Galaxy Z Fold 7 overview: Approaching greatness

Once I first held the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at Samsung Unpacked, I used to be immediately captivated. I’ve at all times discovered foldable phones fascinating, however I’ve by no means been genuinely impressed sufficient by one to make it my day by day driver. After three weeks of utilizing the Fold 7, Samsung’s latest book-style foldable, I’ve by no means been extra offered on switching to a foldable telephone completely.

In comparison with the Fold 6, which was an incremental improve from the Fold 5, the Fold 7 represents probably the most important leap ahead Samsung has made but with its Fold collection. It is thinner, lighter, and extra highly effective than any earlier Z Fold mannequin.

However general, what makes the Fold 7 so compelling — and why I am struggling to place it down — is that it genuinely feels such as you’re utilizing a regular phone if you maintain it, one thing I’ve not skilled with another foldable telephone earlier than. Should you’ve at all times needed to strive a foldable telephone, the Fold 7 is as compelling because it will get.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 value, specs, and availability

The principle distinction between the Fold 7 and the Fold 6 is their measurement. The Fold 7 measures 2.87 x 6.24 x 0.35-inches (158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9mm) when folded, and 5.63 x 6.24 x 0.17-inches (158.4 x 143.2 x 4.2mm) when unfolded, weighing 7.58oz (215g). Compared, final 12 months’s Fold 6 is bulkier, measuring 5.6mm when unfolded (versus the Fold 7’s 4.2mm) and 12.1mm when folded (versus 8.9mm), and it weighs 8.43oz (239g). So the distinction in measurement between the Fold 7 and Fold 6 may be very noticeable. Once I held each gadgets at Unpacked, the distinction was evening and day.

Shifting on to the shows, the Fold 7 options bigger screens this 12 months. Its Cowl Show is a 6.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a decision of 2520 x 1080 pixels, up from the Fold 6’s 6.3-inch Cowl Show. The principle inside show measures 8-inches and has a Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a decision of 2184 x 1968 pixels, up from the Fold 6’s 7.6-inch most important show. Each the Cowl Show and most important show have adaptive refresh charges of 1-120Hz.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, the identical chipset present in the whole Galaxy S25 lineup. The telephone is available in three storage variants: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The 256GB and 512GB fashions include 12GB of RAM, whereas the 1TB variant is supplied with 16GB of RAM.

Wanting behind the Fold 7, the digital camera array is comparable however nonetheless improved from the Fold 6. It encompasses a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, a 200-megapixel f/1.8 extensive lens, and a 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. The important thing improve is the 200-megapixel extensive lens, a notable enhance from the Fold 6’s 50-megapixel extensive lens. The Cowl Show encompasses a 10-megapixel selfie digital camera, and the principle show additionally has a 10-megapixel selfie digital camera.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is out there now and begins at $2,000 for the 256GB mannequin. This can be a $100 enhance from the Fold 6, which launched at $1,900 for a similar quantity of storage. The 512GB Fold 7 prices $2,120, whereas the 1TB model is priced at $2,270. The telephone is out there in three colorways: jet black, blue shadow, and silver shadow. A fourth colour, mint, is out there completely on Samsung’s internet retailer.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 construct and design

It is skinny, however powerful

The Fold 7 will get many issues proper, and I can not underscore sufficient simply how wonderful its skinny design is. It feels nice to carry in your hand, slip into your pocket, and unfold to disclose its giant display. Weeks into utilizing the telephone, I am nonetheless mesmerized by its measurement every single day. When unfolded, it measures 4.2mm thick, which is about as skinny as it might get, because the thickness is the same as that of the USB-C port itself.

Regardless of its slim design, I discovered the Fold 7 to be fairly sturdy and light-weight, and I by no means as soon as felt that the machine was flimsy or liable to bending throughout use. Since bendgate with the iPhone 6, there was a notion that skinny telephones aren’t powerful, however Samsung has now dismissed that concept with each the Galaxy S25 Edge and the Fold 7.

Wanting on the general design of the Fold 7, it bears a resemblance to the Fold 6, with its boxier look. That is evident when it is aspect by aspect with the Galaxy S25+. The corners of the telephone are rounded the place you open it to unfold, however in the direction of the hinge, they’re virtually at a 90-degree angle. I had no points holding the telephone for an prolonged interval, both folded or unfolded, and located it fairly snug. On the load scale, it weighs 215g, barely lighter than Samsung’s S25 Extremely flagship at 218 grams — a outstanding feat.

