The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an entirely new variant in Samsung\u2019s foldable family for this year launched alongside the Z Fold 8 Ultra with a more familiar candy bar shape. Both folders are extremely expensive, with the Fold 8 starting at \u00a31,699 (\u20ac1,999\/$1,899.99\/A$2,699) and the Fold 8 Ultra at \u00a31,899 (\u20ac2,199\/$2,099.99\/A$2,999), with RAMageddon<\/a> driving up prices even at the top of the market.<\/p>\n While Samsung\u2019s first folding phone<\/a> adopted a candy bar shape that opened up like a book to a square tablet, others began with more squat and wide forms including the original Google Pixel Fold<\/a> and Microsoft Surface Duo<\/a>. But as the technology matured most folders adopted the narrower closed form, which proved a better shape for performing phone-type duties such as messaging.<\/p>\n The Fold 8 in its closed form is almost the same size as a passport, feeling more like a small notepad than a phone. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The Fold 8 is 9.7mm thick when closed, which is about the same as a regular phone in a case, but its short and wide design looks more like a mini tablet or notepad in your hand. Its width also makes it hard to reach the other side of the screen one-handed, making it a two-handed affair most of the time, similar to huge superphones such as the Galaxy S26 Ultra<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photos, apps, games and websites look and work great on the crisp and super-bright outside screen. That is until you open the keyboard, which then takes up just over half the screen, leaving you very little space to see the content you are trying to type into. Apps that include a bar at the top, such as WhatsApp, shrink that space even further.<\/p>\n With the keyboard open you only have a narrow window to see the content of messages when typing on the Fold 8 (left) compared with a regular phone or the taller Fold 8 Ultra (right) Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Open the Fold 8 like a book to reveal a beautiful 7.6in OLED display, which is crisp, smooth and super-bright, making it easy to see in direct sunlight. Like all folders the necessarily softer screen material is fragile and a fingerprint magnet, so needs regular gentle cleaning.<\/p>\n The tablet screen\u2019s 4:3 ratio matches that of Apple\u2019s iPads<\/a> or Microsoft\u2019s Surfaces<\/a>, which makes it a better fit for video with smaller black bars top and bottom when held in landscape compared to squarer foldables.<\/p>\n Websites, comics, books and apps look great on the inside screen when held in portrait orientation. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Portrait orientation is great for websites and the keyboard only takes up about two-fifths of the screen giving you plenty of space with which to work. Most apps will present a dual-pane tablet interface in either orientation.<\/p>\n But when you directly compare the Fold 8\u2019s internal screen with last year\u2019s Fold 7<\/a> or the new Fold 8 Ultra\u2019s squarer display, you realise that landscape video is almost the same size on both tablets; only the thickness of the letterboxing black bars differs significantly.<\/p>\n The speakers of the Fold 8 are pretty good for a phone, but they are only stereo when the tablet is held in portrait, not landscape when watching video which is unfortunate.<\/p>\n With both folders held in landscape, standard 16:9 ratio YouTube videos are 151 x 85mm on the Fold 8 Ultra (left) and 154mm x 86mm on the Fold 8 (right). Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The GuardianSpecifications<\/p>\n Main screen: 7.6in QXGA+ 120Hz (403ppi) AMOLED flexible display<\/p>\n Cover screen: 5.5in WUXGA+ 120Hz (428ppi) AMOLED<\/p>\n Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy<\/p>\n RAM: 12 or 16GB<\/p>\n Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB<\/p>\n Operating system: One UI 9 based on Android<\/a> 17<\/p>\n Camera: 50+50MP rear; 10MP+10MP selfie cameras<\/p>\n Connectivity: 5G, dual sim, e-sim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 6, UWB, GNSS<\/p>\n Water resistance: IP48 (1.5 metres for 30 minutes)<\/p>\n Dimensions folded: 123.9 x 81.9 x 9.7mm<\/p>\n Dimensions unfolded: 123.9 x 161.4 x 4.5mm<\/p>\n Weight: 201g<\/p>\n Plenty of power for multitaskingThe Fold 8 fully charges in 65 minutes hitting 70% in about half an hour using a 45W or greater USB-C power adaptor (not included). It also supports 20W wireless charging. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The Fold 8 has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and memory as Samsung\u2019s top S26 Ultra<\/a> and performs very similarly, making it one of the fastest Android phones available with plenty of power for multitasking, gaming or anything else.