Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra hands-on review: Massive hardware leap at a heavier price

Samsung is back with another generation of foldable phones, though things are shaping up to be a little different this year. There are three new Galaxy foldables, and that means the successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is being given an Ultra upgrade. It's easy to be cynical and assume this is a simple name change, but it feels like Samsung has worked hard to make the phone worthy of the name Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

While the incoming software and AI features are not that impressive — with the exception of the foldable-friendly Now Nudge — there's plenty of hardware upgrades to be excited about. This includes a brighter and nearly crease-free display, a larger silicon carbon battery and an even thinner design. Plus, you get a beefed up 50MP ultrawide camera. But there's also some trade-offs versus Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra that I wish you didn't have to make.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra hands-on review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra hands-on review: What we like

Big display improvements

Samsung has invested a lot in improving the screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. The screen itself is now brighter, offering up to 3,000 nits, up from 2,600 nits on the Fold 7, while Samsung has added an anti-reflective coating to ensure that the screen is visible no matter the conditions.

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Having compared the Z Fold 8 Ultra side-by-side with a Z Fold 7, the difference is very noticeable. The Z Fold 7 looks dull and washed out in comparison, while the Z Fold 8 Ultra is noticeably brighter and clearer. The anti-reflective coating is pretty nice too, which should make the new foldable easier to use in direct sunlight.

The big upgrade is the new Flex Titanium display, which adds a titanium plate and a flexible titanium-alloy film to the underside of the foldable OLED panel. The benefits of these two layers are threefold: It improves the strength and durability of the display, reduces the thickness of the display panel itself and reduces the amount of creasing in the display.

It doesn't erase the crease completely, but it's a lot less noticeable than the crease on the Z Fold 7. The crease is still there, but it's a heck of a lot harder to see.

Much-needed silicon carbon battery upgrade

For me, the most exciting upgrade for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the silicon carbon battery — a first for Samsung. The battery capacity has increased from 4,400 mAh to 5,000 mAh. Not only does this mean the Z Fold 8 Ultra's battery is the same size as the Galaxy S26 Ultra's, it's also a whopping 600 mAh increase compared to the Fold 7.

Samsung claims that the Fold 8 Ultra battery will offer up to 27 hours of video playback, up from 24 hours on the previous model.

Samsung has also taken the chance to upgrade charging speed, boosting wired charging from 25W to 45W — which Samsung says will restore 67% of your battery in 30 minutes. Wireless charging has also had a boost from 15W to 20W, though the Qi2 magnets are still missing in action.

Upgraded 50MP ultrawide camera

Galaxy Z Fold cameras have not been on the same level as those on Galaxy S series phones, but Samsung has been slowly making changes to close the gap. Last year that meant adding the 200MP main camera lens, and this year it's the ultrawide camera's turn to get some new hardware — with a 50MP lens.

It's a marked improvement over the 12MP lens that was packaged into the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

On top of this, Samsung has added HDR support for the 200MP main lens, as well as a bunch of improvements to improve nightography and low-light performance. This includes the addition of the ProVisual engine and advanced AP-based image processing, both of which were previously been seen on the Galaxy S26 series.

The first 'for Galaxy' chip in a foldable

Samsung has been employing custom versions of flagship Snapdragon chips for a few years, but so far those "for Galaxy" chips have only been available with certain Galaxy S-series phones — and never in a foldable. Galaxy foldables always ended up with either the standard, off-the-shelf Snapdragon chips or one of Samsung's own Exynos chips.

That has changed this year, thanks to Samsung including the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset in all three foldable phones. That means we should see a big leap in performance and efficiency compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

We haven't had the chance to benchmark the Z Fold 8 Ultra yet, so we don't know how significant that leap may be. But it should hopefully mean that the new Galaxy foldables are more capable than before, and at the very least should perform similarly to the Snapdragon-equipped Galaxy S26 variants.

Made for multitasking with Now Nudge

The Z Fold 8 Ultra is being marketed as a productivity device, as a way to set it apart from the Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8. Samsung has added a bunch of upgrades centered around multitasking, with the goal of helping users make the most of the larger foldable screen inside the phone.

