Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 review: Another year, another head start over Apple

Eight generations in, Samsung boldly dominates the foldable smartphone, atleast in India. But the Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn't just another annual refresh; It flaunts a new form factor, the world’s lightest foldable build, and a sleeker profile. After using it for about a week, we believe the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the most practical foldable the brand has ever made. But is it the best across camera, performance, and battery life? We will get into the details in more depth in the review.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers a wider form factor, making it more natural for content consumption and multitasking. Reportedly, Apple could launch a foldable iPhone this year with a similar form factor, but yet again Samsung has set the benchmark before Apple has even entered the category. While Apple plays catch-up, Samsung brings years of refinement, with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 being the well-rounded foldable.

Priced at Rs. 179,999, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers a compact and sleek design, flagship performance with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Elite for Galaxy processor, a dual camera setup, and a clean user interface with One UI 9. While it all looks impressive on paper, the foldable does come with some shortcomings that are worth considering before spending nearly Rs 1.8 lakh on it.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 design: The ideal foldable form factor

Over the years, Samsung has had two foldable designs: a book-style phone, which has a taller and narrower build, and the other is the compact clamshell designed for portability. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes as a new foldable phone, which unfolds like a passport. The device has instantly grabbed all the attention among the new foldables, and it surely deserves all the hype.

Coming to its features, the foldable is 4.5mm slim when unfolded, and weighs just 201 grams, making it the world’s lightest foldable phone. The key focus of the foldable is the whole new size with a 10:16 cover screen, which is wide enough to be used as a regular phone. You can seamlessly scroll through social media, browse the web, shop online, reply to messages, and do other tasks. When unfolded, it offers a  4:3 main screen, perfect for content viewing, multitasking, gaming, and much more. 

The exciting part about this form factor is that every screen orientation feels natural. For the cover screen, I not only enjoyed the basics, but also watching videos or social media content. On the main screen, it was seamless to multitask across apps, read news articles, and even e-books.

Similar to other foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 also features an Armour FlexHinge that offers a satisfying and sturdy foldable experience. However, the major highlight of the phone is the new Flex Titanium technology, a dual-layer titanium structure beneath the foldable display, which the company claims to offer a stronger and more durable experience. 

On the rear panel, the foldable gets a dual-camera setup sitting inside a pill-shaped camera module. While it looks neat, the module sticks out quite a bit. Because of that, the smartphone doesn't sit completely flat on the surface, and it tends to wobble. In addition, its water resistance rating may also raise eyebrows for the price you’re paying. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers an IP48 water and dust resistance rating, so a few splashes might be fine, but you can not risk it in heavy rain or water immersion.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 has the best foldable design we have seen, and it will surely give tough competition to other competitors in the market, including the anticipated Apple iPhone Fold if it launches this year. In addition, due to its perfect blend of compactness and productivity, many may also skip buying the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, in my opinion.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 display: Compact proportions, premium appeal

On the cover, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a 5.5-inch WUXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. When unfolded, you get a 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a similar refresh rate. Both displays offer a peak brightness of 3,000 nits with Vision Booster and HDR10+ support across OTT platforms. 

Coming to the day-to-day usage, the 5.5-inch cover screen delivers punchy colours across use cases such as scrolling through social media, browsing, watching images clicked with the device, and even during gaming sessions. While the screen instantly grabs attention, the usability starts to feel comfortable as you constantly use the device. Honestly, it was really hard to switch to a regular phone.

Coming to the main 7.6-inch screen, it is perfect for productivity and for someone who works across multiple apps simultaneously. The majority of the time I used the multi-screen window to edit copies of Google Docs, while browsing on the other screen to check facts and information. Many times, I also had YouTube playing in one window while browsing or working in another, and the large display made switching between tasks feel effortless.

In terms of picture quality, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 delivered exceptional visuals with vibrant colours, sharp details, and excellent viewing angles. It works not only for OTT content, but also for gaming. The screen size is perfect for people who enjoy watching sitcoms, movies, and YouTube videos on smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers a display and screen size that serves the need for a smartphone and a tablet, giving you a compact cover screen for everyday tasks and a larger inner display for content consumption, multitasking, and productivity.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 camera: The weak link

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a dual camera setup consisting of a 50MP main camera with Dual Pixel autofocus and 2x optical zoom, and a 50MP ultrawide camera with Quad Pixel autofocus. On the cover screen, you get a 10MP selfie camera, and on the main screen you get another 10MP camera. While the features on paper look impressive, it misses out on a telephoto lens, which users may expect for the price. However, it is reserved for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra model.

