Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 series launches at Unpacked London in July. The event will debut an entirely new type of Samsung foldable phone, dubbed the "Wide" Fold that has an entirely different shape to what we’ve seen from the Korean company so far.
It even has a direct competitor in the Apple iPhone Fold, which should land this September if the hinge design doesn’t hold things up.
But what can buyers expect from the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 8 in terms of specs, features and most importantly, price? And how will it compete with the likely juggernaut that Apple’s first foldable phone will be?
Here's what we know about the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series so far.
Several leaks have so far suggested that Unpacked will happen at the end of July, with the 22nd the most consistently mentioned date.
Samsung typically opens pre-orders on the day of announcement and ships devices about two weeks later, putting the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8 on sale around August 7th.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold will save similar dimensions to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide. (Photo by Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Samsung’s popular double storage deal is expected to survive the RAM-crisis induced pricing, according to tipster Lanzuk on Naver. But there may be more hoops to jump through to qualify for the pre-order deal, or it may be watered down, Lanzuk claims.
But we don't know where the double storage offer will be available. If we go by the Galaxy S26 launch, Samsung ditched the free memory upgrade for U.S. buyers but kept it in Europe.
Instead American shoppers got up to $900 trade-in, or $150 store credit with no trade-in. Amazon stepped in with its own double storage deal and a $200 gift card. A much better offer than Samsung, so don't be surprised if Amazon, or other third party retailers, have their own aggressive pre-order deals.
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Samsung is launching three foldables in July.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the tall book-style foldable that replaces the Z Fold 7. The Ultra name is new as Samsung aligns its foldable with its Galaxy S Ultra branding, positioning it explicitly as its most premium foldable phone. What that means for specifications will be interesting to see (more on that below).
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 (also referred to as the Wide Fold) is an entirely new design. A landscape-oriented foldable with a wider 4:3 outer screen, designed to work more like a standard smartphone one-handed, but look more like a tablet when unfolded.
The idea is that wide-screen videos will look far more natural on the big screen, instead of having big black boxes above and below video, as they do on the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is Samsung's clamshell foldable. Leaks suggest this will remain a mid-range phone aimed at casual buyers with a maximum of 512GB storage, so not the Fold power users who will want 1TB of storage.
Digital Citizen published the full range of colors and storage options, which was also backed up by prolific Samsung tipster Ice Universe. Here's what to expect.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Cream, Graphite, Green Shadow, Violet Shadow—256GB, 512GB, 1TB.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 (Wide): Cream, Graphite, Lavender, Pistachio—256GB, 512GB, 1TB. Additional online-exclusive colors are also expected, with green shades among them, according to Lanzuk on Naver.
Galaxy Z Flip 8: Cream, Graphite, Mint, Pink—256GB and 512GB only.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra carries a 5,000mAh battery with 45W charging. It comes in at approximately 4.1mm when unfolded, making it one of the thinnest foldables Samsung has ever made, according to Ice Universe. It weighs approximately 215g (the same as the Z Fold 7) and will not include an S Pen slot.
Ice Universe also confirmed this week that Samsung has significantly enhanced the screen resolution on the Z Fold 8 Ultra. At face value that suggests just a higher resolution display with a higher pixel density. That might be why Samsung calls this the "Ultra" phone compared to the Wide.
At a press briefing for the Galaxy S26 series this year I asked a Samsung rep about putting U.K. prices up and I got an answer back about how much more buyers are getting for the phone, specifically the privacy display. That spin might be an insight into new premium features on the Fold 8 Ultra.
On the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide camera: it is expected to have a 50MP primary sensor, which supports 24MP native mode, alongside a 50MP ultrawide lens. Based on the camera specs alone don’t be surprised if the Wide Fold is the cheaper of the two and Samsung’s entry level book-shaped foldable in years to come.
For the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Camera: it is expected to have a 200MP primary sensor with OIS, 50MP ultrawide, which would be a major upgrade from the Z Fold 7’s 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. This would be first time the Fold series has come close to matching the Galaxy S Ultra camera hardware.
Both Fold 8 models are expected to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with the Flip 8 being powered by the Exynos 2600. That will change depending on country.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide is the device I have my eye on because it’s new, it’s Apple’s iPhone Fold direct competitor and, like I said, it’s new and shiny. It’s also light at 201g, weighing less than the Ultra.
Part of that will be the reportedly smaller 4,800mAh battery with 45W charging, and a dual camera system: 50MP main and 50MP ultrawide, with no telephoto lens.
The two displays are the headline feature here. The cover screen is a 5.4-inch panel, while the inner screen is expected to be 7.6 inches. But it's the shape of both that matters most. The wider aspect ratio on both, but particularly the foldable screen, means videos will fit more naturally than they do on a tall foldable phone. Much like a traditional tablet. Here's a good visualisation of how they differ from Ice Universe.
ZDNet Korea also reported that the Wide Fold uses 60μm ultra-thin glass on its inner display, 30% thicker than the 45μm used on the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Thicker glass should mean a more durable display in day-to-day use, with better resistance to drops and impacts.
Samsung Display demoed a crease-free panel for foldable phones at CES this year, but it’s not clear if that will make it into either of the Korean company’s new flexible handsets. The difference in display thickness could be a clue that one of the two devices has a less visible crease than the other.
Price. No credible source has confirmed final U.S. pricing for any of the three devices. I imagine Samsung is still working out the mathematics of how it can maintain margins in the middle of a memory chip shortage that is driving component prices up, while not scaring away buyers with a major competitor lurking on the horizon.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 price hike in April may offer us a clue as to how much the Fold 8 series will cost. Samsung raised the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 1TB to $2,499.99 from $2,419.99 in the U.S., an $80 jump. The 512GB model also went up by $80 to $2,199.99, while the entry-level 256GB remained at $1,999.99.
The entry level Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra staying at $1,999.99 while the higher storage tiers get an increase would make sense. Or perhaps the Wide is the budget option with its lesser specifications. That would mean the Wide stays at $2,000 while the Ultra hits new, unknown price heights justified by premium specs.
What we do know, though, is that prices will eventually come down. After putting the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 up, Samsung ran several discounts that dropped the price again by hundreds of dollars. It was the same for the Galaxy S26 series, which eventually got its own double storage deal in the U.S months after launch. Whichever Galaxy Z Fold 8 model you buy, just make sure you buy it at the right time.
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