Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: The best foldable phone

Finest Costs In the present day: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Samsung was one of many first manufacturers to launch a foldable telephone, however regardless of being a pioneer of the shape issue, its current releases have turn into a bit stale. Sure, they’re nonetheless a few of our favourites, however the variations between generations have been so slight that you just actually needed to search for them.

With the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, that adjustments. Slightly than an incremental step, Samsung has taken a dramatic leap, bringing us one of many slimmest and lightest foldables available on the market, whereas concurrently rising the display screen sizes. It’s precisely what foldable followers have been hoping for.

In fact, it’s not with out competitors. The Honor Magic V5 is in sizzling rivalry for the title of slimmest folding telephone, and Oppo and Huawei aren’t far off, both. So, is that this the foldable to purchase in 2025? I’ve been residing with it for the previous week in an try to search out out.

Design & Construct

• Solely 4.2mm thick (unfolded)
• 215g, Superior Armor Aluminum
• IP48 rated

There’s no mistaking the Z Fold 7 for its predecessor. Whereas the general design language is analogous, this telephone looks like a unique beast totally. It’s insanely slim, in accordance the the spec sheets, it’s 0.1mm thicker than the Honor Magic V5, however you’d must get the callipers out to note, as a result of it feels only a slim within the hand.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

It’s 26% slimmer than the Z Fold 6, and the result’s a telephone that not looks like a folding telephone. It’s straightforward to mistake this for a typical candybar design, and what’s much more spectacular is that it weighs lower than present flagships just like the S25 Extremely and iPhone 16 Professional Max.

Regardless of the slim dimensions and the burden slicing, each screens are actually bigger. Samsung has lastly embraced the everyday 21:9 kind issue on the outer show, and the knock-on impact is that the folding display screen is far larger, too. You now get a large 6.5-inch panel on the surface and an enormous 8-inch panel on the within.

Given the slim and lightweight nature of the handset, you is perhaps involved about sturdiness, however you needn’t be. It feels rock stable, and it’s supposedly the strongest Z Fold to this point. It makes use of Samsung’s newest Superior Armor Aluminum housing, together with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear, Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the display screen, and a brand new Armor Flex Hinge reengineered to scale back stress on the display screen.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

It’s nonetheless IP48 rated, similar to the Fold 6, and it stays one of many solely folding telephones to come back with a ranking for mud resistance (although the Pixel 10 Professional Fold would possibly get IP68). Certain, it’s not a excessive ranking, nevertheless it’s a ranking nonetheless. As well as, there’s a brand new titanium lattice construction below the folding display screen and a thicker coating on high, with new adhesives. In order that folding display screen needs to be stronger than ever.

The Z Fold 7 is available in three colors as commonplace, Jet Black, Silver Shadow and Blue Shadow. When you order from Samsung.com, you will get an unique Mint variant, which I feel appears to be like notably fetching.

I’ve the Blue Shadow model in for testing, and I’m a giant fan of this color choice, too. It has an nearly metallic sheen to it, and it shifts between completely different shades of darkish blue relying on the lighting. The again isn’t too smudge-prone while you’re utilizing it with out a case, and regardless of the sleek end, it isn’t too slippery within the hand, both.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The brand new hinge feels sturdy and confidence-inspiring. It nonetheless helps free-angle adjustment, so you should utilize the telephone in “flex mode”, however I really feel prefer it has extra of a bent to spring open or shut at excessive angles. It’s not a problem for me, however value noting when you like to make use of the hinge as a makeshift tripod.

Display screen & Audio system

• Outer: 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2520, AMOLED, 120Hz
• Internal: 8-inch, 1968 x 2184, AMOLED, 120Hz
• Stereo audio system

I’ve already talked about the change in measurement for each shows, and that actually makes the most important distinction in comparison with the older mannequin. Other than a slight distinction within the decision of every panel, the specs stay largely unchanged.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Meaning each screens are 120Hz LTPO AMOLED shows with a peak brightness of 2600 nits. And as we’ve come to anticipate from Samsung’s flagship gadgets, they appear beautiful. The colors are correct and vibrant, the black ranges are excellent, and the movement is buttery easy.

