I tested the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Galaxy S26 Ultra for 2 weeks — here’s the one I’d buy

What’s in a name? In the case of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the “Ultra” part is supposed to signal to buyers that Samsung’s flagship foldable is a higher tier of phone. And in many ways it is, from the super bright display with less of a crease to the silicon-carbon battery (a first for Samsung phones).

But at $2,099, is the Fold 8 Ultra truly an “Ultra” phone? I’ve been testing it for a couple weeks, and while there’s plenty of great upgrades, there are some ways the Fold 8 Ultra falls short of the $1,299 Galaxy S26 Ultra. After testing these two phones side by side, including taking lots of photos, here’s the one I'd buy.

Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra vs Galaxy S26 Ultra: Specs Compared

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: up to $1,200 off w/ trade-in @ Samsung
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra features an 8-inch main display, 6.5-inch cover display and triple camera setup that includes a 200MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, and 10MP 3x telephoto lens. In our Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra review, we said its greatly reduced crease, upgraded silicon carbon battery, faster charging, and upgraded ultrawide camera make it a great upgrade.

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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: was $1,299 now $1,049 at Best Buy

The Galaxy S26 Ultra features a 6.9-inch 3120 x 1440 AMOLED display w/ 120Hz refresh, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 CPU, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. You also get a 200MP main (f/1.4), 50MP ultra wide (f/1.9), 10MP (f/2.4) telephoto w/3x optical zoom, and a 50MP (f/2.9) telephoto w/5x optical zoom. There's also a 5,000 mAh battery. In our Galaxy S26 Ultra review, we said the Editor's Choice phone is super smart, sleek and fast.

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Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Design and durability

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is remarkably light and compact for a phone that unfurls to an 8-inch display. It weighs just 7.58 ounces, which is barely heavier than the Galaxy S26 Ultra that limits you to a 6.9-inch screen.

In addition, the Fold 8 Ultra is only 4.1mm thin when it’s opened, which is even thinner than the Fold 7. Still, when closed the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a millimeter thinner, which is expected for a slab phone.

The Fold 8 Ultra may be thinner, but it’s definitely not ready for a day at the beach. This foldable is once again IP48 rated, which means it can withstand being submerged in water for 30 minutes — but it is not dust resistant.

However, the Galaxy S26 Ultra carries an IP68 rating, which means the phone is dust tight. It’s also worth mentioning that other foldables are rated IP68, including the Motorola Razr Fold and Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Displays

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 packs dual screens: a 6.5-inch cover display that’s fine for running apps (if a bit cramped for typing) and a huge 8-inch main display. And the S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch panel.

The main reason to get the Fold 8 Ultra is the bigger main display. With 8 inches at your disposal, you get a more immersive video watching experience, as well as the ability to run apps side by side.

What you don’t get is the S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display, which narrows the viewing angle for any snoops around you and can even black out just parts of the display.

I really like that the Fold 8 Ultra features an anti-reflective coating that seriously cuts down on glare when you’re outside. Plus, thanks to Samsung’s Flex Titanium technology, the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s crease is much less visible than previous Samsung foldable phones. It’s still there, but more subtle.

Thanks to a brighter screen, I also found using the Z Fold 8 outside in direct sunlight a lot easier, whether I was browsing the web or just taking or reviewing photos. On previous Samsung Folds, I mostly used the external screen for taking pics.

In our lab testing the Z Fold 8 Ultra hit 2,687 nits of brightness with HDR content. That’s considerably higher than the S26 Ultra’s 1,806 nits.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: S Pen

Samsung ditched the S Pen on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 in order to make a thinner design and it’s still missing on the Fold 8 Ultra. Without a built-in digitizer for the screen, you simply can’t use an S Pen.

Meanwhile, the S26 Ultra has an S Pen built into the design. So you can use the stylus for taking notes, drawing and making fine edits on the go.

I spoke to Samsung executives about the missing S Pen on the Fold and they’re “open” to bringing it back.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Cameras

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has an Ultra-ish camera setup, starting with a 200MP main camera and 50MP ultraside, same as on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. But the new foldable falls down in the zoom department.

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Let’s start with the good news. In most conditions, the main and ultrawide cameras on the Fold 8 and S26 Ultra turned in nearly identical results, whether it was flower close-up ultra-wide shots of Bryant Park or portraits. Panoramas were similar, too.

