The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 captures the essence of Ultra in a ludicrously thin device, and I still can't believe it

Early Verdict

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: One-minute review

My mind reels. How is this flagship Android 16 phone unfolding into an 8-inch tablet? It’s like the parting of the Red Sea but with a smartphone. What appears to be one is cleaved in two, split neatly down the middle to reveal an expansive, touch- and multi-task-friendly display.

I am flabbergasted.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn’t just move the size and weight needle; it sends it off the dial into uncharted foldable territory (at least for Samsung). Starting at 8.9mm thick when folded (just 7mm thicker than the 8.2mm Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra), the Z Fold 7 unfolds to reveal an impossibly svelte 4.2mm thin chassis. Crazier still, the Z Fold 7 weighs just 215 grams. Yes, you read that right: that’s three grams less than the 218-gram Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

In this and in other ways, Samsung has nudged its pricey premier foldable into 'Ultra' territory. It’s not an Ultra, mind you, in that Samsung hasn't conferred that label on the phone, but there are features that make it undeniably ultra-level.

Let’s leave aside the size and weight for a moment, and focus on the other marquee upgrade: a new camera. I’ve been griping for some time about a flagship-price phone that still has sub-flagship level cameras. Not anymore. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 finally has the 200MP sensor previously only found on the S25 Ultra (and now on the new Galaxy S25 Edge).

200MP means you can shoot pictures at maximum megapixel quality, and crop in to reveal detail that’s unprecedented at the Z Fold level. Granted, you'll likely still shoot at 12MP, but that pixel-binned photo now has more brightness and color information per dot for higher-quality photos,

If you’re wondering, though, why the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is not officially an Ultra, I have a few reasons for you: First, there’s no 5x optical zoom. The camera system tops out at 3x. This may be due to limitations imposed by the thinness of that frame – I bet you can’t fit a periscope lens in there.

Second, achieving that feat of thinning meant Samsung had to jettison the digitizing layer and lose the S Pen support. While Samsung pitches this as a big-screen, lightweight device that you don’t need to use a stylus with, I will miss being able to draw on that foldable display.

One area where this phone is truly 'ultra', though, is in the pricing. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1999.99 / £1,799 (we're awaiting Australia pricing). That’s $100 more than the Z Fold 6 in the US. The more portable design and extreme pricing create some tension between people who think the foldable they can carry without compromises has finally arrived and those who want a relatively affordable foldable experience.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review: price and specs

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999.99 / £1,799, which is $100 more than the previous model in the US (we're awaiting Australia pricing). The base model comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. The Z Fold 7 is on preorder now, and ships from July 25. It's available in Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, and Jetblack, plus a Samsung online-exclusive Mint.

Those prices make the Galaxy Z Fold 7 one of the most expensive foldables you can buy – it now costs $100 more than a similarly configured Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, for instance.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: design

• It's incredibly thin
• Lighter than the single-screen Galaxy S25 Ultra
• Excellent construction

If you ever get the chance, hold the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 next to the Z Fold 6 – the difference is astonishing, and the only wrinkle in the effect is the new phone's sizable camera bump. It’s more prominent than the bump on the Z Fold 6, and means the phone won’t lay even close to flat on that side.

This phone feels good and light in the hand, especially unfolded and, while not Ultra-level titanium, the materials are good and well-used here. The body and frame are Armor Aluminum. On the exterior back is Corning Gorilla Class Victus 2, and on the display side there's Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Samsung has upgraded the FlexHinge, so it’s less conspicuous than ever. When you fold and unfold the phone, it offers just the right level of firmness. Even the inside of the hinge is cleaner. Where last year’s hinge interior coverings had a little nub on it, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7’s are a pair of unblemished curves, like smooth little fenders over a wheel..

Samsung claims the flexible screen crease is less noticeable, but it was hard to tell if this was the case during my brief hands-on time, so I'll withhold judgment for now. IP48 protection means the phone can handle a dunk and some dust, but I’d still keep it clear of sand.

Folded, the phone is now just 8.9mm thick, which is only marginally thicker than the S25 Ultra and significantly thinner than the folded Z Fold 6 (12.1mm). Unfolded, it’s a remarkable 4.2mm. To put that in perspective, it appears that the USB-C charge/data port just barely fits in the space. At just 215 grams, it feels like a traditional phone when closed, and when you unfold it that weight is distributed across an 8-inch body, making the device feel featherlight.

Those latter dimensions also easily beat the Z Fold 6, which is 5.6mm unfolded and weighs 239 grams, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, which is 5.1mm thick unfolded and weighs 257 grams.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: display

• Larger main and cover displays
• Visible punch hole for the camera on main display
• Cover display has a more natural aspect ratio

More than ever, the exterior display of the Z Fold 7 makes it look like a traditional smartphone. It’s now a 6.5-inch display (up from 6.3 inches), helping to make the aspect ratio a more traditional 21:9. In my hands-on time, the screen was bright and responsive.

At eight inches, the interior AMOLED screen, aka the main screen, now matches the size of the iPad mini. It’s a lovely and expansive space for content consumption, photography, productivity, and gaming.

You might notice a new selfie camera cutout. That existed on the Z Fold 6, but when not in use it was covered by a cluster of pixels that could be made transparent when it was time to take a pic. Now, to accommodate a wider field of view (100-degree versus 85-degree) and enable greater image clarity, there are no pixels covering the lens.

Some might mind the small black hole breaking the immersion of their full-screen gaming experience, and distracting when using some apps, but I think I prefer having a wider angle, and what are noticeably clearer photos from the interior camera.

