Since introducing the first Galaxy Fold at 276 grams in 2019, Samsung Electronics has continued to boost what a foldable smartphone can be, advancing hinge and display cloak originate, sturdiness, and usability with every generation.
As these applied sciences developed, Samsung inflamed by every other explain: making a properly-organized-display cloak foldable more uncomplicated to carry each day, without dropping the experiences that develop the assemble part weird.
And by that pursuit, Galaxy Z Fold5 weighed 253 grams, and Galaxy Z Fold6 reduced its weight additional to 239 grams.
With Galaxy Z Fold7 came a supreme extra ambitious purpose:
“Could perhaps a foldable be lighter than a bar-kind flagship smartphone?”
On the time, Galaxy S25 Ultra — one in all Samsung’s flagship bar-kind smartphones — weighed 218 grams. So, the enchancment team position a supreme lighter weight target for Galaxy Z Fold7: 215 grams.
Galaxy Z Fold7 reached that purpose. And now, building on years of foldable innovation, Galaxy Z Fold8 combines a new assemble part with advances in core applied sciences, materials, and internal architecture to weigh merely 201 grams — 52 grams lighter than Galaxy Z Fold5. At 201 grams, Galaxy Z Fold8 is the realm’s lightest fold.1
However consumers expected extra than merely a lighter foldable.
A 2024 YouGov think2 learned that a plump or heavy originate remained a explain amongst consumers no longer planning to aquire foldables, while battery lifestyles, sturdiness, and display cloak quality ranked as top priorities for these inflamed about them.
This insight fashioned a core engineering purpose for Samsung: develop foldables thinner and lighter, while declaring the core experiences customers imprint most.
Battery lifestyles, digicam performance, thermal management, and sturdiness peaceful needed to advance.
That isn’t any longer be finished by altering a single ingredient. Samsung engineers needed to reimagine your entire tool — advancing primary foldable applied sciences, introducing new materials, and revisiting tons of of components and auxiliary aspects to the piece-of-a-gram degree.
From 253 grams to 201 grams. Three engineering enhancements enabled that transformation.
The Thinner and Lighter a Foldable Will get, the More Precise the Engineering Have to Changed into
Making a foldable thinner and lighter brings a new position of engineering challenges.
The layers within the display cloak have to become thinner while peaceful meeting Samsung’s sturdiness and reliability necessities. The metallic plate supporting the display cloak desires to finish extraordinarily flat at the same time as it turns into thinner. And the hinge has to hold a watch on the forces created at any time when the tool folds and unfolds, while being designed around the dimensions and development of each and each product.
Throughout generations, Samsung has continued to advance the display cloak layers, ultra-skinny metallic precision machining, and hinge applied sciences central to its foldable devices.
One instance is Flex Titanium.
The displays in Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra use Flex Titanium expertise that incorporates a Titanium Alloy Movie designed for the foldable display cloak development.
The movie is merely tens of micrometers thick — roughly one-third the width of a human hair. Its field cloth and development work together to hold performance at this indecent thickness.
The metallic plate that supports the display cloak items a diversified explain.
Some metallic plates are machined to roughly 0.2 millimeters thick, with the thinnest sections reaching 0.15 millimeters. At that degree, merely making the metallic thinner isn’t any longer ample. Thin metallic can bend or warp extra effortlessly throughout machining, and even a tiny trade in form can possess an affect on assembly precision or the surface quality of the display cloak.
What issues is the flexibility to machine ultra-skinny metallic at around 0.2 millimeters while consistently reaching the the predominant form and flatness.
Samsung sophisticated the machining sequence, tooling, cooling cases, and route of parameters, breaking the components into a few phases to hold precision.
The hinge requires the the same degree of care.
Previous merely opening and shutting the phone, it have to distribute the forces created by repeated folding and unfolding throughout the tool while declaring structural balance.
And these necessities fluctuate by product dimension and architecture.
Samsung engineers the hinge for every assemble part, conscientiously balancing load distribution, strength, sturdiness, internal dwelling, and weight rather then merely scaling it down from one generation to the subsequent.
Creating a thinner and lighter foldable requires extra than downsizing particular particular person aspects.
It comes from bigger precision in how materials are machined, how forces are managed, and the scheme structures are designed within a restricted dwelling.
Lighter, Constructed for Energy — Starting With the Presents
The 2d home is materials innovation.
Different aspects of a foldable possess very diversified jobs. Some quiz excessive pressure. Some have to withstand repeated movement. Others have to unfold warmth effectively.
Samsung selects and develops materials around these particular wants, handing over the performance every requires while optimizing weight and dwelling.
In Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Flex Titanium comprises a Titanium Alloy Movie to present a steal to the foldable display cloak development.
For the out of doors, Samsung makes use of Developed Armor Aluminum, serving to provide the strength and sturdiness predominant in a skinny and light-weight-weight frame.
Presents additionally play a predominant role in thermal management.
As a tool will get thinner, there is much less room to hold a watch on the warmth generated interior. Samsung makes use of graphite with improved thermal performance, while tailoring the final thermal development to the dimensions and performance necessities of each and each product.
In Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, which has the same total dimensions to Galaxy Z Fold7, the quantity of the graphite warmth-dissipation layer used to be increased by roughly 7% to encourage give a steal to its enhanced performance.
Samsung additionally applies Clad Steel within the rear of the tool. By combining the traits of diversified metals, the matter cloth helps decrease weight while providing the thermal performance required within a skinny development.
