Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 overview: the thinner, lighter and higher folding Android | Samsung

Samsung’s newest flagship folding telephone seems to be prefer it has been placed on a weight-reduction plan. The result’s a metamorphosis into one of many thinnest and lightest gadgets out there and radically modifications the way it handles, for the higher.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 measures 8.9mm thick when shut – properly inside the realms of a typical smartphone when you ignore the digital camera bump on the again. It simply suits in a pocket however opens as much as flip right into a folding pill simply 4.2mm thick.

But at £1,799 (€2,099/$2,000/A$2,899) you pay an terrible lot for such a flowery machine. It is an costly, cutting-edge gadget that may, in idea, exchange your telephone, pill and PC in a single pocketable machine.

The seventh-generation foldable solves many of the niggles of Samsung’s earlier foldables. It weighs solely 215g, which is 24g lower than final 12 months’s mannequin and about the identical as massive slab telephones, and is formed similar to an everyday handset when closed.

It suits higher in your pocket. Typing messages, answering calls, getting instructions and taking photographs really feel and work like an everyday telephone. Even the 6.5in display screen on the entrance is top-notch – vivid, vibrant, crisp and 120Hz clean – and the improved fingerprint scanner within the energy button is correct and speedy.

Open it like a e book and the Fold 7 is barely a hair thicker than the USB-C port. It is impressively skinny but feels strong. It is tough to see how a tool will be made any thinner with out ditching the charging port. The versatile 8in OLED display screen is clean, crisp, tremendous vivid and virtually sq., prepared for working two apps facet by facet.

The outdoors display screen and again are protected by the newest know-how in hardened glass, however the inside display screen remains to be lined by a essentially softer layer than a typical telephone that picks up fingerprints simply and is comparatively shiny. The crease down the center of the display screen the place it folds could be very practically gone, solely seen in glare.

Specifications

• Main display screen: 8in QXGA+ 120Hz (368ppi) Amoled versatile show

• Cover display screen: 6.5in FHD+ 120Hz (422ppi) Amoled

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy

• RAM: 12GB

• Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB

• Operating system: One UI 8 primarily based on Android 16

• Camera: 200+12+10MP rear with 3x telephoto; 10MP+10MP selfie cameras

• Connectivity: 5G, twin sim, e-sim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, GNSS

• Water resistance: IP48 (1.5 metres for half-hour)

• Dimensions folded: 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9mm

• Dimensions unfolded: 158.4 x 143.2 x 4.2mm

• Weight: 215g

Power for multitasking

The Fold 7 doesn’t skimp on processing energy with the identical flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and 12GB of RAM because the S25 Ultra and S25 Edge. That means it flies alongside in on a regular basis duties and high-end video games and is significantly extra highly effective than its closest rivals, such because the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

The battery lasts simply shy of two days utilizing the 2 screens for about 4 hours every and spending a number of hours on 5G, which is about the identical as its predecessors and just like regular slab telephones. It will last more when simply utilizing the skin display screen for telephone utilization, however most individuals are more likely to have to cost it each different day.

One UI 8 for Android 16

The Fold 7 is likely one of the first Samsungs to run One UI 8 (Android 16) out of the field. It has not modified that a lot since final 12 months’s software program, which is an efficient factor all spherical as One UI 7 was nice. It contains all of the options from Samsung’s S25 line, together with the nice Now bar on the backside of the lock display screen that reveals reside sports activities scores, music, timers and different common duties.

Samsung does a greater job than rivals at taking advantage of the a number of modes and multitasking prospects opened up by the folding pill kind. You can have as much as eight apps open on the interior display screen at anybody time, and have completely different residence display screen layouts for every display screen. You can drive apps into virtually any measurement or form, use apps in a partly folded mode, transfer them between the entrance and inside screens, and plenty of different small options.

The Fold 7 additionally has all of the AI instruments from the S25 collection, together with Google Gemini, Circle to Search, writing and drawing instruments, transcription and audio enhancing instruments, and so forth. Some are good, others will be safely ignored similar to most buzzy AI options. Samsung will present Android and safety updates till 31 July 2032.

Camera

The massive digital camera lump on the again holds the 200-megapixel principal, 12MP extremely broad and 10MP 3x telephoto cameras. The Fold 7 additionally has two 10MP selfie cameras, one in every display screen.

The principal 200MP digital camera is the most effective of the bunch, matching that from the S25 Edge. It is a top-drawer digital camera able to capturing nice photos throughout a spread of lighting situations, and is a major improve on earlier era Folds.

The 12MP extremely broad digital camera is strong and able to taking some superb closeup, macro photographs, which is all the time enjoyable. The 3x telephoto digital camera is equally good, producing nice portraits, but it surely will get a bit smooth and grainy indoors and might’t match the 5x zooms on prime slab telephones. The selfie cameras are an identical story, with nice element in good mild that rapidly turns into a bit grainy indoors. You can shoot selfies with the primary digital camera utilizing the skin display screen as a viewfinder when the telephone is open, which produces significantly better outcomes.

The digital camera app has loads of modes, is simple to make use of and shoots equally strong video. Overall, the Fold 7 has an amazing digital camera system that’s not a major downgrade on flagship slab telephones, which is totally spectacular.

Sustainability

The battery has an anticipated lifespan of not less than 2,000 full-charge cycles with not less than 80% of its unique capability.

The telephone is usually repairable. Inside display screen repairs price about £500. Samsung affords a self-repair programme, in addition to Care+ unintended harm insurance coverage that reduces the price of repairs to £139.

The Fold 7 is produced from recycled aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, plastic, rare-earth components and metal, accounting for 13.7% of the burden. Samsung affords trade-in and recycling schemes for outdated gadgets, and breaks down the telephone’s environmental impression in its report.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 prices from £1,799 (€2,099/$1,999.99/A$2,899).

For comparability, the Galaxy Z Flip prices £1,049, the Galaxy S25 Edge prices £1,099, the S25 Ultra prices £1,249, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold prices £1,399.

Verdict

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an unbelievable, extraordinarily costly piece of know-how that seems like a large leap over earlier fashions, eradicating lots of the niggles and compromises that had change into synonymous with foldables.

By being a lot thinner, lighter and normal-sized when shut, it feels similar to an everyday handset. Open it up and the interior display screen is the most effective on a foldable but. The crease is just about gone, it’s vivid, crisp and makes probably the most of multitasking.

The digital camera sticks miles out the again however usually doesn’t get in the way in which besides to make the telephone wobble on a desk – a compromise value making for a top-quality digital camera system. You even get the identical chip, strong battery life and nice software program as Samsung’s prime common telephones.

That leaves the relative fragility of the folding kind, missing correct mud resistance and having a softer inside display screen, and the eye-watering worth, as the largest compromises. If you aren’t bought on the concept of getting a telephone that can also be a pill in your pocket, I don’t suppose this may persuade you.

But the Fold 7 is the most effective folding telephone out there and the foremost improve Samsung wanted after just a few quite repetitive years.

Pros: a telephone and pill in a single, tremendous skinny and light-weight, similar to an everyday telephone when closed, nice software program with highly effective multitasking skills, improbable pill display screen, prime efficiency, strong battery life, water resistance, lengthy software program help.

Cons: extraordinarily costly, no mud resistance, extra fragile than an everyday machine and expensive to restore, restricted zoom digital camera in contrast with the perfect regular telephones.