I actually favored the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but it surely was a long way from an ideal system. The outer display could have been barely wider than earlier than, but it surely was nonetheless surprisingly slender, the cellphone was additionally fairly thick, and in comparison with rivals, the cameras felt a bit outdated – particularly that terrible under-display selfie digicam.
Now, although, Samsung has unveiled its newest foldables, and the Z Fold 7 fixes practically each difficulty I had with the predecessor. Definitely, it’s shaping as much as be the model’s best foldable up to now.
Slimmer, lighter and …larger?
Let’s begin with the scale, as they’re actually the very first thing you’ll discover. The Z Fold 7 is now wildly slim. It measures simply 8.9mm thick when folded and 4.2mm unfolded. For these retaining rating, it’s supposedly 0.1mm thicker than Honor’s Magic V5, however you’d have a tough time telling. This seems like simply as a lot of an accomplishment, and it’s a big leap in the suitable path from final 12 months’s chonker.
It’s not solely slim although, it’s additionally impossibly light-weight. It suggestions the scales at simply 215g, which suggests it’s lighter than the Galaxy S25 Extremely. And, crucially, it’s 2g lighter than Honor’s newest effort.
Regardless of the low weight, Samsung has additionally managed to make the duvet display considerably wider, and it now has a extra traditional-feeling 21:9 side ratio. In consequence, the inside display is way larger, too. It’s now an 8-inch panel, which Samsung says is 11% bigger than the Z Fold 6’s folding display.
This folding display is seemingly extra sturdy as properly. It has a brand new titanium lattice underneath the show, a brand new waterdrop-style hinge designed to evenly disperse stress, an improved coating with new adhesives, and a considerably shallower crease as well.
The distinction within the crease is apparent to see. It’s nonetheless current, after all, but it surely’s so a lot better than earlier variations. Nonetheless, there’s a draw back to this new design, and that’s the truth that it not helps the S Pen.
In line with Samsung, the brand new design is just too skinny to accommodate the layers required by the S Pen. I’m not a lot of a stylus man, so it’s not likely going to make an affect on me, however in the event you wish to doodle in your folding cellphone, this may very well be a dealbreaker.
What else is new?
In fact, the Z Fold 7 additionally will get an improve to the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, and as we’ve come to count on, it’s a particular overclocked “For Galaxy” version. I wasn’t in a position to put the efficiency to the take a look at throughout my brief hands-on session, however suffice it to say, this one’s gonna be fast. The query is, will that slim chassis have the ability to successfully dissipate the warmth? Hold an eye fixed out for our full overview to search out out.
We additionally get the identical 200MP predominant sensor because the S25 Extremely, which has been slimmed down so it doesn’t protrude fairly as far on this mannequin. Don’t get me improper, these cameras nonetheless stick out a good bit, however to not the identical extent because the upcoming Honor Magic V5.
The ultrawide has been upgraded, too, presumably additionally matching the Extremely. It now has macro-focusing capabilities, and whereas the ultrawide wouldn’t be my first alternative for macro capturing, it’s nice that we will lastly shoot excessive close-ups with a Samsung foldable.
Samsung has additionally lastly ditched the under-display selfie digicam, and I couldn’t be happier with that call. Yeah, there’s a small punch-hole to cope with, however you’ll truly get usable outcomes when utilizing the cellphone unfolded, and a a lot wider area of view, too.
In fact, I’ll must take these cameras out into the true world to get a correct concept of how they carry out, however on paper, it’s a fairly large improve. I can’t wait to check them totally.
On the software program entrance, there are a couple of new AI enhancements. Picture Help will now detect and advocate objects/individuals to erase in your photographs, and Audio Eraser has been enhanced, too. Now you can faucet an “auto” button to take away background noise without having to manually dial within the ranges your self.
As well as, the AI options have been optimised for a bigger display, and also you’ll have the ability to view your ends in quite a lot of new layouts.
Gemini has additionally realized some new tips, that are debuting right here, however in all probability gained’t keep unique for lengthy. You may share your display with Gemini Stay, to get context-based responses, and you too can use Circle to Search whereas enjoying a recreation, in case you want a touch on a difficult boss battle.
What’s not so new?
Disappointingly, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has the very same battery capability and charging speeds as its predecessor. It’s a 4400mAh pack which expenses at 25W with a wire and 15W with out. That mentioned, given how a lot slimmer the system is, the truth that there hasn’t been a discount in capability may very well be chalked up as a win.
Then again, the Honor Magic V5 has nearly equivalent dimensions and it manages to squeeze in a 5850mAh pack with 66W wired and 50W wi-fi charging. In order regular, Samsung isn’t main the pack with battery tech. Is greater than 25W actually an excessive amount of to ask for?
The 10MP cowl display digicam and 10MP 3x telephoto stay unchanged, too. They’re not unhealthy cameras, however 10MP feels very low-res in 2025, particularly once we’re speaking about one of the costly telephones available on the market.
What you might want to know
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 goes up for pre-order at present, and it’ll be touchdown with clients on 25 July. The cellphone comes with the very same storage choices as its predecessor, and pricing has remained the identical, too. The one distinction is that the 1TB mannequin has an additional 2GB of RAM, which may very well be a pleasant improve for energy customers.
At current, we’ve solely had the UK pricing confirmed, however right here’s how that appears:
- Galaxy Z Fold 7 12GB + 256GB: £1799
- Galaxy Z Fold 7 12GB + 512GB: £1899
- Galaxy Z Fold 7 16GB + 1TB: £2149
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is accessible in Jet Black, Silver Shadow and Blue Shadow color choices as normal. Nonetheless, in the event you order from Samsung.com, you’ll have the ability to get your palms on a fairly nifty Mint model.
We’ve additionally obtained early hands-on opinions of the 7 Flip 7 and the 7 Flip 7 FE, if you wish to take a look at extra of the brand new lineup.