saw it, my reaction was “oh wow, that’s cool”. Everyone I have shown it to felt the same way, and after a week of use, I’m still excited by it every time I pick it up.

My fear is that the novelty will start to wear off, and the small annoyances that I have detailed in this review will overpower the fun factor. That hasn’t happened yet, but it could.

Unfolded, the new shape provides some very real benefits for gaming, content consumption, and reading, but the drawbacks are significant, too. The cover display can feel cramped, and it’s not very comfortable to use one-handed. The lack of a telephoto camera is also hard to deal with, and thermal limits mean that gaming isn’t as great as it could be.

As ever, it depends on what you want from your phone. As an avid photographer and gamer, it’s probably not the device for me, but the shape shows merit, and perhaps one of the coming wide-folds will be. As of right now, the Z Fold 8 is one of the most exciting phones available, and if the idea of an iPad mini that fits in your pocket appeals, you’re in for a lot of fun with this one.

Specs

• One UI 9, based on Android 17
• Outer: 5.5-inch, 1248 x 1972, OLED, 120Hz
• Inner: 7.6-inch, 1828 x 2448, OLED, 120Hz
• Power-button fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• 12GB / 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage
• Camera:
• 50Mp main sensor
• 50Mp ultrawide
• Dual 10Mp selfie camera
• Up to 8K @ 30fps rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Single SIM + eSIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
• Bluetooth 6.0
• 4800mAh battery
• 45W wired charging
• 20W wireless charging
• 81.9 x 123.9 x 9.7 mm (folded)
• IP48 certified
• 201g
• Colours: Graphite, Cream, Lavender, Pistachio