Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on: The first foldable I'd actually want to buy

Now that we’re several generations in, I feel like Samsung couldn’t just phone it in with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. That’s sort of what they did with last year’s iterative Galaxy Z Fold 6, and look what happened. The competition caught up and Samsung lost the No. 1 spot on our best foldable phone list.

That simply couldn’t be the case this time around — not with a possible iPhone Fold on the horizon.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 Hands-On! Thinner, Lighter… and $2,000?! - YouTube

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So what did Samsung do? It made its thinnest book-style foldable yet — 26% thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 6. And this thing is even lighter than the iPhone 16 Pro Max. To me, that’s a game changer.

Samsung also made both the main and cover displays way bigger while giving the Fold 7 a proper Ultra camera setup with a 200MP main shooter.

You know what Samsung also gave the Z Fold 7? A $100 price hike in the U.S. Yup, this foldable is $2,000. (In the UK, the phone remains at £1,899.) And that’s on top of another $100 price bump for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 last year.

I had a chance to go hands on with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, and here’s my pros and cons so far.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 preorder: up to $1,150 off w/ trade-in @ Samsung
Free storage upgrade! Samsung is knocking up to $1,150 off Galaxy Z Fold 7 preorders when you trade-in an older phone. Additionally, you'll get a free storage upgrade with your preorder. The phone features an 8-inch AMOLED (2184 x 1968) 120Hz main display, 6.5-inch AMOLED (2520 x 1080) 120Hz cover display, Snapdragon 8 Elite CPU, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. On the rear you get a 200MP f/1.7 main wide-angle lens, 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, and 10MP f/2.4 telephoto lens. Selfie cams include a 10MP f/2.2 main display and cover camera. In our Galaxy Z Fold 7 hands-on, we called it the first foldable we'd want to carry and use all day.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Specs

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 release date and price

This is not a typo. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999 in the U.S. and £1,899 in the UK. For those in the States, that’s $100 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and by far the most expensive flagship phone you can buy.

That starting price gets you 256GB of storage; 512GB and 1TB versions are also available if you’re willing to pay more.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is available to pre-order starting today, and it has a release date of July 25.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design

The best thing I can tell you about the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is that the “penalty” for carrying a foldable phone is essentially gone. This phone is astonishingly thin and light, so much so that you may forget that you’re carrying or holding a foldable.

Measuring 8.9mm when folded and 4.2mm when unfolded, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is 26% thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and 48% thinner than the original Galaxy Fold.

By comparison, the new Honor Magic V is 8.8mm thin when folded and 4.1mm open, so it’s a touch thinner. But you can’t buy that phone in the U.S.

In my hand, the Fold 7 feels slim and sleek, though the camera bump is bigger compared to the Z Fold 6.

Despite slimming down, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is designed to be tougher than its predecessor. It features a new Armor FlexHinge with a “water droplet design” and “multi-rail structure” for increased durability. In addition, the Fold 7 uses a grade 4 titanium lattice and 50% thicker ultra thin glass for the main display.

How about the front? The cover display uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for better protection from drops and scratches.

There’s three main color options for the Z Fold 7, and two of them are boring. I’d skip over the Jet Black and Silver Shadow and go right for the bold and vibrant Blue Shadow.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 Displays

Samsung has enlarged both the cover and main display for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is pretty impressive given that you’re getting a more portable device.

The front display has grown from 6.3 to 6.5 inches, while the main display is now a whopping 8 inches. That’s a pretty big jump from 7.6 inches on the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

I put the Z Fold 7 side by side with its predecessor, and I noticed a huge difference in real estate when watching the trailer for Superman. As the Man of Steel battled a fire breathing beast, the action just felt more immersive.

At the same time, the front display is taller and wider, so I felt less cramped when typing urls in Chrome. That’s another foldable “penalty” you used to have to pay with Samsung’s devices.

As for the crease that can appear where the phone folds in half, it’s still there in the main screen. It’s just less noticeable than it was for the Z Fold 6.

One major downside (at least for some) is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7's display no longer supports S Pen input. That's likely due to the thinner design.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 cameras

Finally, flagship-level cameras have graced the Galaxy Z Fold line. The Fold 7 packs a 200MP main sensor, a 10MP telephoto with 3x zoom and 12MP ultra wide (now with autofocus).

Samsung backs this all up with its improved ProVisual engine, which promises better image quality and especially video quality in low light. You can see a Fold 7 vs Fold 6 example below. And the Z Fold 7 now shoots in 10-bit HDR video by default.

I tried out the cameras briefly, and I was actually most impressed with the upgraded 10MP selfie camera. You now get a wider 100-degree field of view, vs 85 degrees on the Z Fold 6. So you can fit a lot more in the frame.

The main cameras seemed sharp enough in Samsung’s hands-on area, especially when I shot a nearby wall with colorful graffiti. However, the max zoom seemed to be 30x. So you don’t get the 100x Space Zoom that the Galaxy S25 Ultra supports.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 AI features and One UI 8

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 offers all of the same Galaxy AI features as the Galaxy S25 series. But there’s some welcome optimizations for this foldable’s big screen, thanks to Samsung's One UI 8 software that runs on top of Android 16.

For example, when using the Generative AI feature I turned a cat into a fish eye lens illustration, I could see the before and after side by side.

Gemini also gives you more flexibility on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Long press the side button and you can summon the assistant and put the AI result view anywhere on the screen. And because Gemini is multi-modal (unlike Siri) you can share your camera view and ask questions live about what you’re seeing — like what kind of plant was in front of me.

Other noteworthy Galaxy AI features on the Fold 7 include the ability to use the popular Audio Eraser feature in more apps (like Voice Recorder and phone call recordings) and using Circle to Search while you’re playing games to get timely tips when you’re stuck.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 performance

Just as you’d expect for a phone that costs two grand, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip. That’s the same silicon Samsung uses in its Galaxy S25 phones, which regularly outpace other devices for CPU and GPU performance.

The benchmarks will have to come later, but I will say that the Fold 7 felt very fluid during my hands-on time with the device. I ran two apps side by side without any hiccups and also removed people from an image and got a stunningly realistic result in several seconds.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 battery life and charging

The good news is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 battery is the same size as the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s power pack at 4,400 mAh. That’s pretty remarkable given how much thinner this foldable is than its predecessor.

The bad news is that we may not see much of a jump in endurance, although Samsung is promising 24 hours of video playback on a charge. That’s an hour more than the Z Fold 6, so maybe the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is eeking out some efficiencies there.

Once again the Z Fold 7 offers 25W charging, which is a bummer as I’d like to see 45W for a phone this pricey.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 Outlook

Samsung has made a statement with the Galaxy Z Fold 7. While it might not be the thinnest and lightest foldable in the world, it’s darn close, and you’ll immediately notice the difference when you pick up this foldable. It’s staggeringly thin and light for a phone that unfurls to an 8-inch display.

Also staggering is the price. $2,000 is a lot of money to spend on a phone. But you are ostensibly getting an iPad mini-style tablet and flagship phone in one gadget — without feeling like you’re lugging around two devices.

And Samsung has finally added flagship-quality cameras to the Fold 7, making the Ultra-premium a bit easier to swallow. For now, I’m super impressed with this design despite the price hike — so much so that I’d like to live with this as my everyday phone just to see what happens.

Stay tuned for my full rated Galaxy Z Fold 7 review.