Whereas I’d have beloved to see brighter shows, the 2600-nit output is greater than sufficient for snug outside use. That stated, the Fold 7 will throttle the brightness when the telephone heats up, and it does so extra readily than competing gadgets.

With the current spate of sizzling climate we’ve been having within the UK, I ceaselessly discovered the shows dimming in direct daylight. It may be fairly irritating while you’re making an attempt to navigate with Google Maps or body a photograph, so these residing in sizzling climates is perhaps in for a tough time.

Luke Baker

All folding telephones have some stage of creasing, however Samsung has made an enormous step in the proper route with this launch. The Fold 6 crease appears to be like just like the Grand Canyon by comparability, whereas the Fold 7’s groove is barely noticeable in use.

That stated, sure lighting situations could make the crease look worse than it’s. It is because Samsung makes use of a really reflective and shiny display screen protector on the folding show. It’s a double-edged sword, as a result of on one hand, it makes the telephone much less prone to fingerprint smudges, and there’s much less friction than extra matte shows, however on the opposite, you’ve gotten reflections to cope with.

One other huge change is that the under-display digital camera is gone, and there’s now a conventional punch-hole digital camera on the interior display screen. I’ll discuss extra in regards to the digital camera efficiency in a while, however when you actually appreciated that uninterrupted view, you possible received’t be too happy.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Personally, I believed the under-display digital camera was terrible, and the low-pixel density masking it was simply as distracting, if no more so, than a bit cutout for a digital camera. So I’m very a lot in favour of this alteration. Nevertheless, I do want that Samsung had positioned it out of the way in which within the upper-right, as this one cuts into full-screen 16:9 content material, and that might have been prevented.

It’s additionally value mentioning that the digitiser has been faraway from this panel, so it not works with the S Pen. I’m certain some individuals used the S Pen with their fold, nevertheless it’s not one thing that has ever appealed to me, particularly with a crease working down the center of the display screen. Personally, I couldn’t care much less, however S Pen lovers may not be too eager on this mannequin.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

There doesn’t appear to be something new with the audio system, however I preferred the audio system on the Z Fold 6, and these sound nice, too. They aren’t the loudest audio system you’ll discover, however there’s loads of readability and a bit extra low-end grunt than a number of the competitors. Contemplating the scale constraints this time round, I feel Samsung has executed job.

Specs & Efficiency

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• 12GB / 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it’s a particular overclocked “for Galaxy” version, which ought to give it a slight efficiency bump in comparison with different 8 Elite telephones. The 256GB and 512GB fashions pair this with 12GB of RAM, whereas the top-of-the-line 1TB mannequin will get 16GB. I’ve the bottom mannequin in for testing, however except for heavy multitasking, all three choices ought to carry out very equally.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

As anticipated, the Z Fold 7 manages increased scores than its predecessor throughout our standard suite of benchmark exams, not by an enormous margin, however increased nonetheless. The older mannequin was already tremendous fast, and the alternatives to push this chip to the restrict are few and much between.

We already knew the Snapdragon 8 Elite was a monster, although. What’s of extra concern is the thermals. This thinner chassis doesn’t go away plenty of room for cooling, and sadly, that does make a distinction.

Luke Baker

I seen some throttling and slowdowns when taking part in Wuthering Waves at 60fps with the graphics maxed out. In equity, it’s probably the most difficult video games to run, nevertheless it’s a problem that the S25 Extremely takes in its stride. Regardless of having the identical chip inside, the Z Fold 7 can’t hold tempo.

I confirmed this by working 3DMark’s Wildlife Excessive Stress Take a look at, and the Z Fold 7 scored simply 52% for stability. I even noticed a rating as little as 22% when the ambient temperatures have been increased. Basically, the telephone has to throttle rapidly to maintain the temperatures down, and it really works; The telephone doesn’t get too sizzling, however the efficiency suffers.

