A New Fold but Still Just a Luxury
Retail Price: $1,899.99
It’s been a long time since I used an Android device– Which is ironic because the last time I switched to an iPhone, which was probably in 2020, I had been exclusively reviewing Google Pixels for the Sypnotix. I just never went back to Android after that switch until now. In 2026. When Alex handed me the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and said, you’re reviewing it, I was definitely intrigued as a serial movie consumer on my phone, but to be honest, I was also skeptical as only Alex had been reviewing foldables and I had solely been accustomed to slab phones. In fact, my last Samsung device was the Galaxy Note 2, which as you can guess was a lifetime ago. However, I was pleasantly surprised with my new modern Samsung experience despite a few hiccups that were honestly out of the phone maker’s control. Let’s chat about it right now.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees and support our channel by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.My biggest Fear
The new passport fold form factor is so cute
My biggest fear with the Fold8 was its durability despite Samsung advertising a #1 American Customer Satisfaction Index for durability. I am a naturally clumsy person and dropped this phone multiple times both with and without a case on, and so far, it still looks okay. I’ve had this phone since launch day so I’m relatively impressed with the build quality so far. There’s an aluminum titanium frame that carries the burden of any impact, and a FlexHinge that looks delicate, but actually isn’t. As for the screen, Samsung uses a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. For those afraid of water damage, the phone also has an IP48 rating for water resistance. There’s a USB-C port at the bottom for charging, slim-designed volume rockers on the right and just below it, the power button that also functions as a fingerprint sensor. It can be a little finicky at times depending on the position of your thumb but works fine overall. For obvious reasons, it’s easier to unlock when opened since your hand can reach the sensor more easily.
The Fold8 isn’t the first passport-looking foldable on the market, but it certainly became one of the most easily accessible ones upon launch. While the form factor is different from a user experience point of view, the way the phone folds is nothing new for a Samsung foldable. The FlexHinge is refined even further than previous years and at this point, there are not noticeable gaps while the folding mechanism smoothly closes and opens consistently to give the phone a premium feel.
While it is still early to judge how durable the phone is from normal everyday usage, we do have a means to judge Samsung’s track record as we have the same functioning Galaxy Z Fold6 we reviewed two years ago still in our fleet, and it is functioning and operating just fine.
What’s New
The size of the device is also surprisingly space friendly, for both male and female pockets. As this year’s new iteration, the Fold8 has a different cover display resolution at 1972 x 1248 AMOLED in a 10:16 aspect ratio, making it slightly less elongated in a pocket than its predecessor’s 2520 x 1080p, 21:9 aspect ratio. The Fold8 is also lighter than the now rebranded Fold8 Ultra this year, weighing only 201 grams. On a side note, I don’t know why Samsung didn’t just call this the Z Fold Passport or Pocket or Square instead of pushing the form factor that previously held the Fold# name for 7 years into a new name, but whatever, this is now the base Fold.
The outer display is extremely comfortable to use
When unfolded, the device is just 4.5mm thick giving it a very slim profile. When folded, it becomes 9.7mm, which is still comfortable enough to fit into the back pocket of my yoga pants. When the device is opened up, the Fold8 features a 7.6 inch main AMOLED screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio and 1848 x 2448p resolution. The squarish cover display is great for simple browsing or responding to texts or emails. But as expected, the main star truly is the inner main screen and its 3000 nits of brightness. I started understanding why Alex had me review the phone the more I used it.
You see, I consume a lot of media. During my lunches, I frequently have YouTube, Netflix, or Crunchyroll on in the background while I do chores and eat. I’m also an avid reader and use my phone for reading almost every night, whether it’s novels or manwha. The Fold8 is perfect for someone who watches or reads a lot of media. And it absolutely delivered in providing an elevated experience with those things. It didn’t matter if I was in a bright or dark space, everything felt immersive from the viewing angles all the way to the sound quality. While some users may find the placement of the two speakers to be odd as when opened fully, both speakers end up on the left side of the folding phone, I personally didn’t find it to be a deterrent. It still gets plenty loud enough and you do get used to where the audio is coming from. It’s not really a stereo experience, but it’s noticeably not a mono one either. I know it doesn’t make sense on paper, but once you experience the sound sitting on a table, you’ll get what I mean.
The display and sound were clear all around and there was no need for me to watch anything on a laptop or tablet while I was reviewing this phone. This would be my perfect travel companion for a flight or long travel day.
Watching content unfolded is what the Fold8 was made for
Performance
The Fold8 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and runs on Samsung’s One UI 9. You can run multiple apps side by side or use up to three apps simultaneously when the phone is open. From a productivity standpoint, this was helpful for me. I could be responding to a text while having an email open to reference something, or be looking at a news article while doing something else. Honestly, multi-tasking is absolutely at its peak on Android with this phone. A 4:3 aspect ratio doesn’t give you the extra real estate to disperse your app windows, but it does allot you to snap them more neatly into certain quadrants than a longer aspect ratio would. Unlike the benefits of a wide computer monitor, the mobile experience requires more compacting while retaining surface to populate apps to use. I like the squarish use case for multi-tasking surprisingly a lot.