Samsung states that the telephone is “wrapped in superior armored aluminum,” which is 10 p.c stronger than the Fold 6. Moreover, it options Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the Cowl Show and Victus 2 on the rear, which has made me much less anxious about unintentionally dropping it.

Opening and shutting the telephone stays simply as clean on the Fold 7 because it was on the Fold 6. Samsung has enhanced its hinge, often known as the Armor FlexHinge, making it thinner and extra sturdy to deal with repeated opening and shutting. I by no means received bored with unfolding the Fold 7, and any time I confirmed it off to somebody, they had been mystified by it. Turning to the telephone’s colours, I had an opportunity to see all of them at Unpacked, and whereas all of them appeared nice, the blue shadow colorway I used to be fortunate sufficient to check stole the present for me. I feel it is my favourite shade of blue I’ve ever seen on a smartphone.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 could also be slim, however it’s sturdy and has a really premium feel and appear, which you’d count on from a $2,000 smartphone. My greatest gripe concerning the design is that if you place it on a desk, it primarily turns into a teeter-totter as a result of telephone’s protruding digital camera bump.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 shows

The Cowl Show is extra usable this 12 months

Wanting on the shows, Samsung has made them wider this 12 months, and I discovered myself utilizing the Cowl Show extra typically than I anticipated. Its 6.5-inch entrance display resembles a typical smartphone show, and whereas it is probably not as extensive because the 6.7-inch show on my Galaxy S25+, it is nonetheless fairly spectacular and helps promote the phantasm that you simply’re not utilizing a foldable machine when it is folded. For reference, the Fold 6 encompasses a 6.3-inch cowl display, so the Fold 7 represents a noticeable enhance in measurement.

The 8-inch most important show is the place the Fold 7 actually excels, and I loved with the ability to unfold the machine each time I needed a tablet-like display. I primarily use it for watching movies, taking part in video games, and doomscrolling social media. I discovered multitasking on the foldable display to be comparatively clean, and Samsung’s Multi Window characteristic is simple to be taught for displaying a number of apps concurrently.

The crease line on the Fold 7 is much less noticeable than on the Fold 6, and I solely seen it from odd angles and below vibrant lighting situations, not when trying straight at it. For probably the most half, whereas utilizing the telephone, I forgot the crease was even there. You possibly can nonetheless really feel it if you contact the middle of the display, however I did not discover it distracting.

The most important flaw of the Fold 7’s show is that it now not helps the S Pen. So when you’re used to utilizing Samsung’s stylus on different Galaxy gadgets and hoped to do the identical with the Fold 7, you will not be capable to. At Unpacked, Samsung defined that to make the telephone as skinny as it’s, they needed to take away the “digitizer layer” that makes it appropriate with the S Pen. Admittedly, I do not use Samsung’s S Pen. Nonetheless, I perceive the frustration of some customers who’ve used it on earlier generations of Samsung’s foldable gadgets and may now not achieve this.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 cameras

The 200-megapixel extensive lens is the star of the present

The Fold 7 retains the identical rear triple digital camera setup because the Fold 6, however with one key improve. The first extensive digital camera now encompasses a 200-megapixel lens, similar to the one on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I discovered myself utilizing the 200-megapixel shooter most frequently for extensive panorama photographs, and I used to be impressed by the quantity of element it captured. Final 12 months, the Fold 6’s extensive lens was 50-megapixels, so this can be a important leap, and what you’d count on from a $2,000 telephone.

The opposite two rear cameras are a 12-megapixel ultra-wide and a 10-megapixel telephoto, the identical as on the Fold 6, so there’s little change there. Moreover, Samsung has eliminated the black digital camera rings from the Fold 7, which had been current on the Fold 6. I like this alteration, and I feel it makes the cameras look cleaner.

Wanting on the selfie cameras, the Cowl Show options the identical 10-megapixel lens as final 12 months. What’s completely different is the selfie digital camera on the inside show, which has been upgraded to a 10-megapixel lens with a digital camera cutout. That is an enchancment over the Fold 6’s lackluster 4-megapixel under-display digital camera it has on its most important show.

