Galaxy Z Fold 8 vs Fold 8 Ultra: A question of your priorities, and it’s a tough call [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Jul 22 2026 - 6:35 am PT

Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series is here and, after trying both, I’m pretty conflicted. These phones really ask you what you value most out of a foldable, and I’m not sure which one I want to use long-term yet.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is the design we’re used to, with a taller outer display and a squarish inner display. Meanwhile, Galaxy Z Fold 8 delivers the revamped wider form factor, offering an inner display that has a 4:3 aspect ratio and an outer display that’s short and stout, and just smaller overall.

They’re wildly different devices, and the differences in usability become obvious very quickly.

Starting with the familiar, Fold 8 Ultra feels practically identical to the Galaxy Z Fold 7. That’s actually impressive, though, as Samsung stuffed in a bigger 5,000 mAh battery while building a phone that’s a tiny bit thinner and lighter – not that you can notice those minor differences. Another upgrade comes from the display, which is sharper, but also now has an anti-reflective finish. The latter is by far the bigger upgrade.

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What’s not an upgrade is the color selection, as Samsung took everyone’s loud feedback about how great the vibrant blue color was and gave us a collection of very subdued options. “Violet Shadow” barely looks purple in person, though it does vary wildly depending on the lighting. “Green Shadow” would be my preferred option of the bunch, and that’s online-only for some reason.

There are some other nice hardware improvements, like Samsung’s new hinge assembly making the crease basically invisible. The company has also tweaked the chassis design to make it much easier to open and close the foldable, a widespread complaint about the Fold 7. There’s just a bit more of a gap on the long edge of the Fold 8 Ultra, as well as an adjusted shape that provides more grip.

In a media briefing, Samsung also explained that it has adjusted the tension on its new hinge, which further contributes to making the foldable easier to open up.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a much bigger deal in the lineup, mostly because it’s brand new.

The short and stout foldable is a throwback to earlier ideas from Oppo and Google, but also clearly just preparation to compete with Apple’s first foldable iPhone. That said, I immediately adore this little thing.

In the hand, it’s a compact phone that feels great, while the inner display is a refreshing change of pace.

It’s just so nice.

That said, I don’t think I’m fully convinced by it. Just in the little time I spent with it, I quickly realized it doesn’t work as well for multitasking or web content. And, with video playback, the 4:3 aspect ratio doesn’t give you any additional space compared to Fold 8 Ultra (or Fold 7) when in landscape.

The biggest concern I have right now is typing, as the keyboard now takes up roughly half of the display. In Chrome, that means you only have a tiny sliver of usable space, and desktop websites/writing in a browser is one of my biggest foldable use cases.

Ironically, I walked away with the exact opposite thought of what my colleague Damien felt. Where he felt that Fold 8 proved Google’s original Pixel Fold form factor was right, this experience made me think that maybe Samsung is the one with the right idea.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 hands-on: This redesign proves Google was right the first time [Video]

That’s more or less what I’ll be spending the review period on these phones figuring out. What will I move to from my Galaxy Z Fold 7? My gut says I want to try the tiny one first, but I’m really curious how it changes day-to-day tasks.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra are available for pre-order now, priced at $1,899 and $2,099, respectively.

What I can say with confidence is that, whichever one I get, it’ll be one of those online-only green colors because wow.