Samsung’s wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks incredible, but there’s a catch

If you’ve ever tried to type out a quick message on the narrow cover screen of a Galaxy Z Fold and ended up with a jumbled mess of typos, you know the struggle of Samsung’s traditional foldable design. It has always felt just a bit too cramped for everyday phone tasks. Today, Samsung is finally fixing that by completely overhauling its Z Fold lineup—and the biggest news is the reshaped Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Rather than sticking to one larger, book-style foldable, Samsung has officially split the lineup. We are now getting the standard $1,899 Galaxy Z Fold 8 alongside a higher-end, $2,099 Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

A new passport shape

And the new “standard” Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the real story here. Samsung has ditched the tall, remote-control shape in favor of a squatter, wider design. It is roughly the size of a passport—shorter and significantly wider than last year’s model. If that design sounds familiar, it’s because it shares almost the exact same width as Google’s first-generation Pixel Fold.

While it might look a bit squat in renders, this shape brings a lot of practical value. Ergonomically, the reduced height means you can comfortably reach the top of the 5.5-inch cover screen with one hand. Unfold it, and you get a 7.6-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. That means when you fire up YouTube or Netflix, the video will fill a little more of the screen instead of being sandwiched by big black bars. And this phone should make for an excellent e-book reader, if you like to read on your phone like me.

The basic specs at a glance

Underneath the new chassis, Samsung packed in some solid hardware upgrades, including a move to silicon-carbon battery technology to keep the phone light while boosting capacity.

• Cover Display: 5.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (120Hz, 10:16 aspect ratio)
• Main Display: 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (120Hz, 4:3 aspect ratio, 3,000 nits)
• Processor: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
• RAM & Storage: 12GB or 16GB RAM / 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
• Rear Cameras: 50MP Main (OIS) + 50MP Ultra-Wide
• Front Cameras: 10MP Cover Selfie + 10MP Main Screen Selfie
• Battery & Charging: 4,800 mAh / 45W Wired, 20W Wireless
• Dimensions: 201g weight / 4.5mm unfolded thickness (9.7mm folded)
• Durability & OS: IP48 water resistance / Android 17 with One UI 9

The camera trade-off

To bring this new, wider shape to the market at a $1,899 starting price, Samsung did make a notable compromise on the camera hardware. Unlike the triple-lens setup on the Fold 7, the new Fold 8 drops the telephoto lens entirely.

You are left with just a dual 50MP main and ultrawide setup on the back. While a 50MP ultrawide is a nice, losing dedicated optical zoom is a bit of a letdown for a phone at this price point.

What about the Ultra and Flip?

If you want dedicated optical zoom or simply prefer that classic, tall design for running apps side-by-side, Samsung is keeping that form factor alive with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. It bumps the price up by a hundred bucks over last year to $2,099, but you get a 200MP main camera system, a 10MP telephoto lens, a larger 5,000mAh battery, and an expansive 8-inch inner display.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 also got a minor refresh today, keeping its sleek clamshell shape while swapping back to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and tightening up the hinge mechanism for better Flex Mode positioning.

Across the board, all of these new foldables are leaning heavily into Google’s Gemini Intelligence. The AI is becoming much more proactive, with features like Now Nudge popping up cross-app suggestions to add an event to your calendar or automatically draft an email based on a conversation.

Beating Apple to the punch

With Apple widely expected to launch its own passport-shaped foldable iPhone this September, Samsung is clearly getting a head start. By splitting the Fold into a wide version for media consumption and an Ultra version for pure productivity, they are giving buyers some choices, and positioning themselves potentially above Apple in the market with an “ultra” foldable. We’re eager to get our hands on these new devices, so stay tuned for more content! But let me know what you think the comments below. Is this the perfect foldable you’ve been waiting for?

All of the new hardware is available for pre-order today, with shipments starting on August 7th.