For a few years, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series felt a bit boring. Most of the releases were minor tweaks to the previous year’s design, and Samsung wasn’t pushing the specs like it used to. But last year Galaxy Z Fold 7 That changed when it debuted as the thinnest foldable ever, and Samsung apparently isn’t done making major design changes for the rumored 2026 launch.
He Galaxy Z Fold 8 Rumored to debut in two sizes for the first time, it appears to follow an industry trend of making book-style foldables wider than they are tall. If you don’t like that trend, that’s okay, because Samsung will supposedly offer a tall and wide variant of the Z Fold 8, with a few other changes in store.
Is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 worth the wait? Bearing in mind that we hope to see the presentation in a few weeks. July 22 (based on rumors), I’d say there’s no reason to rush into a purchasing decision until then.
What changes do we expect for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8?
While the Galaxy Z Fold 8 family will surely receive the latest round of Qualcomm processors, the rumored size changes are apparently causing Samsung to consider a small name change to the Z Fold 8. Here’s what we expect to see:
- The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: This is the “true” successor to the Z Fold 7 and is said to be almost identical to that phone. Same tall dimensions, three cameras on the back and top-notch specs with a slightly larger battery than last year. This is rumored to be 2mm thicker than the Z Fold 7.
- The Galaxy Z Fold 8: The standard Z Fold 8 is said to be the widest model, which essentially looks like someone took a Z Fold 7 and squashed it. It’s supposedly more passport-shaped, supposedly only has room for two rear cameras, and probably has a smaller battery than the Ultra.
- S pen holder It is rumored to be added to at least one of these models. If I had to bet money on which one, it would be the Ultra as it is rumored to be thicker than the Z Fold 7.
S Pen support seems to be up in the air, depending on which rumor you follow. The latest rumors suggest that the Ultra is 2mm thicker than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, making it 0.18mm thicker than the recently launched one. Motorola Razr foldable.
Motorola’s excellent foldable supports stylus input on both the interior and exterior screens, something Samsung never offered on the Z Fold series, so this rumored thickness increase for the Z Fold 8 Ultra is almost certainly related to the S Pen, if true.
2 great reasons to wait
If you’re happy with the current size and shape of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra should offer a similar look, albeit in a slightly thicker form factor (assuming the rumor is true). Samsung likely chose the Ultra name for this model because it includes all the bells and whistles rather than focusing on a single ultra-thin model, as it did in 2025.
That means potential buyers of the Z Fold 8 Ultra can expect better battery life than the Z Fold 7, as well as possible camera upgrades and probably S Pen support. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 through 6 supported S Pen input on their foldable internal displays, but Samsung removed this support on the Z Fold 7 to keep it as thin as possible.
Stylus support comes with a thicker build, and with the Z Fold 8 Ultra rumored to be 2mm thicker than the Z Fold 7, we’re feeling pretty good about the potential return of S Pen support. Since the battery is rumored to only increase by 600mAh, there’s little chance that the increase in thickness is just for battery space.
Plus, if you find the current book-style foldables too unwieldy and tall, Samsung’s rumored Galaxy Z Fold 8 may be the device you’ve been looking for. oppo launched for the first time a wide folding in 2021, but abandoned the wide design a few years later. Google also debuted its first Pixel Fold with a spacious design, and I hate to say I told you so, but Google got it right the first time.
Now, the broad design trend is back and seems to be better than ever. Huawei just launched its wide second generation foldingand now it is rumored that Vivo, Honor and even Apple are Wide folding phones launching this year..
That means Samsung has a lot of upcoming competition in this space, so while you should wait for the Z Fold 8 if you want a wider foldable, I don’t think you should buy anything until you hear from the rest of those companies sometime this fall.
Many reasons to consider something else
Samsung does a lot of things right, but the company has been guilty of “sliding” in more areas than one in recent years. Samsung’s foldable phones almost always feature the latest processors and have some really great software behind them for years to come, but the rest of the spec sheet falls behind the competition in some important areas.
All other Android vendors with a book-style foldable phone, with the exception of the Google Pixel Fold models, put substantially higher-capacity, faster-charging silicon-carbon batteries inside their devices. That means longer battery life and less time connected to a charger than Samsung phones.
Other companies, such as Honor and Motorola, also offer even better build quality and durability than Samsung. The Razr Fold, for example, has an IP49 rating, making it more resistant to water jets and other water-related activities than Samsung’s IP48 rating. People outside of North America can also choose between Oppo Find N6which offers an IP59 rating, or the Honor Magic V6which is IP69 rated.
Samsung also tends to lag behind in cameras and displays, although the company often experiments with things like anti-reflective screens and its trademark. Privacy screen. The rumor is that the Z Fold 8 and 8 Ultra won’t see any of those screen improvements, and it’s unknown if Samsung will finally make its screens safe for PWM sensitive people.
We’ve also seen a massive jump in the camera quality of foldable phones in the last two years, with brands like Honor, Oppo and (surprisingly) Motorola leading the way. Much of this is due to innovation in hardware and design, as manufacturers discover new ways to fit large camera sensors into thin phones.
The Z Fold has never had cutting-edge cameras, and the Z Fold 8 family likely won’t either. That’s even more the case if you’re considering the wider Z Fold 8 model, which is It is rumored to only have two cameras on the back..
one more thing
If you’ve been looking to buy any new electronic devices this year, you’re almost certainly aware of the huge price increases occurring around the world as the construction of AI data centers has driven up storage and RAM prices. Since Samsung has already increased the prices of many of its existing phones, there is no doubt that the Z Fold 8 family will be subjected at the same price increases.
Samsung isn’t alone in that, obviously, but almost any new phone will cost you more than it did last year, and that’s a difficult reality to face in a year of high inflation. However, even if you were to buy an existing phone, you’d pay those higher prices, so you might as well wait for a new model and see what the final word is.
An improved Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and a wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 certainly sound appealing, especially if you live in North America and have fewer options than the rest of the world, so why not wait until mid-July to make a decision you won’t regret? I know I certainly would.
