Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 Fingers-On: One of many Mildest Cellphone Upgrades Ever

Out of all the brand new foldable telephones that Samsung introduced immediately at its July Galaxy Unpacked occasion in London, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 is the weakest. Starting at $1,200 ($100 greater than the earlier Galaxy Z Flip 7 mannequin), the brand new flip-style foldable has the fewest upgrades.

Let’s velocity run by means of the brand new stuff as a result of it’s gonna be temporary: a quicker and extra environment friendly Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, an almost imperceptible thickness discount of 0.4mm when unfolded, an 8g weight drop, and 4 new colours (Pink, Cream, Graphite, and Samsung.com unique Mint). That’s it for the {hardware}.

See Galaxy Z Flip 8 at Samsung

See Galaxy Z Flip 8 at Amazon

Everything else is simply software program tweaks. There’s a redesigned FlexWindow interface for the 4.1-inch AMOLED cowl display screen. It now appears to be like extra like the principle residence display screen on the inside 6.9-inch AMOLED display screen, with app icons and a extra accessible and customizable “Now Brief” widget that makes use of AI to floor glanceable info just like the information, calendar occasions, reminders, well being information, and extra. I do like this software program change; the FlexWindow now feels much less like a much bigger smartwatch UI and extra like a shrunken cellphone interface.

Samsung’s inventory digital camera app additionally helps Super Steady mode with Horizontal Lock for extra stabilized video. This characteristic shouldn’t be solely new; it debuted on the Galaxy S26 collection earlier within the 12 months.

Other than these incremental adjustments, the Z Flip 8 is basically the identical as earlier than. I already talked about the display screen sizes, each of that are equivalent to the Z Flip 7. There was some confusion that the Z Flip 8 has the identical Flex Titanium expertise within the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra, which helps strengthen the folding mechanism and reduces the visibility of the crease, nevertheless it doesn’t. While the crease on the Z Flip 8 did look much less seen than on the Z Flip 7, it’s possible that it’ll deepen faster than on the brand new Z Fold telephones. Also, bear in mind these demo items are new, in order that they haven’t been put by means of the wringer of every day folding and unfolding, so the crease will, naturally, look much less pronounced than, say, after a number of months.

The Z Flip 8 additionally has the identical 4,300mAh battery as earlier than with the identical charging speeds, not the quicker 45W wired and 20W wi-fi charging within the two new book-style foldables. Even the digital camera resolutions are precisely the identical: a 50-megapixel major, 12-megapixel ultrawide, and two 10-megapixel hole-punch cameras. Any picture high quality enhancements for photographs and movies will come from software program optimizations. The storage and RAM choices are unchanged, too: 12GB of RAM with both 256GB or 512GB of inner storage.

If you’re upgrading from a Z Flip from a number of generations in the past, the Z Flip 8 will really feel extra like a leap ahead. From the Z Flip 7, although? It’s all very gentle.

I’ve been a fan of the Z Flip collection, however after final 12 months’s drastically thinner Z Fold 7, I hoped Samsung would give the Z Flip 8 the identical slim profile, lowering the thickness (when unfolded) to round 4.2mm as a substitute of its 6.1mm thickness. That would have made the Z Flip 8 feel and look like a serious refresh.

I’ll reserve full judgment when I’ve a tool to evaluate, however I can’t assist however really feel like Samsung is neglecting the Z Flip collection as a result of it might be the last of its kind.

You can preorder the Galaxy Z Flip 8 beginning immediately, and it’ll be obtainable on Aug. 7.

See Galaxy Z Flip 8 at Samsung

See Galaxy Z Flip 8 at Amazon