General, I am happy with the photographs I took on the Fold 7. I went round my backyard and the seashore and took some photographs, and all of them appeared very vibrant. I like the colours in my photographs to pop, so the Z Fold 7 did not disappoint me. My solely criticism is that it might’ve been good if Samsung upgraded the ultra-wide lens to a 50-megapixel, just like the S25 Extremely has, somewhat than the 12-megapixel one we received.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 efficiency

The Snapdragon 8 Elite proves its price once more

I used to be impressed by the Fold 7’s efficiency, which wasn’t a shock on condition that it makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. I by no means skilled any lag whereas utilizing the machine, whether or not gaming or multitasking, and I used to be by no means anxious about pushing it too exhausting. General, the expertise has been very clean. If numbers are your factor, after I examined the Fold 7’s CPU with Geekbench 6, it scored 2,650 for single-core and eight,633 for multi-core efficiency.

Wanting on the battery, the Fold 7 options the identical 4,400mAh battery because the Fold 6. I am glad Samsung did not decrease the battery capability as a result of slimmer design. Nonetheless, it might’ve been good to see an even bigger cell. In comparison with different foldables available on the market, similar to these from Oppo and Huawei, Samsung nonetheless has some catching as much as do. I received all-day battery life out of it simply positive, however its charging velocity is noticeably slower than that of different smartphones, with solely 25W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging. To place it into perspective, the S25 Extremely helps as much as 45W of wired charging, however has the identical 15W of wi-fi charging.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 software program

One UI 8 is a clean expertise with a lot of AI

Out of the field, the Fold 7 ships with One UI 8 based mostly on Android 16. In comparison with One UI 7, which was Samsung’s main person interface replace for the Galaxy S25 collection, there aren’t many important modifications right here. That mentioned, one of many small new options added with One UI 8 is dynamic wallpapers, the place the colour of your wallpaper modifications over time, which I believed was fairly neat. On the Android 16 aspect of issues, one of many new options is the 90:10 split-screen perform for multitasking, which is kind of helpful, particularly with the Fold 7’s giant 8-inch most important show.

In fact, it is 2025, so the Fold 7 options a lot of AI capabilities as Samsung continues its AI push with Galaxy AI and Google Gemini. All of the Galaxy AI options you’d count on are right here, similar to Now Temporary, Interpret, Drawing Help, AI choose, and extra. My favourite Galaxy AI characteristic is the Magic Eraser, which lets you edit out small particulars in photographs.

Google Gemini has a fair bigger presence on the Fold 7, due to Gemini Live. You possibly can long-press the house button to share your display with Gemini and ask it questions on what you are seeing, and you may change between completely different apps whereas doing so. I examined this whereas researching a future journey to Scotland, and it was actually fairly informative, serving to to summarize very detailed internet pages and reply questions on native locations to go to. I am not the most important person of AI, however I can admire its implementation right here, and it is unimaginable how far forward Samsung and Google are of Apple.

Do you have to purchase the Galaxy Z Fold 7?

My most important critique of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is its value. The telephone begins at $2,000 for the 256GB mannequin, making it one of the crucial costly telephones at the moment out there within the US. Once I informed my good friend this, he summed it up completely by evaluating the price to purchasing an iPhone 16 Professional and an iPad, and I could not argue with that logic.

Nonetheless, in order for you a foldable telephone proper now, the Fold 7 is your best option due to its improved versatility, so long as you are snug with its $2,000 price ticket. In my view, it is the primary foldable that really is smart as a substitute to your common smartphone, and I feel that is clear from the response it has acquired since its unveiling. That mentioned, when you personal a Fold 4 or Fold 5 and are contemplating an improve, the Fold 7 is a strong choice. However in case you have a Fold 6, it is higher to attend.

General, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a strong, slim, light-weight, and sturdy machine. In order for you a foldable telephone and do not need to wait any longer for Apple to launch its personal foldable iPhone, you will not be disillusioned with the Fold 7. It isn’t flawless, however it’s as refined as foldables have ever been.

This machine was offered to Pocket-lint by Samsung.

Model

Samsung

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite

Show

6.5-inch 120Hz 2520 x 1080 Dynamic AMOLED 2X Cowl Show, 8-inch 120Hz 2184 x 1968 Dynamic OLED 2X Principal Show

RAM

12GB