Luke Baker

You’ll solely actually discover this when you’re into graphically demanding video games or intensive video enhancing in your telephone. For probably the most half, the telephone is lightning fast, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing. Hardcore players would possibly discover this one misses the mark, although.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 benchmarks

Cameras

• 200 Mp f/1.7 essential digital camera
• 10 Mp f/2.4 3x telephoto
• 12 Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 10 Mp, f/2.2 selfie digital camera x2

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has adopted the identical essential digital camera as Samsung’s most superior digital camera telephone, the Galaxy S25 Extremely. It’s a 1/1.3-inch sensor with a 200Mp decision, an enormous improve from the earlier mannequin, which has a 1/1.56-inch sensor and a 50Mp decision.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Samsung says it has reworked the lens module to permit the massive sensor to suit right into a smaller housing. In any case, there’s not as a lot room on this svelte chassis. Nevertheless, as a photographer, that’s a little bit of a pink flag. Smaller optics have a tendency to come back with compromises, and there are possible shortcomings in comparison with the full-size S25 Extremely essential digital camera.

As well as, the ultrawide has gained autofocusing capabilities and may now be used for macro photographs. And the under-display selfie digital camera has been changed with a extra conventional unit, with a a lot increased decision and a wider area of view. The 3x telephoto is unchanged, which is a little bit of a disgrace (however the identical is true for the S25 Extremely). That stated, it nonetheless performs nicely; It’s only a very grainy sensor in low gentle situations.

General, I’ve been very happy with the photographs from the Z Fold 7. Within the majority of conditions, images from this telephone and the S25 Extremely are nearly indistinguishable. In fact, it doesn’t deal with longer zooms fairly as nicely with out the 5x telephoto, however the color tuning and sharpness are nearly an identical, and that’s an excellent factor.

The ultrawide is far more versatile now that it has autofocus, and whereas the ultrawide wouldn’t be my first alternative for macro images, I used to be shocked how a lot I preferred the close-ups I shot with it. It’s a smaller sensor and a decrease decision than the S25 Extremely’s ultrawide, so it’s not fairly pretty much as good in low gentle situations, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a minimize above your common ultrawide, and I discovered it very useful.

The 200Mp essential sensor could be very acquainted to Extremely customers, and it continues to impress right here. The bigger sensor and wider aperture create a bit extra bokeh and topic separation than the Z Fold 6’s essential digital camera, and that provides some good depth to the photographs. The one draw back in comparison with the full-fat S25 Extremely model is that the minimal focus distance appears to have elevated barely; in any other case, the efficiency could be very comparable.

Video efficiency is robust, too. Samsung continues to have a number of the greatest microphones obtainable on an Android machine, and body price stability is a minimize above many of the competitors. The wonderful LOG profile that was launched with the S25 sequence is obtainable right here, too, which makes it a reasonably highly effective device for content material creators.

Battery Life & Charging

• 4400mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• 15W wi-fi charging

Sadly, we don’t get any battery or charging upgrades this 12 months; the Z Fold 7 nonetheless has the identical 4400mAh capability, with underwhelming 25W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging. As with all Samsung flagships, there’s no charger within the field, only a USB-C cable.

On paper, none of those figures are very spectacular, particularly when in comparison with a number of the foldable competitors popping out of China. Honor’s newest is simply as slim, however nonetheless crams in a 5820mAh cell, for instance.

Nevertheless, numbers are solely a part of the story. I just lately examined the Poco F7, which has an enormous 6500mAh battery inside, however the precise battery life was fairly unimpressive. Software program makes simply as a lot of an influence, and that’s one thing Samsung does very nicely.

Luke Baker

Sadly, after a number of makes an attempt, our standard PC Mark Battery Drain check did not run appropriately. So I can’t examine apples to apples. Anecdotally, although, the Z Fold 7 felt prefer it lasted for about the identical period of time because the Z Fold 6. Contemplating it has bigger shows to energy, that’s fairly spectacular. 

Like its predecessor, the Z Fold 7 by no means did not get me to the top of the day, nevertheless it ceaselessly minimize it shut. You’ll most likely need to hold energy financial institution on the prepared when you’re on an extended journey.

With regards to charging, the telephone matched Samsung’s claims of a 50% cost in half an hour precisely. It’s not stunningly fast, nevertheless it’s not a foul displaying both. Sadly, the opposite 50% will take longer to refill, and I used to be ready nicely over an hour for a full cost.

