Samsung’s book-like foldable Fold series enters its eighth generation with two models for the first time ever: a shorter and wider Z Fold 8, and a Z Fold 8 Ultra that keeps the established shape from last year.
The Ultra is technically the superior device, with better camera performance, a more versatile hinge, and a bigger battery, but it is the standard non-Ultra model that has gotten all the attention because of its new shape.
This new shape allows the Z Fold 8 to open up into a wide 4:3 aspect ratio that is more in line with how our laptop screens or computer monitors look, and is better suited for viewing conventional widescreen videos. When folded, the Z Fold 8 becomes a boxy, square-ish form factor that resembles a passport.
Very reliable rumors say Apple’s first-ever foldable phone, launching next month, will also use this passport-like form factor, so it is almost certain that all the other Chinese brands will follow suit, meaning this new shape is essentially the new foldable form going forward. Therefore, the Z Fold 8 Ultra, while being the technically superior device, almost feels like it’s on the way out.
What’s the difference between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra?
Let’s quickly run down the differences between the two phones other than the obvious differing shapes.
- The Z Fold 8 Ultra has a slightly larger battery of 5,000 mAh compared to 4,800 mAh in the standard Fold 8.
- The Z Fold 8 Ultra’s hinge can stay in place at any angle (Samsung calls this Flex Mode), while the non-Ultra phone’s hinge cannot. The Z Fold 8 can really only be used completely opened or completely closed.
- The Z Fold 8 Ultra has a better main camera, a 200-megapixel sensor compared to both phones offer an identical UI experience.
- The Z Fold 8 Ultra has a telephoto lens that can do roughly 70mm (3X) zoom, while the Z Fold 8 does not have a telephoto lens at all.
Otherwise, both phones are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, and run on the same One UI 9.0 software based on Android 17. So other than the different screen sizes displaying apps in different aspect ratios, both phones offer identical UI experience and performance.
Z Fold 8: real-world use and thoughts
I’m going to talk about each phone in its own section now, starting with the Z Fold 8. I enjoyed using it in unfolded form due to the wide screen aspect ratio, which allowed me to view videos with less letterboxing, and also run two apps side-by-side without them feeling too cramped.
Weighing just 201g (the lightest book-like foldable yet) and measuring 4.5mm thick, it is light and thin enough for me to hold with one hand. I took the phone with me to Beijing where I was navigating with the larger screen while walking around the city.
When it is folded, the phone does feel a bit odd at first, because it’s wider than a conventional phone. My fingers don’t wrap around and grip the phone as easily as on a conventional phone (or the skinnier Z Fold 8 Ultra). And typing with one hand can be tricky due to my thumb not quite reaching the other end of the screen.
The displays on the outside and inside look great, bright enough for outdoor use, and above 2K resolution so it’s more than sharp enough. The screen dimming frequency (PWM) is still lower than competitors’, but this is something that only affects a small number of people. My eyes couldn’t tell.
Performance was absolutely no issue. The new chip, paired with 12GB of RAM, keeps the phone zipping. I also enjoy opening the phone and then turning it sideways to get a large vertical canvas for reading long chunks of text or viewing vertical photos.
The dual-camera system features a pair of 50-megapixel sensors covering the wide and ultra-wide perspective, and they’re fine. Serviceable. But for me, who’s so used to the best mobile camera hardware in Chinese Ultra phones, none of the shots captured by the Z Fold 8 impress me. The sensor size isn’t large enough for much natural bokeh, and Samsung’s color tuning and picture profiles lag behind Vivo in my (and many other reviewers’) opinion.
Battery life is very good. Even in Beijing where I was outside for 12 hours straight, constantly on the phone using eSIM, I finished the 12-hour day with 18% battery left, which means for a less heavy-use day, it will easily finish the day with plenty of juice to spare.
A big reason the Fold 8 has gotten so much hype is because it’s a new shape that feels fresh and cute, and I felt that too at first. But I’m happy to report that even after the novelty of the new shape has worn off, I still find the phone very enjoyable to use. I really appreciate that when it’s folded, its dimensions can be considered a “small, compact phone,” but if I unfold it, I still have a 7.6-inch 4:3 screen that makes reading long emails or split-screen multi-tasking much easier than on a conventional slab phone.
Z Fold 8 Ultra: real world use & thoughts
Now, onto the Ultra. This phone feels like an iterative update to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 – from in-hand feel to looks, it looks and feels very, very similar to last year’s phone. That’s not a bad thing, because last year’s Fold 7 was excellent. But calling this phone an “Ultra” is a stretch, considering the only upgrades over last year are a bigger battery and slightly better ultra-wide camera.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra features an 8-inch main screen (unchanged from last generation in size and resolution), though it now has a nearly invisible crease thanks to a new titanium plate inserted underneath the floating panel. The screen is a near square when opened (unlike the Fold 8’s wide screen), but if you’ve used or seen a foldable phone in the last three years, this shape is familiar.
The hinge is robust and premium, and unlike the Fold 8, can actually stay in place at various angles. The triple camera system brings back the 200-megapixel camera seen in last year’s Fold 7, and it’s fast and reliable, though the 23mm focal length is too wide for my taste. The 3X zoom lens (the lens omitted in the wider Fold 8) is serviceable, producing solid 70mm shots with some background compression, but it’s a 10-megapixel shooter, so images are not going to compare against zoom shot photos snapped by the zoom lenses seen in the iPhone or any Chinese phone. The improved 50-megapixel ultra-wide is very good for a foldable phone, and because the Z Fold 8 Ultra can sit on a flat surface on its own, the ultra-wide lens becomes a capable self-video shooter.
The software experience is the same as the wide Z Fold 8, or just like last year’s Z Fold 7 for that matter. This isn’t a bad thing: Samsung’s OneUI is very polished, and the multi-tasking system is tremendous. You can easily run three apps at the same time with this phone. Samsung’s suite of AI features like generative AI photo editing is still here, useful as ever.
I called the Z Fold 7 the best overall foldable phone last year, so the Z Fold 8 Ultra being a slightly improved version of that means it is excellent. But I do think Oppo’s Find N6 is a bit better (noticeably better cameras, and even larger battery), and compared to the wide Z Fold 8, the Z Fold 8 Ultra feels a bit bland and boring.
But if boring works, who am I to judge?