It’s when you try to get in close that the Fold 8, well, folds. While the S26 Ultra packs dual telephoto zoom lenses at 3x and 5x with a maximum of 100x digital zoom, the Fold 8 Ultra has only a single 10MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom.

Check out this close-up of an ice cream truck. At 30x, you can make out all of the menu names underneath the pictures of the cones on the S26 Ultra. On the Fold 8 Ultra it’s just a bunch of blobs.

Same thing with this shot of a medieval scholar sculpture on the side of a New York City building. At 10x, you can make out more details in his face, hair and garb. And at 30x the Fold 8’s Ultra’s shot looks like an impressionist painting by comparison.

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The S26 Ultra has a slight selfie advantage, too, with a 12MP front camera. The Fold 8 Ultra has dual 10MP shooters. But the results are pretty close in my eyes. The advantage the Fold has is that you can flip around the cover display and take super sharp selfies with the rear cameras.

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I’d say the Fold 8 Ultra and S26 Ultra are fairly evenly matched in low-light settings. In this photo of a record player in near darkness, the S26 Ultra delivered a brighter and crisper shot. The colors look more realistic too, especially in the pink macrame.

However, while the S26 Ultra gave me a brighter shot of the bottles in this bar, especially the blue Casa Azul, the text looks sharper through the Fold 8 Ultra.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Performance

Packing the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip for Galaxy, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and S26 Ultra are both multitasking powerhouses, and they’re both great for gaming.

In our lab tests, the S26 Ultra finished slightly ahead in Geekbench, 3DMark graphics and Geekbench AI, but I wouldn’t say it’s a big difference.

The S26 Ultra could be helped by the fact that it has vapor chamber cooling, while the Fold 8 Ultra does not.

I played Wuthering Waves on both the Fold 8 Ultra and S26 Ultra, and it was more immersive on the Fold because of its large display. But I found it a touch smoother on the S26 Ultra.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Battery life and charging

Samsung has made the leap to silicon-carbon battery tech with the Fold 8 Ultra, going from 4,400 mAh on the Fold 7 to 5,000 mAh on its latest foldable. That’s the same capacity as the S26 Ultra albeit with lithium ion.

On the Tom’s Guide battery test, which involves continuous web surfing over 5G, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra lasted an impressive 14 hours and 33 minutes. That’s a huge upgrade over the 11 hours turned in by the Fold 7.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra lasted an even longer 16 hours and 40 minutes, but keep in mind that it was powering a smaller 6.9-inch display compared to the 8-inch screen on the Fold 8.

The Fold 8 offers 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging, compared to 60W wired and 25W wireless on the S26 Ultra. But the phones turned in similar results in our wired charging test.

The Fold 8 Ultra got to 76% in 30 minutes versus 77% for the S26 Ultra. Note that neither phone has built-in magnets for Qi 2 charging, so you’ll have to buy a case with that feature.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Software and special features

Both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy S26 Ultra offer a bunch of AI features that come in handy, including automated actions with Gemini (like helping to book dinner reservations or even vacations), Call Screening and Now Brief for summarizing your daily schedule. They also both let you transform your photos with a simple voice prompt.

However, the Fold 8 Ultra offers a few unique tricks of its own. This includes Now Nudge in Split View, which can give you quick hints for opening a second app on its own screen to save time. And My FanCam can automatically follow a subject in your video, cropping the clip on the fly.

Plus, unlike the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Fold 8 Ultra boasts a Flex Mode for using the foldable like a mini laptop. And when shooting photos and videos you can use the Cover Screen preview feature to let the subjects see themselves in real time.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra: Verdict

I’m not going to say that calling the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra an Ultra phone is false advertising, but you do have to make a bunch of trade-offs versus the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

With the foldable you don’t get an S Pen or an IP68 rating for dust resistance, and the S26 Ultra offers both a more powerful telephoto zoom and Privacy Display feature. Plus, the S26 Ultra lasted longer on a charge.

However, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is a very versatile foldable phone that grants you a much bigger display, the ability to run up three apps at once and handy AI tools like Now Nudge with Split View.

But at $2,099, the Fold 8 Ultra costs $800 more than the S26 Ultra. So you really, really want to own a foldable if you’re going that route.

Bottom line: If you want the ultimate multi-tasking powerhouse, get the Fold 8 Ultra. But if you want the biggest zoom, best-in-class privacy and an S Pen, snag the S26 Ultra for less.