Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Z Fold 7: Improved battery, screen and higher price – CNET

At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event, the phone maker announced three new foldable phones, including its first-ever ultra-foldable phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the true successor to last year’s Fold 7, while the Fold 8 arrives with an all-new wide-fold design.

These devices are still expensive enough to put them out of reach for many, but they incorporate subtle design improvements that could have a big impact in daily life. I love the new anti-glare coating, the easier-to-fold design, and the battery upgrades, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 remains a powerful, capable device, especially if you can get it at a rare price.

The two book-style foldables differ primarily in experiential upgrades rather than specification improvements. It can be difficult to get a sense of what exactly is new. That’s why I put them side by side in my testing to find out.

Design and display

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is roughly the same size as the already thin and light Fold 7. It weighs the same but is a millimeter thinner when unfolded. Both phones are comfortable to hold, but the new model is easier to open.

Samsung made the Ultra’s sides slightly thinner so its bezels don’t extend all the way to the corners. This gives you a slight gap between the sides to make unfolding easier. In comparison, the Fold 7 has flat sides with no gaps when the phone is folded, making it more difficult to unfold.

Both phones feature a 6.5-inch AMOLED cover display and an 8-inch AMOLED foldable display with a variable 120Hz refresh rate. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s inner display is brighter at 3,000 nits (compared to 2,600 nits on the Fold 7). It also has a matte finish, as well as my long-requested feature: an anti-reflective coating for better readability in harsh lighting conditions and outdoors.

I held both phones indoors, under direct light, and the difference was noticeable. My Fold 7 was more sensitive to glare and harder to see in direct light than the new model.

Samsung has also improved the crease situation. It is minimal and can only be seen if you look for it specifically. The phone maker added a new display structure that combines a titanium alloy film with an upgraded titanium plate to reinforce the screen and balance “hinge mechanics, screen tension and magnetic force to make unfolding smoother, lighter and more natural,” Samsung says.

Both foldables are IP48 rated for dust and water resistance. So, they’re not truly dustproof like the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and the Honor Magic V6, but they can survive being submerged in water for at least 30 minutes (the “8” in IP48). But they do not protect against dust particles smaller than 1 mm (the “4” in this rating).

Performance and battery

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip for Galaxy, compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor in the Fold 7. Both phones come in three storage variants: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, with the top-end model getting 16GB of RAM (the 256GB and 512GB models are again paired with 12GB of RAM).

Samsung claims to have created more space in the internal components for better heat dissipation, so you can theoretically expect better thermal management.

As for the battery, this is the first time Samsung has used silicon-carbon anode technology. This allowed the phone maker to increase the cell capacity from 4,400 mAh to 5,000 mAh on the new model. The Ultra also supports faster wired charging at 45 watts (the Fold 7 offered 25 watts).

On paper, it’s still behind Chinese rivals like Oppo and Honor, which include more 6,000mAh batteries in their respective foldable phones, but I’m hoping this spec boost will help me get through a day with ease.

Both phones have Qi wireless charging, but no built-in magnets. You’ll need to purchase a separate magnetic case to add compatibility with Qi2 wireless chargers and other magnetic accessories.

Camera, software and AI

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s camera lineup is virtually unchanged from last year’s model, with one exception: the ultra-wide sensor. You get a 200-megapixel main camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom on both phones. However, the 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera has been upgraded to a 50-megapixel sensor. You can expect better quality images, but I’ll wait for CNET’s testing to identify the real differences.

Both foldable devices record 8K video at 30 frames per second, but the Fold might appeal to more creatives. The new model adds support for the APV codec and adds a Cine LUT to give cinematic color and tonal control straight from your phone. This adds greater flexibility to editing and production workflows for professional creators.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 launched with Android 16 onboard last year, and the Fold 8 Ultra comes with Android 17 (with One UI 9 on top). You get a similar software experience on both phones and the Z Fold 7 will receive the update to Android 17 with One UI 9.

Both devices support Samsung’s full suite of Galaxy AI features as well as Gemini Access. There’s AI Select for on-screen search support, an object removal tool in the Gallery app, and contextual AI features like Now Nudge for first-party apps. The latter displays contextual actions based on the information on the screen. For example, if you’re chatting in the Messages app and they send you an invitation with the date, time, and address, Samsung’s Now Nudge feature will show a pop-up to add it to the calendar.

The phone maker also showed off a new agentic AI feature during my demo, which wasn’t very impressive. Ideally, the new Gemini feature would allow you to book a hotel simply by looking at a photo of the Eiffel Tower on the screen, but in its current state it was unreliable. But since the Z Fold 8 Ultra benefits from seven years of software updates and the Z Fold 7 is still six years old, both phones have plenty of time to continue improving these features.

To see more differences between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Fold 7, check out the specs table below.

Prakhar Khanna is a writer at CNET with bylines in ZDNET, Forbes and other major media outlets. A digital nomad at heart, he thrives on chaos, mixing deadlines and travel, often writing stories on planes, trains, and cafe tables while scouting out the best pizzerias wherever he lands. His backpack usually contains one phone too many and his playlists are full of 2000s Bollywood. Find him on social media @ParkyPrakhar. Contact: parkydoesstuff(at)gmail(dot)com See full bio