Coming to the real-world camera performance, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 captures impressive daylight images, delivering great clarity, colour accuracy, and well-balanced dynamic range. However, in some cases the phone lacks the sharpness you'd expect, and in certain scenes, colours may appear slightly off, especially when lighting conditions are challenging. As you click more pictures, you’d expect more from the foldable. 

 

Since the main camera offers up to 2x optical zoom, the close-ups are not up to the mark, but decent. Portrait images are also pleasing with impressive subject separation, natural skin tones, and edge detection. 

Coming to the low-light camera performance, the images remained sharp and detailed, and the colours were well preserved. However, you will only know the best results after processing, which takes a few seconds. However, note that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 does not have a dedicated Night Mode, similar to what we saw in Galaxy S26 series models. Therefore, the sensors automatically adjust lighting based on the scene.

Lastly, the 50MP ultrawide camera also manages to capture promising images with vibrant colours and excellent dynamic range. However, sometimes the images could feel unnaturally bright at times after processing, which makes the images look slightly overexposed.

So, is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 worth the bucks? While the camera setup mostly does a decent job, it doesn't quite match the camera performance you'd expect in the price segment. However, considering its a foldable phone, it gets the basic right, and deliver above average performance.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 performance: Flagship promise 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor paired with up to 16GB RAM and up to 1TB internal storage. The chipset also powers the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy S26 Ultra, proving its grade capabilities. The foldable effortlessly handled demanding tasks, gaming, multitasking, and AI-powered features, making it a reliable choice when it comes to productivity. 

We tested the device across multitasking, video editing, heavy gaming, and other demanding workloads, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 did not sweat and handled tasks with ease. From a heavy gaming front, we tested the device with Call of Duty: Mobile for about 40 minutes, and the experience remained smooth. Although you will start to notice slight heating, there are no performance hiccups. And as far as the new form factor is concerned, Galaxy Z Fold 8 strikes a great balance between productivity and portability.

The foldable runs on One UI 9 based on Android 17 out of the box, and it offers plenty of AI-powered features under “Galaxy AI.” Samsung has a new My FanCam, a Galaxy AI video editing feature that keeps focus on the selected person in a recorded video. It also comes with Gemini Intelligence integrated across the UI that works behind the scenes to refine the flagship experience.

Apart from this, the software offers AI features like Now Nudge that suggests actions based on what’s happening on the screen, or Gemini Notebook, custom Call Brief, Photo Assist voice, and much more that feels like you’re using a true AI phone. Alongside these newly added features, the foldable retains the Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist, Now Brief, and other AI feature which have seen on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra earlier this year. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 battery: Dependable

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is equipped by a 4,800 mAh battery that support a 45W wired charging, 20W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. While it may not be the segment's best, it can easily last you an entire day with 7 to 8 hours of heavy usage, which is quite impressive for a foldable phone. Coming to the charging speed, the foldable takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to fully charge from 1 to 100%. Therefore, the battery life and charging speed remain decent, if not the best, considering the price tag. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 surprisingly gets the fundamentals right for a foldable smartphone. Its passport-style wider form factor, incredibly thin 4.5mm profile, and lightweight 201g build strike a perfect balance between practicality, portability, and productivity. The displays are bright and vibrant, performance remains top-notch, One UI 9 feels futuristic and AI-ready, and it delivers a promising battery life.

However, at Rs 1,79,999, the foldable does come with some compromises that may make buyers rethink their choice. The IP48 rating leaves room for improvement when it comes to durability, and the camera systems leave you wanting more; the exclusion of a dedicated telephoto lens limits camera versatility.

Therefore, buy the Galaxy Z Fold 8 if you desire a refined, sleek, and comfortable foldable experience with a cover screen that feels more natural to use. However, if you prioritise ultra-flagship camera performance and better durability, and a true flagship, then you may want to check the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.