At its recentGalaxy Unpacked eventin New York City, Samsung finally unveiled its latestfoldable devices. The Galaxy Z Fold 7,Galaxy Z Flip 7, and theGalaxy Z Flip 7 FEwere all announced, marking a new chapter in Samsung’s foldable lineup.
I had the opportunity to attend Samsung’s summer Unpacked event and see all of its new devices up close. This story will mainly focus on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but if you’re interested in theZ Flip 7orZ Flip 7 FE, you may also check out my initial impressions of them. That said, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the Samsung foldable I’ve been most excited about, and the wait was definitely worth it.
While the Fold 7 shares some similarities with theFold 6, this year it seems like Samsung has basically reinvented the device. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold phones have become thinner and more powerful each year, and the Fold 7 represents the most significant change yet, featuring a new, ultra-slim design that doesn’t compromise on performance or battery. Here are all the details you need to know about the Galaxy Z Fold 7, along with my initial thoughts, including the positives and negatives I observed during my time with the phone at Unpacked.
Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung’s next-generation Galaxy Z Fold 7 is its thinnest and lightest foldable yet.
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The Fold 7 is the most comfortable foldable I’ve ever held
It’s Samsung’s thinnest foldable ever at 4.2mm unfolded
The most significant change with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 this year is its improved, sleeker design, which makes it lighter and thinner than its predecessors. When unfolded, it is only 4.2mm thick, and when folded, it measures 8.9mm thick. It felt like a feather in my hand, only weighing 216 grams (0.47 lbs). In comparison, last year’s Fold 6 is bulkier, measuring 5.6mm when unfolded and 12.1mm when folded, weighing 239 grams.
When I first held the Galaxy Z Fold 7, I immediately noticed how much more comfortable it was to carry, thanks to its thinner profile. I also found that using the Cover Screen on the Fold 7 is easier, as it feels like you’re using a regular phone rather than a foldable. For reference, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is 8.25mm thick and weighs 218g, resulting in a difference of only 0.65mm and 2g compared to the Fold 7.
…what also shocked me about the Z Fold 7 is that the battery size remains unchanged from the Fold 6, with a 4,400mAh cell.
With all that being said, is it the thinnest foldable in the world? No, that title goes to the recently unveiledHonor Magic V5, which measures a slightly smaller 8.8mm when folded. However, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will actually be available in the US, so that’s a win for Samsung in my opinion.
Additionally, what also shocked me about the Z Fold 7 is that the battery size remains unchanged from the Fold 6, with a 4,400mAh cell. Given its slim design, I would have thought Samsung would have had to compromise here, as it did with the S25 Edge’s 3,900mAh battery, but it didn’t.
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The Fold 7 has larger displays and an upgraded camera
It has similar specs to the S25 series
Looking at the specs for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, there are several similarities with the Galaxy S25 series. Notably, the phone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the same chipset used across the entire S25 lineup, and Samsung offers three storage options: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The phone comes in three colors: jet black, blue shadow, and silver shadow. Samsung’s website will also offer an exclusive fourth color called mint. During my time at Unpacked, I was mesmerized by the Fold 7’s blue shadow colorway, and it’s my favorite of the bunch.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Fold 7 is expected to provide a notable performance boost over the Fold 6’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, enhancing multitasking and gaming experiences. I haven’t been able to test any third-party apps on the Fold 7 yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, One UI 8 and its first-party apps run very smoothly. Speaking of One UI 8, it comes pre-installed on all of Samsung’s new foldable devices, which means you’ll get Android 16 right out of the box. You can check out the full specs for the Fold 7 below.
The Fold 7 also features noticeably larger screens this year. Its outer screen (Cover Display) is a 6.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a resolution of 2520 x 1080 pixels, up from the Fold 6’s 6.3-inch exterior display. In my hands-on experience with the phone, it reminded me a lot of using my Galaxy S25+, which has a 6.7-inch display.
…the crease line is even less visible than last year, which is great to see and makes using the device much more impressive.
Next, the highlight of the book-style foldable experience is the inner display, and I couldn’t stop admiring the Fold 7’s. Not only is it larger, but the crease line is even less visible than last year, which is great to see and makes using the device much more impressive. Specs-wise, the inner display measures 8 inches and features a Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with a resolution of 2184 x 1968 pixels, and an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz.
Turning to the back of the Fold 7, we see a similar but improved camera array compared to the Fold 6. It includes a 12-megapixel f/2.2 Ultra Wide lens, a 200-megapixel f/1.8 Wide lens, and a 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The major upgrade here is the 200-megapixel wide lens, a significant jump from the Fold 6’s 50-megapixel wide lens.
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The price is the elephant in the room
The Fold 7 is an impressive foldable, but it leaves a huge dent in your wallet
While there’s a lot to like about the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s design and hardware, it also has some drawbacks worth mentioning. First, the price. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at a steep $2,000 for the 256GB model, making it Samsung’s most expensive foldable device to date. Last year, the Fold 6 was priced at $1,900. That was already a high price, and now the Fold 7 is even more. While it’s a cool piece of technology, the price alone will deter many people.
Second, the Z Fold 7 no longer supports Samsung’s S Pen. So, if you own an S Pen and hope to use it with the Z Fold 7, you won’t be able to. Samsung explains this is a result of making the phone slimmer, which meant removing the phone’s “digitizer layer.” Third, the phone has an IP48 water and dust resistance rating, not an IP68 rating, so it remains more vulnerable to damage from dust, dirt, and sand than Samsung’s S25 series.
If you own a Fold 6, the changes to the Fold 7 might not make it worth upgrading. However, if you have a Fold 5 or Fold 4, that’s a different story, and the Fold 7’s upgrades offer considerable value that could significantly improve your experience if you enjoy using a foldable phone daily. I’ll have more to say about the Fold 7 in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to Pocket-lint.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is now available for pre-order on Samsung’s website and will start shipping July 25. For more Samsung Unpacked coverage, check out my initial impressions of theFlip 7andFlip 7 FE, along with the newGalaxy Watch 8 series.
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