Presents innovation is as a consequence of this fact no longer close to selecting lighter alternate recommendations, but about using the ethical field cloth within the ethical dwelling to bring the performance every segment wants with much less weight and dwelling.
Taking a think Again at the Entire Tool — Down to 0.001 Grams
Most titillating so mighty can be finished by core applied sciences and new materials by myself.
In a foldable already filled with extremely integrated components, discovering the subsequent few grams manner taking a think every other time at nearly every part within the tool.
Samsung engineers reviewed roughly 270 components and additional than 180 forms of auxiliary aspects.
This spanned every part from the display cloak, hinge, and cameras to circuit boards, antennas, brackets, tapes, and fasteners.
The precision prolonged to reductions of 0.1 grams and nil.1 millimeters, and in some auxiliary aspects, as minute as 0.001 grams.
The printed circuit board, or PCB, used to be redesigned to do away with pointless circuits, crimson meat up ingredient layout, and nick its footprint.
The MFC (Magnetic Flux Channel) antenna used to be additionally reimagined to diminish pointless overlap and interference with surrounding components, permitting the restricted internal dwelling to be dilapidated extra effectively.
Every auxiliary segment, despite how tiny, used to be examined.
Of the extra than 180 kinds beforehand dilapidated, roughly 15 had been eliminated.
Engineers then reviewed the supreme 170 kinds, trimming oversized areas, refining shapes, and optimizing dimensions. Multiple aspects had been consolidated into single structures the attach imaginable.
In some cases, the savings had been measured in increments as tiny as 0.001 grams.
Every trade seems minor in isolation, but repeated throughout the tool, fractions of a gram become tenths of a gram, then entire grams.
The weight savings on a finished tool consequence from tons of of tiny engineering selections.
Finding 6 Grams Again To Design Room for More
The target used to be to reinvest the weight and dwelling recovered by engineering into the capabilities folks indisputably expertise — including the battery, cameras, and thermal device.
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra presents a separate instance of how this kind can be utilized.
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold7 possess the same total dimensions and each and each weigh 215 grams. However within that very same weight, Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra will increase battery potential from 4,400 mAh to 5,000 mAh.
That increased battery brought its possess explain: the battery itself added roughly 6 grams.
So the enchancment team confronted a new query:
“The attach might per chance well we uncover these 6 grams every other time?”
There used to be no single ingredient that might per chance well provide the answer.
As an different, engineers utilized the the same systematic manner throughout your entire tool — materials and structures, circuit layouts, and ingredient placement, appropriate down to the smallest auxiliary aspects — figuring out weight savings throughout all components.
This approach prolonged to internal dwelling optimization.
By reducing pointless overlap between the display cloak, circuits, antennas, and surrounding components, and by bettering packaging effectivity, Samsung created room for a increased battery and enhanced thermal and digicam methods.
As a consequence, Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra incorporates a 5,000 mAh battery while increasing the quantity of its graphite warmth-dissipation layer by roughly 7% when put next with the equally sized Galaxy Z Fold7.
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra functions a 200 MP most predominant digicam and introduces the first 50 MP Ultra-Wide digicam on a Galaxy Z Fold tool.
Samsung’s manner to a thinner and lighter foldable is as a consequence of this fact no longer about removing capabilities.
It is far set redirecting weight and dwelling savings against the flagship experiences customers imprint most.
From 253 Grams to 201 Grams: Redefining the Weight Customary for Foldables
The hump started with the first Galaxy Fold at 276 grams in 2019. Throughout eight generations, Samsung has continued to advance the applied sciences, materials, and internal architecture behind the foldable expertise.
In most modern generations, that progress accelerated — from 253 grams with Galaxy Z Fold5 to 201 grams with Galaxy Z Fold8.
However the yarn isn’t close to reducing weight.
Samsung’s purpose has been to develop a properly-organized-display cloak foldable more uncomplicated to carry without giving up the qualities customers count on from a flagship smartphone.
The weight and dwelling recovered by advances in core applied sciences, materials, and ingredient originate had been establish wait on into the battery, cameras, thermal device, and diversified flagship experiences customers imprint most.
From 253 grams to 201 grams.
No single field cloth or ingredient made that transformation imaginable.
Eight generations of engineering enabled this, advancing core applied sciences, introducing new materials, and rethinking your entire tool to develop Galaxy Z Fold more uncomplicated to carry without compromising the flagship expertise.
Galaxy Z Fold Series: A Thinner, Lighter Shuffle in Numbers
– 52 g
Galaxy Z Fold8 is 52 grams lighter than Galaxy Z Fold5.
1/3, 0.2 mm
The Titanium Alloy Movie dilapidated in Flex Titanium is roughly one-third the width of a human hair, while ultra-skinny metallic structures supporting the display cloak are precision-machined to around 0.2 millimeters.
~270 / 180+ / 0.001 g
Samsung re-examined roughly 270 components and additional than 180 forms of auxiliary aspects, optimizing some appropriate down to 0.001 grams.
5,000 mAh / +~7% / 200 MP + 50 MP
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra functions a 5,000 mAh battery, roughly 7% extra graphite warmth-dissipation quantity and a 200 MP most predominant digicam with a 50 MP Ultra-Wide digicam.
- According to internal compare as of July 22, 2026, comparing commercially readily obtainable book-model foldable smartphones globally. Precise weight might per chance well merely fluctuate by mannequin, configuration, and manufacturing route of. Weight measured excluding protective cases or accessories. ↩︎
- Offer: YouGov plc, 2024, © All rights reserved ↩︎
