Ice Universe Reveals No Privacy Screen For Galaxy Z Fold 8

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 won't feature the Galaxy S26 privacy screen. (Photo by Ying Tang/NurPhoto via Getty Images).

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Reliable Samsung tipster Ice Universe posted on X today that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 won't feature Samsung's new privacy screen that debuted on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

The privacy screen works by using a polarised filter layer built directly into the display hardware that restricts the viewing angle of the screen. At its most aggressive setting the display blacks out sharply when viewed from the side, making it difficult for someone sitting next to you to read your screen.

The strength of the effect can be adjusted to suit the user's needs too, and it can also be set to activate only for specific apps or when a password is entered. Check out my video of it in action here.

But it won't make it to the Galaxy Z Fold 8, according to Ice Universe. Foldable displays are fundamentally different to standard smartphone screens. They use ultra-thin glass rather than standard rigid glass, which needs to flex repeatedly without cracking. That flexibility requirement means the display stack, the layers of materials that make up the screen, has to be engineered differently to a fixed panel.

Adding a privacy polariser layer to an ultra-thin flexible display increases both the thickness and the complexity of that screen stack, which can affect how smoothly the display folds and how durable it is over time. Samsung spent five years developing the privacy screen for the Galaxy S26 Ultra's fixed display, so adapting it for a folding panel is likely a different engineering challenge entirely.

The cover display on a foldable phone operates like a normal fixed screen, so it’s not clear whether Samsung will bring the privacy screen technology there instead.

Perhaps higher manufacturing costs mean keeping prices flat for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which I suspect Samsung will do, is part of the reason to forgo the privacy screen. Or maybe it's a useful Galaxy S26 Ultra exclusive that sells phones and puts some daylight between other flagships. It's unique enough and works well enough to do precisely that.

No S Pen Support And Bad Crease News For The Galaxy Z Fold 8

Ice Universe also claims that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 won't have S Pen support and the foldable crease "doesn't improve much."

The S Pen situation on Samsung’s foldable phones has had a complicated history. Samsung first introduced S Pen support to the Galaxy Z Fold series with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 in 2021. It wasn’t built into the phone, but supported via an optional case with a stylus slot. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Fold 5 continued with that before Samsung eventually axed S Pen support in the Fold 7.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is expected to be marginally thicker than the Fold 7, and tipsters had suggested that extra space might create room for S Pen compatibility to return. But Ice Universe poured cold water on that today.

The crease news is also disappointing because Samsung had demoed a crease-free foldable display design at CES in January. It's not uncommon for the company to show off experimental new tech at trade shows, it has done that for years.

But given the prototype's similarity to the Galaxy Z Fold range, I expected it to make its way to the Fold 8 this summer. What will be interesting to see is if this prototype display technology makes its way to the iPhone Fold later this year, but not the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which would be a major win for the Apple device and mitigate some of Samsung's early software advantage.

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