Samsung was the first major smartphone maker to commit to foldables with the original Galaxy Fold in 2019. Seven years later, the company has introduced not one but two new foldable form factors at Galaxy Unpacked: the Galaxy Z Fold8 and the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. We got hands-on time with both, and here’s how they compare.
Displays and dimensions
The Z Fold8 features a 5.5-inch 16:10 cover display—shorter but wider than the 6.5-inch 21:9 cover display on the Ultra. The 16:10 ratio on the Fold8 is very close to standard 16:9 video, making it excellent for movies and gaming without letterboxing.
Inside, the Z Fold8 has a 7.6-inch 4:3 main display, ideal for text-heavy tasks like reading documents, web pages, or books. Photos default to 4:3 as well, making it a natural fit for photography.
The Z Fold8 Ultra, meanwhile, boasts an 8.0-inch 11:10 display built for multitasking. Its near-square ratio gives each app plenty of real estate when running split-screen. All four displays across both devices are LTPO OLED panels with 1-120Hz refresh rates.
Dimensions and feel in hand
The Z Fold8 is noticeably wider at 81.9mm, making one-handed typing a stretch but two-handed typing quite comfortable. For reference, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is 78.1mm wide. The Fold8 is also the shorter of the two at 123.9mm tall, giving it a passport-like feel when folded.
The Z Fold8 Ultra is the sleeker device at 72.8mm wide and 8.9mm thick when folded—comparable to the Galaxy S26+ in width. When closed, it feels like a regular slab phone. At 215g, it’s barely heavier than the S26 Ultra. The standard Fold8 weighs 201g.
Battery and charging
Samsung has finally adopted silicon-carbon battery technology. The Z Fold8 Ultra packs a 5,000mAh battery, a meaningful upgrade over the Z Fold7’s 4,400mAh. Both new models support 45W wired charging, with the Ultra reaching 67% in 30 minutes. The standard Fold8 has a 4,800mAh battery and hits 63% in the same time. Both support 20W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging.
Performance and software
Both phones run on the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset—no Exynos variants here. They come with 12GB of RAM on 256GB and 512GB storage models, and 16GB of RAM on 1TB variants. The Ultra uses a larger graphite sheet for better heat dissipation, which may help with sustained performance.
The devices ship with One UI 9 based on Android 17, with 7 years of OS updates and security patches promised.
Cameras
The camera systems are where the Ultra clearly pulls ahead. The Z Fold8 Ultra features a 200MP primary camera with enhanced HDR, capable of 8K video using the APV codec with Cine LUT support. It also has a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The standard Z Fold8 uses a 50MP primary camera with 2x in-sensor zoom but lacks a dedicated telephoto lens. Both share a 50MP ultra-wide camera.
For selfies, both models have identical setups: 10MP cameras on the cover displays with 85° lenses, and 10MP cameras on the inner displays with wider 100° lenses.
Pricing
The Z Fold8 starts at $1,899 in the US and £1,699 in the UK. The Z Fold8 Ultra starts at $2,099 in the US and £1,899 in the UK—$100 more than the Z Fold7’s launch price, which Samsung attributes to the ongoing memory chip shortage.
