Samsung reshapes the Fold with the passport sized Z Fold8 launching at $2,699

Gotta say, those rumours and dummy models really hit the spot this year with Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event here in London revealing pretty much everything we expected – except the finer details.  Key to the launch is the addition of a new form factor to the Z Series, the passport-sized device known only as the Fold.

While for more than six years we’ve had a Fold and Flip every year, Samsung has decided to make the “traditional Fold” the Fold Ultra, launching this year with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra.

The Z Flip8 continues the traditional smartphone-sized flip-in-half-shut form factor, but the new “Fold” is the Z Fold8.  Confused?

Don’t worry.  It’s ok.

At $1,949 the “entry” foldable for Samsung – Galaxy Z Flip8 is $150 more than last year.  That’s down to this global demand for memory and chipsets which we can blame entirely on our love for stupid AI posters and photos which is leading to huge new data centres which are snapping up everything they can get from the electronics supply chain.

The Fold8 Ultra compares to last year’s Fold7 on price with a $100 premium added for our troubles – taking it to $2,999.

In between them both this year will sit the Galaxy Z Fold8 – at $2,699.

Here’s the thing, Samsung can afford to be bullish here.  Not just because there are some great pre-order launch deals we’ll get to later, but because of the overwhelming success of last year’s Z Fold7.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra

This premium, flagship device is thinner than last year’s Fold7.  Can you believe that? Measuring in at 4.1mm at it’s thinnest, this is thanks to the Flex Titanium layer inside the screen. 

Basically, Samsung engineers shaved 10% off the thickness of the screen, but they didn’t cede that back to other components, they worked then to make other areas more efficient too.  The battery for example is now Silicon Carbon, with an increase to 5,000mAh of capacity, up from 4,400mAh.

Charging goes to 45W wired for a solid recharge to 70% in just 30 minutes.

Critically, the screen itself has not been neglected from tech upgrades.

Beaming in at 3,000 nits it’s legit bright, along with a higher pixel density too at 42ppi.

Last year I was critical of how hard the Fold7 was to open up.. Samsung listened, the Fold8 Ultra is impressive and feels still very strong too.

Passport sized Galaxy Z Fold8

This thing is amazing.  Targeted at people who are strong on portability (ie; not keen on a big or chunky device) as well as entertainment.

I imagine the Fold8 will draw existing flip users up, and attract many new buyers too.

The dual cameras are both 50 megapixels, wide and ultra-wide, no telephoto zoom on this one.

Flipping out and feeling lonely – Flip8

I’d suggest Flip sales will take the biggest hit from the presence of the new Fold8.

It’s still a great device, but it’s not getting any of the big name features. It is thinner and lighter, weighing in at 180g and 6.1mm thick.

In terms of functionality, the front Flex screen is now vastly more useful out of the box, no longer do you need extra software to make it useful, you can launch apps right there on the front screen – as unless as that might be.

Galaxy AI isn’t going anywhere.

Continuing to work with Google on AI, Samsung now aims to have over 800,000,000 moblle devices (globally of course) AI enabled by the end of this year.

There’s new AI in the Now Notes to give better insights from across your device.

My Fan Cam?

I think the only true standout with the software on the new Z 8 series devices would be “my Fan Cam”.

Tough one to describe – let me give an example. You’re filming your child in a school play. You film the whole stage, of course

But then – you want to share with the family a more personal video – use myFanCam to select your child in the video and it will track them and crop the video to their performance

I’m interested to test this as a way of filming content for YouTube and cropping it for Vertical Social platforms – interesting!

Deals for days on pre orders

Samsung loves a pre order deal, as do the telcos

Right now the deals are solid discounts if committing to a payment plan, or if direct in retail or from Samsung vouchers for additional purchases .

Pre-order offers

We’ll have some first impressions soon, and a full review to follow.

Full Samsung Galaxy Z series pricing for 2026

Pricing:

Trevor Long travelled to London as a guest of Samsung Australia