While Samsung’s smaller Fold8 has garnered a ton of attention, let’s not forget the actual successor of the Z Fold7 with the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. While the names can be a bit confusing, it carries over most of the look and feel while adding some new upgrades and can be considered the more powerful of the two foldables released this year. But does it really matter?
Style
The Fold8 Ultra takes everything you like about the Fold7 and makes some necessary adjustments. One of my gripes about last year’s device was trying to open it based on how thin it was. It just made it hard to grip, and it helped having a case on it. Samsung resolved that issue thanks to implementing Flex Titanium. This helped hide the crease, made it more durable and kept it razor thin at 8.9mm. It’s only 4.1mm unfolded (0.1mm thinner than Fold7) and weighs 215g.
Its lightweight build made holding it for lengthy periods not cumbersome while you gaze at its folded 6.5″ display or unfold it to 8” of major screen real estate. Both are Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2x with 120Hz and 3000nits.
Volume controls and a power button that doubles as a fingerprint sensor are on the right side which unlocks instantly. There are stereo speakers that are on the top and bottom but give off nice sound.
Hardware
Hiding underneath this thin exterior is a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and Adreno 840 which is identical to the Fold8 and S26 Ultra. I have been using the 256GB / 12GB RAM config but there is also 512GB / 12GB and 1TB / 16GB if you need more space. Samsung made great improvements in the battery compartment, increasing to 5,000mAh (from 4400) and 45W (up from 25W) from the Fold7. It helps a good deal with charging getting me from 10-15% to 100% in a little over an hour.
Even though there is no vapor chamber on the Fold8 Ultra it managed to make intense gaming on it with ease. It didn’t get all that hot while putting it through its paces playing titles such as Fortnite, Zenless Zone Zero, or NTE. With its bigger size I think it did better than the Fold8 in terms of heat dissipation.
OneUI
Pushing this phone to the brink with multitasking is easy thanks in part to this 8” inner display. Having up to three apps on the screen looks nice but I mostly prefer to use two.
With OneUI 9 aka Android 17 running the helm, multitasking, and doing other features such as Flex Panel didn’t pose a problem. Keeping it half folded you can watch content on the top and use the lower half for touch controls. Fold8 Ultra’s hinge keeps the phone in place without any issue.
Cameras
On Fold8 Ultra you are being presented with a triple camera setup consisting of 200MP (wide), 10MP (telephoto) and 50MP (ultrawide) lenses. The latter get a nice jump up from the Fold7’s 12MP lenses. It helped with getting better details for those wider shots. Taking photos with this phone on the daily provided nice results. Great details with colors and even zooming in on objects were great thanks in part to the better resolution and optical zoom.
Ideally, I still prefer the S26 Ultra’s camera setup with its slightly farther optical zoom and just images would come out better. But I think the difference has narrowed compared to the Fold7/S25 Ultra last year.
Everyday Usage
I used the Fold8 Ultra as strictly as my primary device for over a month and loved how great it worked in my day-to-day. Using the outer display is a good deal for my texts, socials, and other tasks. When I wanted to play games, I could use that screen as it was a good length but at times I would go use the inner display. Like I mentioned with the Flex Titanium it felt more welcoming opening and closing the device. Also, even though it’s been a few months that crease is still barely visible, nor do you feel it as much like the day I first opened the device.
I use the Fold8 Ultra mostly with my T-Mobile carrier getting 5G speeds, great reception on calls. There was a time also I had popped in a Verizon SIM and got just as good service with them as well. This Galaxy Fold8 Ultra is unlocked and provided to us by Samsung.
Verdict
While everyone is going crazy over the Galaxy Z Fold8, the bigger Z Fold8 Ultra still holds its own. Better battery life, faster charging, and a redesigned hinge thanks to Flex Titanium gives it a leg up over its predecessor.
It is expensive though with a retail price of $2,099. That’s one of the most expensive foldables around. I have seen the price drop though to around $1,899 and with some nice trade-ins you might be able to shave that price down even further.
You can check unboxing of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra on TikTok / Instagram
