Samsung has added a new design to its foldable line-up: the Galaxy Z Fold 8. It’s ideal for reading e-books and perusing social media, but what else can it do?
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the rising star in Samsung’s foldable line-up. Size-wise, it ranks between two other new handsets: the Galaxy Z Flip 8 and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Though not quite as bulky as the Ultra, it still has a large external display, unlike the Flip. In other words, it’s a perfect crossover gadget. The question is: what is it perfect for?
Design: passport-style
The most interesting thing about the new foldable is its dimensions. In fact, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is exactly the same size as my passport, featuring the same aspect ratios: 10:16 (5.5 inches) when closed and 4:3 (7.6 inches) when open.
My passport and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 have something in common: their size.
Thanks to the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s new dimensions, viewing content on the screen feels much nicer than on a regular smartphone. I’ll go into this more thoroughly later, but here’s a comparison with the phone I normally use:
When the phone is folded shut, I much prefer reading on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (right) than on my Google Pixel 10 Pro.
When I open it up, I enjoy my media even more.
The foldable feels light. Weighing just under 200 grammes and measuring less than one centimetre thick, it’s comparable to a standard smartphone. I do find it difficult to use with one hand, but otherwise it feels comfortable to hold despite its square shape. Samsung has redesigned the hinge, which is supposedly way more durable than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Flip 7. Either way, the crease is barely noticeable on this phone.
Samsung has done a good job with the hinge.
The thing that really annoys me is the position of the camera. Samsung’s trademark design (three lenses stacked in a vertical line) causes all of the manufacturer’s phones to wobble when you put them on a table, regardless of whether they’re open or closed. Thankfully, using a case helps with that, but it’s still a poor design decision.
The cameras make the phone wobble when it’s on the table...
... but using a case fixes the problem.
While the external display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, the internal display is covered by Victus 2. According to the manufacturer, Ceramic 3 is designed to withstand drops from a height of two metres, while Victus 2 is especially scratch-resistant. With its IP48 rating, the Fold 8 can also handle being submerged in 1.5 metres of freshwater.
The screens boast a peak brightness of up to 3,000 nits. Thanks to AMOLED technology, they’re also crisp and high-res: 1848 × 2448 pixels on the internal display, 1248 × 1972 pixels on the external one. The refresh rate ranges from one to 120 Hertz.
Cameras: stripped back to the essentials
Samsung has equipped the Z Fold 8 with two 50-megapixel cameras and a 2x optical zoom. It’s a digital zoom, rather than a physical one. Even so, it provides more detail and higher quality than a straightforward photo crop, which is what a digital zoom usually provides.
There are also two 10-megapixel selfie cameras – one on the outside and one on the inside. In other words, Samsung has steered clear of the powerful 200 MP main lens built into both its flagship series (Galaxy S) and the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. Still, these cameras do a decent job too.
The two main cameras are more than capable.
When it’s sunny, the main camera takes good, vibrantly coloured photos. Samsung does over-saturate the images a bit too much for my taste, and sometimes the yellow tint takes away from the overall photo. The general quality, however, is nothing to be sneezed at.
The main camera works well. However, the software makes the water look a little too yellow – it wasn’t quite that murky in real life.
The 2x optical zoom also does a stellar job, and the 4x digital zoom is decent too. Beyond that, the quality deteriorates significantly – even though the zoom goes up to 10x magnification.
Here’s the original photo ...
... and this is it with the 2x zoom, with the building still looking good.
At 4x zoom, I’d say the photo is borderline in terms of quality.
The lens isn’t quite as impressive when it comes to night shots, where the photos lose some of their detail. They’re still okay overall, but the yellow tint looks unnatural.
The night mode is okay, but the photos have a slightly yellowish tint.
The two selfie cameras are perfectly fine and take cool photos. Thanks to the phone’s design, you can use the main camera to take the selfie and use the front display as a preview.
Hardware: fast and powerful
The Galaxy Z Fold 8’s crown jewel is its Qualcomm chip – the high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with an integrated NPU for AI tasks. It certainly makes itself known in the Geekbench 6 benchmarks.
According to the figures, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powerful and efficient, showing no significant improvements over last year’s Samsung foldables. It’s neck and neck with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Snapdragon 8 Elite) and a good bit ahead of the current Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold (Tensor G5).
The foldable comes with either 12 or 16 gigabytes (GB) of RAM and – depending on the model – 256, 512 or 1,000 GB of internal storage.