<\/p>\n The battery lasts a solid 40 hours between charge, using an even split of both screens for a total of eight hours on a mix of 5G and wifi for browsing, messaging, shooting photos and making notes. Gaming and other more intensive tasks drained the battery faster, but the Fold 8 should comfortably see out even the heaviest of days without needing a top up.<\/p>\n One UI 9 softwareThe Fold 8 can have up to three apps on screen in a multiple different grid layouts with more running as small floating windows. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Samsung has the best, most adaptable software for making the most of folding phones, allowing multiple split-windowing configurations with up to three apps in a grid on screen and more in floating windows. One UI 9 is based on the latest Android 17 with Samsung providing Android and security updates until 31 July 2033.<\/p>\n The great Now Bar remains from last year\u2019s version for live sports scores, music, timers and other ongoing tasks at the bottom of the lock screen or in the status bar. The improved Now Nudge, Samsung\u2019s AI suggestion tool from the S26<\/a>, can surface information from a greater number of sources in a wider range of apps. The Now Brief AI box remains a weak point, however, rarely suggesting anything useful beyond the weather or your calendar events.<\/p>\n Google\u2019s Gemini is baked in along with plenty of other AI tools that can occasionally be useful. One oddity is that if you choose not to have the same home screen on the outside and inside displays, the tablet screen ends up with two separate home screen layouts, one for portrait and one for landscape orientation. That means you have three separate home screens to customise with their own configuration of apps and widgets.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to TechScape<\/p>\n A weekly dive in to how technology is shaping our lives<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n CameraThe camera app has plenty of modes and can be used open or folded for different shooting methods. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The Fold 8 has two 10-megapixel selfie cameras but only two 50MP cameras on the back with no telephoto camera.<\/p>\n The main 50MP camera is the best of the bunch and similar in performance to the main camera of the standard S26<\/a>, shooting good photos across a range of conditions. The 50MP ultrawide is also solid, with consistent colour across both cameras. The 2x crop zoom on the main camera works fairly well, but magnifying beyond to 4x or 10x digital zoom rapidly becomes poor.<\/p>\n The Fold 8\u2019s selfie cameras are decent and handy for video calls, but you get better results using the main camera for selfies with the outside screen as a viewfinder, even if it is a bit ungainly.<\/p>\n The camera app has plenty of modes and shoots decent video, with some fancy auto-tracking features that make it easy to set the camera up partly folded and keep a subject in frame.<\/p>\n SustainabilityThe crease in the middle where the screen folds is still evident when the display is off or you run your finger over it. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs\/The Guardian<\/p>\n The battery has expected lifespan of at least 1,200 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity. The phone is generally repairable<\/a>. Inside screen repairs cost about \u00a3600<\/a>. Samsung offers a self-repair programme<\/a>, as well as Care+ accidental damage insurance<\/a> that reduces the cost of repairs to \u00a350.<\/p>\n The Fold 8 is made from 14.9% recycled material by weight, which Samsung breaks down in its environmental report<\/a>. The company offers trade-in<\/a> and recycling schemes<\/a> for old devices.<\/p>\n Price<\/p>\n The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 costs from \u00a31,699<\/a> (\u20ac1,999\/$1,899.99<\/a>\/A$2,699<\/a>).<\/p>\n For comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra costs \u00a31,899<\/a>, the S26 Ultra<\/a> costs \u00a31,279<\/a>, the Honor Magic V6<\/a> costs \u00a31,999.99<\/a> and the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold<\/a> costs \u00a31,299<\/a>.<\/p>\n Verdict<\/p>\n The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a bit of a curio from Samsung. Having forged the way with narrower book-style foldables, suddenly offering a squat, passport-shaped version seems like an odd step.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782850452_383_500.jpg\")
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