The bezels around the display do not appear thinner than those on the Z Fold 6, and the screen quality appears similar. Samsung has made almost every display component thinner to support the new design, with the exception of the Ultra Thin Glass, which is now thicker. All of this may help make the crease less noticeable, though I could still, in certain light and at certain angles, see it, and I could feel it; it’s not pronounced, though.

If there is any disappointment in the new Z Fold 7 it can be found here in the display, which no longer supports the S Pen. This, it seems, was a physics problem. Samsung simply couldn’t fit in the digitizing layer, which means it’s back to drawing with your fingertip, or with a soft and specially-designed 'dumb' stylus.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: cameras

• Finally, a Z Fold phone gets the 200MP sensor
• The main display camera gets a big upgrade, too
• It's a solid camera array overall

When you pay $2,000 for a smartphone, you expect it to include the ultimate camera system, and that has never been the case with Samsung’s Fold line – but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 comes close to delivering the full package

Here’s the camera system:

• 200MP wide
• 12MP ultra-wide
• 10MP 3x telephoto
• 10MP cover-screen camera
• 10MP main-screen camera

There are a couple of significant upgrades within that lineup. One is the sharper, wider main-screen camera, which was 4MP and is now 10MP, and the other – and arguably more significant – is the 200MP wide lens. This is more or less the same sensor as the one in the Galaxy S25 Ultra and S25 Edge, and it's one of the S25 Ultra’s defining features, bringing a level of detail to photos that you won’t get from, say a 50MP sensor.

Granted, you’ll usually be shooting in 12MP binned format, but the image information from all those extra pixels is combined to give you tremendous detail in every photo shot with the main lens.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

I am disappointed that we still didn’t get a 5x optical zoom, but I wonder if Samsung could have fit the necessary technology inside a 4.2mm-thick frame.

While I didn’t have a lot of time with the Z Fold 7, I did shoot with all the lenses, and the image quality looked good – it’s pretty wild to shoot with the 200MP option turned on, and see how far you can crop in on a standard photo. The 10MP main-screen camera is also a vast improvement over the 4MP camera on the Z Fold 6.

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

(Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Software and AI

• The phone will ship with Android 16
• There's deeper Google Gemini integration
• Gemini Live fills the main screen

There are a few things of note here. First, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will ship with Android 16. That’s big news, because I cannot remember a Galaxy phone of any stripe that did not ship with the current year’s Android, with Samsung waiting until Google upgraded its Pixel phones to the latest platform before flowing it into the new Galaxy handsets.

Second, Samsung is not holding back when it comes to integrating the latest Google Gemini AI goodness deep into the phone.

First, Gemini Live has a tablet-sized interface for the main screen. It’s not a huge deal, but it is nice to see that the system is hardware-aware. More importantly, though, you can use Gemini Live on one half of the Fold 7 screen and have it react to what's on the other side – the benefits of multitasking. The other update is in Google’s Circle to Search, which now works in games. Samsung claims it will work with any on-device game.

As Samsung demonstrated in a video, you can launch Circle to Search during gameplay, use your finger to circle something on screen, and it will bring back context-specific search results that you can instantly apply without leaving the game.

You might, for instance, circle an in-game character and ask, "What's the character's name? What are his powers, and how do I beat him?" and get the answers without leaving the game.

The video made it look easy; we’ll see how it works in the real world when I fully review this phone.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Performance and Battery

• Bespoke Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite processor
• Decent RAM for the base unit (though less than some competitors)
• Battery size unchanged, but battery life gets a boost

As expected, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is running Qualcomm’s Gen 8 Elite for Samsung processor. The last bit indicates the chip’s bespoke nature: it’s like all other Gen 8 Elite’s, but likely overclocked for Samsung.

The zippy and AI-friendly chip is backed by 12GB of RAM (16GB, if you get the 1TB model), and a base storage capacity of 256GB.

That combo should provide plenty of power, though a multitasking-friendly screen like the Z Fold 7’s 8-inch main display will likely encourage more heavy-duty usage and more gaming, so it’ll be interesting to see how the handset holds up under duress.

Even in my relatively limited hands-on time, though, I could feel some warmth on the back. I’m guessing that with such a thin chassis, Samsung may have no option but to allow some of the heat to dissipate directly through the phone’s body.

Despite the massive slim-down, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 somehow still has a 4,400mAh battery inside, but now it’s rated for 24 hours of video playback. We got a little over 10 hours of mixed-use battery life with the Z Fold 6. I’ll be thrilled if this more efficient system extends the life of the same-sized battery.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Early value verdict

I saved this one for last because it’s such a gut punch. This is a remarkable device, and perhaps the Fold that will make foldables in general mainstream – but that may also be an elusive dream.

For the second time in two years, the Z Fold series has gone up in price by $100 in the US. This latest hike has the Z Fold 7 flirting with two grand, which is a lot of money for a smartphone – even a lovely foldable like this.

There will be trade-in and other deals to soften the blow, and there will be people who will break up the cost over many installments, and consider it worth the price of folding admission. But I think others will look to the new Galaxy Z Flip 7 or, better yet, the $799.99 Z Flip 7 FE.

The Z Fold 7 is available in three colors: Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow and Jetblack. Mint is a Samsung online-exclusive color, and it's gorgeous.

It's a shame Samsung couldn’t hold the line on pricing. I know the design is premium-plus, and that refashioned 200MP sensor probably doesn’t come cheap, but for many, Samsung just pushed what is likely its best foldable ever out of reach.