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At Samsung’s Unpacked event, the company unveiled three foldable devices – one more than it typically announces at the yearly gathering. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 and the newly renamed Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra were expected. Of the three devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 – distinguished by its compact, broad, passport-like form factor – came as a genuine surprise, and has since sparked the most discussion.
Before the official announcement, MKBHD had early access to all three devices, and his take on the base Fold 8 turned out to be something he hadn’t expected. “The more I use it and hold it and just mess around with it – I’m not going to lie – the more I’m liking it,” he said during his first-look video. “Yeah, I’m really impressed by how much I like the smaller Fold, and I can really see myself… dailying it.”
That kind of admission from a reviewer who has handled every significant foldable of the last several years is definitely worth paying attention to.
Why the Fold 8 Is Nothing Like What That Name Used to Mean
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra carries forward the same upright, candy-bar form factor and flagship-focused identity that defined the Z Fold 7, with incremental refinements rather than a fundamental redesign. It carries an 8-inch inner display, a 200MP primary camera joined by a 10MP 3x telephoto, a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, and 45W wired charging. Starting at $2,099, it’s $100 more than its predecessor. Per CCS Insight’s Ben Wood, that price will “be a talking point.”
The regular Z Fold 8 is an entirely different object. Closed, it measures roughly 4.8 by 3.2 inches – short and wide, closer in shape to a passport than any phone Samsung has previously shipped. The 7.6-inch interior screen opens up to a 4:3 aspect ratio, allowing photos captured in that same format to cover the entire display during playback. The outer screen runs 5.5 inches with thin bezels all the way around, and when using the phone in that orientation, MKBHD observed that the camera viewfinder achieves better frame coverage than what the Ultra’s taller cover display offers. At 201 grams, the device matches the Galaxy S26 Plus in weight, a substantial feat given that it contains two screens and a 4,500mAh battery.
The Fold 8 lineup, across both form factors, runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and features Samsung’s Flex Titanium hinge design, which significantly minimizes the visibility of the center crease, along with an anti-reflective inner display that reaches up to 3,000 nits at peak brightness. The tech YouTuber put the crease reduction in perspective: if Oppo’s Find N6 is a 10 out of 10, the new Samsung lands around an 8 or 8.5, versus maybe a 5 for last year’s model. That’s a meaningful jump. The Fold 8 does give up Samsung’s telephoto lens entirely, carrying only a 50MP primary and a 50MP ultrawide, and there’s no Flex mode. For $1,899 at launch – available August 7, with pre-orders open now – you’re accepting those trade-offs consciously.
Samsung Already Has an Answer for Apple’s Foldable iPhone
Apple is widely expected to reveal a foldable iPhone later in 2026, and the device is rumored to share the same squarish, compact proportions that Samsung just claimed with the Fold 8. Early foldables from Oppo and Google briefly explored this shape before the industry collectively migrated toward the taller format Samsung has dominated. Now Samsung is planting its flag in both camps simultaneously – the Ultra holds the high ground for multitaskers, and the Fold 8 sits below it waiting for anyone who finds Apple’s rumored design appealing.
“It’s honestly reminding me, and let me cook here,” he said. “It’s reminding me of the good parts of the Surface Duo. The good parts, the really nice hardware parts.” He continued: “I also happen to think this form factor would be awesome for an e-reader experience. Open or closed. Because it’s so damn light now.”
Clever positioning, assuming the execution holds up in a full review. The Z Flip 8, which rounds out the lineup at $1,199, gets the same Snapdragon chip and a slightly trimmer chassis than its predecessor, but it’s the incremental update anyone paying attention expected.
Samsung is reportedly manufacturing more Fold 8 units than either the Ultra or the Flip 8, per GSMArena, which suggests the company is betting on the new form factor finding a broader audience. Given that MKBHD – someone who has seen every iteration of this product category – walked away genuinely surprised by how much he wanted to keep using it, that bet might not be as risky as the $1,899 price tag makes it sound.
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