Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 review: The Goldilocks zone
For years, Samsung has offered two flavours of folding phone: the little Flip phone for fashion and practicality, and the big Fold phone for productivity, gamers and people who want The Most. But with this latest release of folding phones, Samsung is delivering something for those in between, as well as multitaskers cursed with smaller pockets: The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. Yes, that does follow the previous naming convention of the old Fold, but the old Fold is now the Fold 8 Ultra. Would it have been better for Samsung to pick a new name? Yes. But this is what we have.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the new Goldilocks phone, with a small footprint for easier portability, and the power of a premium folding phone. It’s my favourite smartphone release in years.
I’ve spent almost a whole week with it, and here’s what’s good, what could be better, and how the camera compares with other major smartphones.
Table of contents
First impressions
The first thing I noticed about the Fold 8 was how thin it is. Each half is barely thicker than the USB-C port. Next was how squared it is. The front screen has an aspect ratio of 10:16, which is the inverse of most computer monitors’ 16:10 ratio (TVs traditionally use 16:9). The inner screen opens up to have a ratio of 4:3, so it’s perfect for watching Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey in a way that technically honours his vision, but would also make him cry.
As an old-school TV nerd, I love that this phone is designed for me to watch seasons 1-3 of Buffy on the inner screen in their original aspect ratio, and then switch to the outer screen for seasons 4 through to the last 10 minutes of season 6 episode 19.
Setup was, as always, super smooth because Samsung Smart Switch took care of the transition for me.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 specifications and price
| Main display size | 193.2mm (7.6″ full rectangle) / 192.5mm (7.6″ rounded corners) |
| Front display size | 138.4mm (5.5″ full rectangle) / 137.5mm (5.4″ rounded corners) |
| Max refresh rate (main display) | 120 Hz |
| Cameras | Rear cameras 50MP wide-angle + 50MP ultra-wide Front camera: 10MP |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy |
| Storage and memory | 256GB + 12GB 512GB +12GB 1TB + 16GB |
| Battery | 4,800mAh |
| Software | One UI 9 (based on Android 17) Seven years of OS updates and security updates |
| Price | $2,699 (256GB + 12GB) $2,999 (512GB + 12GB) $3,599 (1TB + 16GB) |
| Warranty | 2 years in addition to your Australian consumer law rights |
| Official website | Samsung Australia |
As you can see, the screen sizes are much smaller and have a different aspect ratio to the Fold 8 Ultra. Also, the cameras are more like the S26+ rather than the premium array on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This is a phone more aimed at people who enjoy watching videos and reading books, rather than content creators and productivity maxxers.
Screens
I love these screens so much. They’re vibrant, high resolution, and even though they’re a bit of an unusual aspect ratio for apps (I find the bars on Pokémon TCG Pocket and other apps with more traditional aspect ratios frustrating), I’m not even mad. Normally I’m a stickler for maintaining a consistent aspect ratio for apps, but because the screens are so clearly designed around video aspect ratios, I can understand the adjustment.
The new titanium layer in the screen means the crease is almost invisible. On the one hand, I miss the tactile nature of the crease. On the other hand, it means the full inner-screen is much more usable and even.
All up, although I was very apprehensive about the shapes of these screens originally, I just love them so much.
Gaming and entertainment
While I am a bit of a ‘bigger is always better’ person when it comes to screens for watching movies and TV shows, sometimes life doesn’t accommodate that. It’s just not practical to take an iPad to watch Netflix on the tram. Sometimes, your toddler falls asleep on you away from any of your other screens, and you have to make do.
Because of the screens’ aspect ratio, they’re perfect for watching TV. There have been multiple times in my career where I’ve had to watch TV 10 hours a day for work, and I wish I had this phone back then. For now, though, it’s been great to watch Person of Interest on the rare occasions I have 10 minutes when I’m not supposed to be doing something else, or I’m on my way somewhere.
Yes, this phone is perfect for doing all the regular phone stuff, but because it’s such a familiar TV aspect ratio, it feels like a phone designed for Me Time, rather than Work Time. In an age where everything feels geared towards productivity and side hustles and work at all costs, it feels like a breath of fresh air.
It’s also great for reading books, because the inner screen feels more like a Kobo eReader when turned on its side. With the Fold 8 Ultra, I like reading books with the screen slightly bent so it feels more like reading a real book. But the Fold 8 is so much more comfortable to hold and use like an eReader that I’ve found myself reading more with it than I have with other phones in a long time.
The powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip also means it can run games like Fortnite with a high frame rate and graphics that look better than a Nintendo Switch — for a while. The first half hour of any game is great (if you can handle the ergonomics of holding a phone this thin), then the phone gets so hot that the graphics and frame rate stutter. This is not a phone for gamers, but one for casual players with half an hour here or there.
| Device | Geekbench 6 CPU Single-Core | Geekbench 6 CPU Multi-core | Geekbench 6 GPU |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra | 3,712 | 11,513 | 25,049 |
| Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra | 3,770 | 11,422 | 23,805 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 | 3,573 | 10,314 | 24,707 |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 3,768 | 9,443 | 45,451 |
| Motorola Razr Fold | 2,617 | 9,177 | 17,754 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 | 2,663 | 8,586 | 19,567 |
| Honor Magic V6 (Performance mode) | 3,604 | 8,132 | 23,208 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 | 2,375 | 8,038 | 19,121 |
| Honor Magic V6 (Balanced mode) | 1,582 | 6,013 | 16,057 |
| Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold | 1,949 | 4,698 | N/A |
Samsung’s 4,800mAh battery may not be the biggest, but it now uses silicon-carbon technology. This means it squeezes more capacity into a smaller unit, and that it will last more recharge cycles over its lifetime, which is good for the phone’s longevity.
Cameras
Does the Fold 8 have the best cameras on the market? No. But they’re still very good. I do miss the increased zoom of a telephoto camera, and concert-goers who sit in the cheap seats will miss that ability to zoom in closer.
But, as you can see from the below galleries, it holds its own enough against the superior Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max that most people won’t miss what they don’t have.
Who is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 for?
This is the best folding phone on the market for most people. The majority of people don’t need the bells and whistles of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and I think a lot of people want more screen real estate (and a thinner body) than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8. Yes, that high price tag means it’s not going to be in reach for most people, and that is unfortunate.
But this is my favourite new phone in a long, long time. I have tried a lot of folding phones over the years, and while I love the Fold 8 Ultra, the vanilla Fold 8 is the Goldilocks of folding phones. If it’s in your budget, and you want a folding phone but don’t have the long pockets required for the Fold 8 Ultra, and don’t need that extra camera, this is the one to buy.
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