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Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event just wrapped up in London, where the company unveiled its latest lineup of foldable phones, alongside a new generation of Galaxy smartwatches. The event largely went as expected, with Samsung walking through the hardware upgrades, new AI features, and refinements across its latest devices.
But there was more to Unpacked than just new phones and wearables. Samsung quietly announced a few interesting changes, teased what's coming next, and slipped in several details that were easy to miss. If you didn't catch the event live, here are five of the biggest announcements you may have missed.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a new name (and shape)
This was probably the biggest surprise from Galaxy Unpacked. Despite the name, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn't actually the direct successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7. That title now belongs to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, while the regular Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an entirely new foldable with a completely different form factor.
Instead of the tall, narrow design Samsung has used since the original Galaxy Fold, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is shorter and much wider. When unfolded, it feels much closer to a compact tablet than a stretched-out phone, making it a far better fit for multitasking, reading, and watching videos.
The naming is admittedly a little confusing if you haven't been keeping up with the leaks, but after spending some hands-on time with the device, it's honestly the most interesting product Samsung announced at Unpacked.
It also feels like Samsung made this move to get ahead of Apple's rumored foldable iPhone, which is widely expected to adopt a similar passport-style design later this year. We'll be diving much deeper into this new form factor over the coming week, because I think there's a lot more to it than just a different aspect ratio.
Samsung finally adopts Silicon Carbon battery tech
It took Samsung long enough, but the company has finally joined the silicon-carbon battery club. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8 are the first Samsung phones to use the new battery technology, something Chinese smartphone makers adopted years ago.
The biggest advantage of silicon-carbon batteries is that they can pack more capacity into the same physical space. That's exactly what Samsung has done here. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra now features a 5,000mAh battery, up from the Galaxy Z Fold 7's 4,400mAh cell, while also increasing wired charging speeds to 45W.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra are also first Samsung foldables with (almost) crease-free displays
The new passport-style Galaxy Z Fold 8 may have grabbed most of the attention, but I actually think the displays are one of the biggest upgrades across Samsung's new foldables. More specifically, it's the inner display that's seen the biggest improvement.
Both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra feature a much less visible crease than previous Samsung foldables. During my hands-on time, it looked very close to what Oppo achieved with the Find N6 earlier this year.
Samsung says this is thanks to its new Titanium Flex technology, which uses a redesigned titanium layer and hinge structure to reduce the appearance of the crease while improving durability.
Samsung hasn't confirmed it yet, but if recent reports are accurate, this could also be a self-repairing display layer that smooth out the crease over time.
Another underrated upgrade is the new anti-reflective coating on the inner display. Since foldable screens are still plastic, they've traditionally reflected a lot of light. That's much less of an issue this time around thanks to an anti-reflective coating that makes the display noticeably easier to use outdoors and under bright lighting.
Samsung finally adds some long-due software features with One UI 9
Samsung also showcased One UI 9, which is based on Android 17, that will debut with its new foldables.
One of the coolest additions is Fan Cam, which lets you record a video normally and then automatically track a specific person in the frame. One UI 9 then uses AI to crop the footage into social media-friendly formats like 9:16 or 1:1, making it much easier to create videos for Instagram Reels or TikTok without manually editing them later.
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 also quietly gets one of its biggest software upgrades yet. Samsung has finally unlocked the cover display, making it feel much more like a proper smartphone screen.
You can now swipe down for Quick Settings and notifications, swipe up to access the app drawer, and interact with the cover display much more naturally instead of being limited to Samsung's previous implementation.
We now know more about the Galaxy Glasses
Samsung didn't fully unveil the Galaxy Glasses at Unpacked, but the company did share a few new details about its upcoming smart glasses.
Samsung confirmed that it's working with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker on the design of the glasses, and, as expected, they'll run Android XR with Gemini at the center of the experience.
Samsung also confirmed they'll be powered by Qualcomm's AR1 Gen 1 chip and that the first generation smart glasses won't feature a display, but rather they would be AI-first smart glasses designed around voice, cameras, and Gemini.
The company also revealed that when launched, you'll be able to control the glasses using hand gestures while wearing a Wear OS smartwatch.
Samsung is still keeping the exact launch date under wraps, although it did confirm they'll arrive sometime later this year.
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