So much has changed with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 that you may not have noticed one of the most crucial differences between it and the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
After four generations of under-display cameras on the Z Fold's main screen, Samsung has finally called it quits and moved back to a punch-hole camera. It's also over twice as detailed, using a 10MP sensor rather than a 4MP one (that is technically 16MP - it's complicated). Arguably, the punch-hole is less optimal for the big inner display that defines the Z Fold, but it should be much better for taking actual photos.
So to see what difference this and other upgrades have made to the inner (and outer) front cameras of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, we're doing a full selfie camera comparison against the Z Fold 6. How big a difference is there? Does it really matter? We're gonna find out.
Regular Inner
Taking both foldables out on a particularly sunny London day, I found a nice shady spot to start off this comparison.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6's shot is quite dark given how bright it was when I shot this, and also makes every bright spot in the shot look pixellated, thanks to the display being in the way of the camera sensor The Z Fold 7 shot just looks like a normal selfie, which is appropriate since it's a normal camera. The highlights are a bit too bright for my liking, but it's still the far stronger shot and quickly shows exactly why Samsung made this change.
Regular Outer
There's no hardware difference between the outer selfie cameras of the Z Fold 6 and the Z Fold 7, but in the interest of science, I tried these too. And as it turns out, you can in fact see some differences.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 looks over-sharpened in comparison, which has me leaning towards the Z Fold 7 still as the superior shot. but the Z Fold 7 has made my face look quite pink, which isn't necessarily the most flattering either.
Portrait mode
One of the key special features of selfie cameras is their ability to use a bokeh effect to center the subject (you) against the background. Hence why this was my next step in testing the Z Fold 6 and Z Fold 7's selfie photography abilities.
Beginning with the outside cameras this time, we again see more extreme colors on the Z Fold 7, and increased sharpness on the Z Fold 6. But both have a similarly strong bokeh effect and accurately cut around my glasses.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7's new inside camera not only brings enhanced quality, but also brings portrait mode with it. It works just as competently as the outer cameras, while the Z Fold 6's inner camera is stuck taking regular photos only.
Low light
Software and firmware updates can have an impact on camera performance in the dark just as much as the physical sensors. So while hiding indoors from the heat, I did another round of inner and outer selfie shots.
In our first pair, using the outer cameras, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has picked up a lot more of the red color present in the room than the Z Fold 6 has, and has lost detail in return. Samsung's clearly tweaked something in the Z Fold 7's image processing pipeline to make its selfies like this, and I hope that this gets changed with an update in the future.
As for the inner camera comparison, we have the starkest quality difference we've seen so far. The Z Fold 7's image is again rather pink-looking, but the Z Fold 6's under-display camera takes a photo is so noisy that it looks decades older.
Main camera
One benefit of foldables you may forget about is the option to take selfies with the main camera by opening up a preview window and camera controls on the outer screen. It seemed an appropriate place to finish off this comparison, especially now that Samsung has switched the Galaxy Z Fold 6's 50MP main camera for a 200MP camera on the Z Fold 7.
That said, there is not as much of a difference as I expected. Granted, both of these cameras still shoot by default at 12MP, but I still thought there would be more dividing these shots beyond the color tuning differences that we've already observed.
Swapping to portrait mode, we finally see the Z Fold 7 produce the less intensely-colored shot of the two. The Z Fold 7's portrait effect is slightly better too, cutting around my ear and the back of my head properly, unlike the Z Fold 6.
Obviously I am just one person with one particular hair color, skin tone and pair of glasses, so things may vary for other people trying to snap themselves. But as this test shows, Samsung's big inner selfie camera switch pays off in terms of quality. Maybe some users felt that the quality loss from the under-display camera was worth it for a more seamless-looking display, but I and likely many others will much prefer having a usable inner camera over a few more square millimeters of active screen space.
That said, the color of the Galaxy Z Fold 6's shots were generally more to my liking, especially on the outer screen selfie camera which is identical to the Z Fold 7's. Fingers crossed this is a temporary issue, otherwise it's going to be a bit embarrassing for Samsung.
We'll keep testing how other cameras compare in the coming days, so stay tuned for that. But check out our Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on review for our thoughts as they stand.
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