Now Nudge has been added to the phone, and optimized for both multitasking and the larger 8-inch display. This means that relevant apps will be opened in split view when you get a nudge in, say, the Messages app, with support for up to five split view actions at a time. The screen also supports multiple touchpoints, and can surface relevant actions based on contextual clues. The addition of Ambient Nudge also lets Now Nudge operate with a little more discretion, surfacing suggestions in the corner of your screen

Naturally, this also means Samsung is emphasizing the fact that the foldable screen is the equivalent of two 6.5-inch screens side-by-side. That's true of most foldables, but it emphasizes that this really is a tablet that you can fit in your pocket — and it's good to see Samsung really push this particular use case a little more.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra hands-on review: What we don't like

$100 price hike

We knew that price hikes were coming for the Galaxy Z 8 series, thanks to ongoing issues with RAMageddon and the memory supply chain. But that doesn't mean we're pleased to see the price of the flagship Z Fold 8 increase for the third year in a row.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099, which gets you a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB. For reference, the cost of the Z Fold 7 with the exact same memory/storage configuration costs $1,999, which means we're all being asked to pay an extra $100 simply because this phone is a little bit newer and more "Ultra."

There are a bunch of great upgrades to be had, but the prospect of paying even more for an already-expensive handset leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

Limited AI and software upgrades

If you were hoping to see a bunch of new AI features and software upgrades launch alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, then you're going to be sorely disappointed. There are new AI features coming with the entire Galaxy Z 8 series, but that doesn't seem to be Samsung's primary focus this time around.

Now Nudge obviously launched with the Galaxy S26 series, but the new version has been updated to better perform on a larger-screen foldable. That includes optimizations for multitasking, and the subtle alerts from Ambient Nudge.

Samsung is also including Gemini Notebook (formerly Notebook LLM) on the Z Fold 8 Ultra , which turns various sources into "structured, actionable knowledge." It essentially usies AI to create summarized notebooks from photos, recordings, documents, videos and so on.

AI automation is also getting a boost, with the new Gemini Advanced Automation feature capable of controlling what's going on across 40+ apps without making you witch between them all manually. AI task automation is note new to Galaxy phones, but it's optimized for the foldable experience in that there's a floating window that you can interact with at any time.

Considering Samsung has been so heavily focused on AI over the past few years, it's surprising to see such an AI-lite phone launch. But some may be relieved that it's not getting as much hype.

No S Pen

Samsung pulled S Pen support from the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in the name of reducing thickness, since the stylus was reliant on a relatively bulky digitizer layer inside the foldable display. While there have been rumors suggesting Samsung was working on a version of the S Pen that didn't require the digitizer, it has not been included in the Fold 8 Ultra.

That means you have a large 8-inch foldable display, which has been built for productivity and multitasking, but no official writing implement to use with it. We didn't have high hopes that the S Pen would make an appearance on this year's foldables, but it's still a shame to get confirmation that it's not supported.

Here's hoping that, with increased competition from the foldable iPhone Ultra, Samsung figures out a way to bring this breakout productivity feature back to Galaxy Folds in the near future.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra hands-on review: Outlook

There's a lot to like about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. This year's batch of hardware upgrades actually feel pretty meaningful, compared to the incremental upgrades that have been so common in the phone world. While the Z Fold 7 certainly made headway in this area, the Z Fold 8 Ultra takes that progress and expands upon it in a lot of areas.

For once, it feels as though a Galaxy foldable isn't lagging too far behind the flagship Galaxy S series. That's all down to the greatly reduced crease, upgrade silicon carbon battery, faster charging, and upgrade ultrawide camera. It certainly feels as though the "Ultra" rebrand is more than just a cynical name change.

However, the Fold 8 Ultra is certainly not the perfect foldable. The price has risen by $100 for the third consecutive year, and it still falls short in a few areas. There's no S Pen, no Privacy Display from the S26 Ultra series, and the lack of an IP68 rating means you should not take this foldable to the beach.

Still, based on the limited time I've spent with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, I'm optimistic about what this next generation foldable has to offer. Now we just need to put it through its paces with some in-depth testing to see how it really performs.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra pre-orders begin today, ahead of an August 8 release date. Prices start at From $2,099 / £1,899 / AU$2,999.

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