The 15W wi-fi charging is, after all, even slower. However hey, when you’re gonna be sitting at your desk for some time, or in case you have a charging pad within the automotive, it’s nonetheless very handy.

Software program & Apps

• One UI 8, based mostly on Android 16
• 7 years of software program and safety updates
• New AI options

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the primary telephone I’ve examined that runs Android 16 out of the field. You would possibly assume which means huge adjustments, however the actuality is much more refined. For probably the most half, One UI 8 appears to be like and acts precisely the identical as One UI 7.

To be clear, that’s not a problem. Samsung is famend for its software program, and this model feels simply as polished and speedy because the variations that got here earlier than it.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

One of many huge promoting factors for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Galaxy AI, and all of the options from the S25 sequence telephones make an look on the Z Fold, too. There are some new additions debuting with the Z-series, however I’d classify them as comparatively minor.

For example, a brand new characteristic referred to as Photograph Help will now counsel objects/individuals to take away out of your images. Which might be useful, however doesn’t add a lot utility over the AI eraser that we already had entry to. In an analogous vein, the audio eraser now has an “auto” button, so you may take away background noise without having to manually modify sliders.

Google can be debuting a few of its AI options with this machine. Circle to Search now works while you’re playing a game, so if you get stuck, you can circle the problem to get instant hints and tips. You can also share your camera feed or share your screen with Gemini Live to get context-based answers. 

Luke Baker

I found Circle to Search while gaming to be quite handy, but I just didn’t really end up using the other features too much. Regardless, Samsung already had one of the most robust AI offerings on the market, and the offering continues to grow with each release.

In addition, you can expect one of the longest support windows on the market. Just like other Samsung flagships, the Z Fold 7 will continue to get Android OS upgrades and security patches for the next 7 years.

Price & Availability

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at £1,799 in the UK, the exact same price as its predecessor. However, in the US and Europe, there has been a price increase; it starts at $1,999 / €2,099, while the Z Fold 6 was $1,899/€1,999.

The 12GB+512GB model goes for £1,899/ $2,119/€2,119 while the 16GB+1TB model will cost you a hefty £2,099/$2,419/€2,359.

It’s a pricey phone, but that’s to be expected with a large-format foldable, and the competition commands similarly high price tags. One of the big benefits of this device is that it’s readily available in most regions across the globe, while most Chinese foldables avoid the US market entirely.

If you’re in the UK, you can double your storage for free by pre-ordering on Samsung.com before 24 July.

It’s also available on contract through all the major networks and you can read our Z Fold 7 buying guide for the best prices and deals on free upgrades and extras. 

Should you buy the Galaxy Z Fold 7?

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a massive upgrade over its predecessor. It’s now so slim and lightweight that you could easily mistake it for a bar phone. Using it folded down feels incredibly natural, and unfolding it gives you a luxurious, tablet-like experience with exceptionally slim bezels.

The crease is much, much shallower, it’s quicker, and the cameras have had a healthy upgrade, too. Combined with Samsung’s slick, speedy OS and advanced AI tools, it’s a powerhouse for mobile productivity and content creation.

That said, there’s still room for improvement. The sustained performance isn’t great for intense gaming, and the battery capacity and charging speeds are far from impressive. I still think they’re sufficient, but the competition is leagues ahead in that department.

It’s worth mentioning that the Honor Magic V5 is expected to launch internationally soon, and Google’s next Pixel foldable shouldn’t be far behind, either. Right now, I think the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the best folding phone that you can buy globally (of the book-style), but how long it can keep hold of that title remains to be seen.

Specs

• One UI 8, based on Android 16
• Outer: 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2520, OLED, 120Hz
• Inner: 8-inch, 1968 x 2184, OLED, 120Hz
• Power-button fingerprint sensor
• Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• 12GB /16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage
• Cameras:
  • 200Mp main sensor
  • 12Mp ultrawide (macro)
  • 10Mp 3x telephoto
  • Dual 10Mp selfie camera
  • Up to 8K30 / 4K60 rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM and eSIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 4400mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• 15W wireless charging
• 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9 mm (folded)
• IP48 certified
• 215g
• Colours: Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Jet Black, Mint (Online exclusive)