A 4,800-mAh battery gives the phone its daily dose of power. According to Samsung, the foldable can play videos for up to 26 hours before it needs to be recharged. My PCMark benchmark simulates everyday use, including scrolling through content, watching videos and editing photos. When folded shut, the Z Fold 8 provides up to 13 hours of battery life. That’s three hours more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and should be more than enough to get you through a long day.
I can charge my earbuds on the Z Fold 8 while still using it as normal.
Although the battery supports 45-watt fast charging, it still takes nearly 90 minutes to fully charge. The foldable can also wirelessly charge Qi-enabled devices, including my earbuds, provided the function is enabled in the settings. So I pop my buds on the back of the Z Fold 8, then open the phone so that I can keep on using it while they’re charging.
Still no sign of an S Pen comeback
Samsung ditched S Pen support back when it released the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Since it’s my favourite function, I’d been hoping it’d make a comeback. Unfortunately, Samsung has chosen to skip the feature yet again, instead focusing on keeping the foldable’s design slim. You can still use a third-party stylus like the Adonit Pro, but without pressure sensitivity or palm rejection. And, of course, without the Bluetooth remote control function. Even so, I personally think a pen is a must-have for note-taking and sketching.
The phone has sketching and note-taking software, but you unfortunately need to use a third-party stylus if you want to draw.
Software: tailored towards foldables
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with seven years’ worth of security and software updates, which has become standard these days. Samsung has launched the Galaxy Z Fold 8 with the newest Android 17 – and its own One UI 9 user interface. This has been adapted to the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s design: the home screen is customisable, and you can run two or even three apps side by side and switch between them.
The software and the design harmonise well together. It’s easy to keep track of both screens, even when two apps are running side by side.
Samsung’s standard apps – as well as an ever-growing number of third-party apps – have undergone some aesthetic adjustments to make sure they work well on the large screen. These include (but aren’t limited to) the calculator, the calendar, the camera, the clock, the gallery, the web browser, Instagram and Spotify.
Samsung has customised the apps to give you a better overview, like the e-mail inbox shown here.
Design: brilliant for gaming and reading
I really enjoy reading books or manga on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 when it’s opened up.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is great for reading manga.
When you open up the foldable, it displays videos in a nice, large format: both in the standard widescreen aspect ratio (16:9) with black bars and scaled to fit the screen. The sound takes some getting used to. Samsung has decided to position the speakers so that they’re on the left-hand side when the phone is unfolded. When the phone is folded up or rotated 90 degrees, the positioning works fine, because the speakers move back to the top and bottom. Though, given the fairly mediocre speaker quality, I’d recommend using headphones.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 (top) with my Google Pixel 10 Pro (bottom)
It also looks really cool when I adjust the video to fit the aspect ratio.
When I’m playing games on the Fold 8, it almost feels like a handheld. Granted, it isn’t quite as ergonomic. I’d prefer something less square for gaming. That being said, the phone’s stellar display and Snapdragon chip make the game Wuthering Waves enjoyable. Besides, getting an ergonomic case would help with my design gripes too. The cool graphics really come into their own on the display, even though I can’t play the game on the highest quality settings.
Wuthering Waves looks great on the Foldable.
In a nutshell
More please, but cut the price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8’s design gives it some real advantages: it’s really fun to read, watch videos and play games on the phone when it’s unfolded. It’s a pity it doesn’t come with the S Pen for taking notes – just like competitor Huawei offers with the Pura X (only available in China). That really would’ve been the icing on the cake. It’s also a shame that the speakers are kind of lacklustre. Not to mention the fact that when the phone is opened up, they’re only positioned on one side, making headphone use a must.
If you want a single, compact, all-in-one device instead of having a tablet and a handheld, you’ll generally be well served by the Z Fold 8. If you’re a multitasker, you’ll also like having plenty of processing power and ample space on the large display.
When the phone is folded shut, the wider design offers about as much space as a regular phone, with a better overview. If your hands are on the small side, though, you won’t be able to use it one-handed. The phone’s biggest drawback is its hefty price tag of 1,680 francs or 1,999 euros (RRP). However, at this point in time, no competing brands offer foldables in a similar design in Europe.
Pro
Compact passport size (great for social media and e-books)
Very good, bright display (3,000 nits)
Strong performance and battery life
Contra
Very expensive
No integrated/supported S Pen
Speakers positioned on one side when the phone is unfolded
Ever since I learned how to hold a pen, I've been doodling away in bright colours. Thanks to my iPad, digital art has also become part of my life. That's why I love testing tablets – from the graphic design range to the regular kind. When I feel the urge to express my creativity without lugging lots of equipment, I go for the latest smartphones and start snapping away.
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