I was also impressed with how far Samsung’s One UI has come since I was last on it. Yes, I get it, Touchwiz was a long time ago, but its not as if I’m not familiar with Android or OneUI in general either. Using it everyday, I was able to customize whatever I wanted on a foldable level, and still had a seamless transitional experience on my device from Samsung and Android. You also get the other AI features that come with Android like Google Gemini and photo editing features that come with Galaxy AI. Most everything internally on the phone ran the way it should with the high performing specs it had.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Cases
What we Used to Protect our Fold
The camera was also quite good for day to day photos of my son. The back features a 50 MP wide lens with a 50 MP ultrawide lens. There is no telephoto lens on this year’s Fold8 which is a compromise that separates it from the even more expensive Fold8 Ultra. The cover display houses a 10 MP while the inner display when opened also has a 10 MP lens. When paired with the Galaxy AI software that the camera runs on, photo and video quality appeared high to me and true in color and tones. The saturation felt realistic and kept skin tone real. And while I didn’t use it as much as I could have, Galaxy AI can help edit photos quickly with prompts. Photo taking is an important aspect of modern smartphone ownership, but when you get a certain point in quality, the threshold of acceptability is likely subjective. While I found the Fold8 to give me results that I found great enough for my Instagram posting and keepsake memories, this isn’t a pro level mobile photography phone especially for this price tag. If you are looking for the highest end photo taking results and user experience, folding phones aren’t there yet. Still, I don’t think it’s that far off the top of what phones are providing at the very top of the market right now, and I do think the Fold8 gets nitpicked a bit too much for what it does provide. For a majority of people, the Z Fold8 will provide great photos that can be viewed in a pleasing manner thanks to the unique form factor which is why you’re really buying this phone for in the first place.
Taken on the Z Fold8
Life with the Fold
What I loved the most about the Fold8 was how fantastic its battery life is. Powered by a 4800 mAh battery, it was really hard to beat its advertised 26 hours of continuous playback. When paired with its fast charging functions, it has easily been the best performing battery I’ve used on a phone recently. Even after hours of media consumption in full screen and more, the Fold8 lasts a very, very long time on a single charge in my experience. I’ve taken this phone to take photos when out and about, came home and turned on Bluey or Ms. Rachel for my toddler, and endured long video calls with grandparents and there’s still enough juice at the end of the night for me to watch or read what I want on it without needing an immediate charge. That’s impressive, especially for a phone with all these moving parts and screens.
The Fold8 comes in a variety of storage options. My version is 256GB and comes with 12 GB of memory, but there’s also a 512 GB option with 12 GB of memory. For those who want more storage, you can also opt for 1 TB with 16 GB of memory. There is no SD card support. The device is also sold in a variety of colors including pistachio like mine, lavender, graphite and cream.
Truth be told, on paper, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Z Fold8. It’s core competencies have been refined through multiple iterations, and the new (for Samsung) form factor does most of everything it’s advertised to do. But despite all this, I still found myself having certain problems using the phone. And the fault really lies with developer support. Despite such great hardware and literally about a decade’s headstart on android, I just can’t shake the feeling that developers still optimize for iOS more than they do Android and it shows here. Apps like Instagram simply don’t work like they should utilizing all this extra real estate. In fact, when browsing reels, there is regular crashes and freeze up that happens. I have to scroll up and down to get Reels to play 99% of the time. Other apps I use like Cradlewise, which is our baby monitor and crib, work terribly no matter the updates, but work seamless otherwise on my iPhone. Despite a nearly $2,000 MSRP phone, you have no choice but to still feel like a second-class citizen because your app experience simply isn’t great. And that’s very unfortunate because I feel like in every other instance, the phone’s hardware is fantastic for a first foray into this shape.
Should You Buy?
For this app experience reason above, I just don’t know if I would recommend this nearly $2,000 phone to everyone. If you do most of all your media consumption on your phone like I do, and are okay with the Android experience, then yes, maybe it should be a contender on your list. But I still find the Fold8 to be niche despite loving everything else about it. Folding phones are going to be blowing up into the mainstream market with the Apple iPhone Duo launch, and I know there is going to be a huge push from developers and OEM’s to improve the user experience. There isn’t a single specific killer feature from a passport foldable that I found yet to emphasize a must-have for a phone like this, but I know it is coming. It might still be too early for most people out there to buy a Fold8 or even the iPhone Duo at this time of where the consumer market is, but the day is coming quickly where folding market may end up in at least one-third of people’s pockets. Until then, the Fold8 is still a luxury phone that is only really meant for people looking to have a luxury symbol.
Lida
As a former narrative journalist turned data scientist turned product manager, Lida’s always looking for gadgets that can adapt and optimize with her. Whether it’s a device that survives Lida’s torturous, adult working itinerary days or makes life easier for her as a new mom, she’s always thrilled to try something new and (maybe) give it the praise it deserves.