NEW YORK—Samsung has revealed its newest household of folding telephones, which will increase from two fashions to a few. Along with anticipated yearly updates to the Z Fold and Z Flip traces, Samsung launched a inexpensive Fan Version of the Z Flip 7 to decrease the price of entry. All three telephones include Android 16, One UI 8, and the most recent in Galaxy AI. With costs that vary from $900 to effectively over $2,000, there are not any low cost choices right here, however I acquired an opportunity to see the brand new {hardware} firsthand, and these are clearly Samsung’s most refined folding telephones but. This is every thing you’ll want to know.
Nailing the {Hardware}
Every year since its 2019 debut, Samsung has refined the design of its folding telephones. The unique Galaxy Fold was a chunky brick that stuffed your pocket and weighed you down. Now in its seventh era, the Z Fold 7 is one thing to behold.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The Z Fold 7 is 48% thinner than the unique at 0.35 inches folded and 0.16 inches when opened. It is also a lot lighter at 7.58 ounces. Samsung says it has a brand new Superior Armor Aluminum body to assist cut back weight and add power. The corporate redesigned the Armor FlexHinge to disperse stress, defend the show, transfer extra easily, and last more. It is an extremely skinny machine and is hardly bigger than a regular slab cellphone. The lowered weight goes a great distance towards making it extra usable. All the pieces concerning the {hardware} feels top-notch, and it slips into your pocket much more comfortably than earlier fashions.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Samsung utilized these identical upgrades to the Z Flip 7, which is a contact thinner (0.26 inches) and lighter (6.63 ounces) than its predecessor, the Z Flip 6. Notably, the cellphone is barely wider and shorter to vary the side ratio of each the outer and interior screens. With a broader width, every is less complicated to kind on. The Flip 7 FE is extra like a warmed-over model of the Z Flip 6 and is thicker and heavier than the Flip 7, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a positive machine.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The hinges of all three telephones really feel sturdy and fluid of their motion. We have come a great distance from the creaking hinges of Samsung’s first-generation foldables.
The glass is stronger throughout. The Z Fold 7 adopts Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the entrance and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear to thrust back scratches and breakage. The interior display has a brand new Grade 4 titanium layer for defense and new adhesives to forestall the multi-layer show from delaminating over time. The Flip 7 options Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back and front, however in any other case has the identical upgrades.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Each the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 have the identical IP48 ranking as final 12 months’s fashions, which suggests they’re proof against bigger particles of mud and might deal with immersion in about 5 toes of water for as much as half-hour. Samsung did not say if the Flip 7 FE shares the identical ranking.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
There are fewer colour choices than in earlier years. The Z Fold 7 is available in black, blue, or silver, the Flip is available in black, blue, or coral pink, and the FE is available in black or white. In the event you order the Fold 7 or Flip 7 on-line, you will have entry to an unique mint (inexperienced) possibility. In individual, the blue, coral pink, and mint are the winners so far as making an impression is worried.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
New Show Sizes and Shapes
As soon as once more, Samsung has tweaked the dimensions and form of its folding screens to make them simpler to take a look at and use. It is perhaps laborious to consider, however the Z Fold 7 will get even larger. The outer display grows from 6.3 to six.5 inches and is wider than earlier than. It is now the identical dimension and form show you’d discover on any flagship cellphone (21:9 side ratio), reasonably than the tall and slender one from older variations. The interior display stretches from 7.6 inches on the Fold 6 to an enormous 8.0 inches—the identical dimension as many small tablets. Each have 120Hz adaptive refresh charges. These Dynamic AMOLED 2x shows are extremely sharp and shiny, and supply sufficient actual property to perform any activity, watch any video, or run a number of apps facet by facet.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 interior show (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
There’s one main disadvantage, although: The Fold loses compatibility with Samsung’s S Pen stylus. The Fold has supported the S Pen for many of its generations, even when the stylus is not embedded within the chassis. With a purpose to develop a thinner cellphone, Samsung needed to delete the layer that works with the stylus.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 interior show (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The Flip 7 has larger screens, too. The outer show will get an enormous improve, increasing from 3.6 inches to 4.1 inches. Slim 0.05-inch bezels body the show, which mainly goes edge to edge, and seamlessly across the digital camera lenses. It consists of what Samsung calls Imaginative and prescient Booster to make the out of doors expertise higher. The display now reaches 2,600 nits of peak brightness and has a 120Hz refresh price for brighter and smoother efficiency. I examined it underneath extra-bright lamps in an occasion house and located it a breeze to see, irrespective of how a lot mild shone on it. The interior display improves from 6.7 inches to six.9 inches. Critically, Samsung has widened each screens to enhance typing messages on the keyboard. It now has a standard 21:9 side ratio. It was simple to really feel the additional room when pecking out just a few pattern sentences in individual.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE outer show (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The Flip 7 FE has screens just like these of the Flip 6. Although Samsung did not share specs, in individual, the cellphone’s shows appeared nearly as spectacular because the Flip 7’s. Its smaller 3.6-inch Flex Window comes throughout as extra cramped than the massive one of many Flip 7.
An Extremely Digital camera
The Fold 7 adopts the identical 200MP foremost digital camera discovered on the S25 Extremely and S25 Edge, in addition to the most recent ProVisual Engine to course of pictures and movies. Although the remainder of the digital camera suite seems to be the identical because the Fold 6, the improved foremost sensor ought to go a great distance towards making Fold 7 customers blissful.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The 200MP foremost shooter can seize 200MP, 50MP, and 12MP pictures, with the 50MP possibility providing a macro mode for terribly sharp close-ups. This was nice to check in individual. The cellphone can take some actually sharp macros. The remainder of the package deal features a 10MP telephoto digital camera with 3x optical zoom, a 12MP ultra-wide digital camera with autofocus, a 10MP cowl display digital camera, and a 10MP interior display digital camera with a super-wide 100-degree area of view for these group selfies. The ProVisual engine reduces noise, helps 10-bit HDR+ by default, and helps clear up evening video for sharper and brighter outcomes.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 macro mode (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The Flip 7 has a 50MP foremost digital camera just like that of the Z Flip 6, nevertheless it makes use of the identical ProVisual Engine to course of pictures and make them look their finest. The cellphone can take 2x optical zoom pictures by utilizing the central portion of the sensor. It additionally has a 12MP ultra-wide digital camera and a 10MP selfie digital camera.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 digital camera module (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Samsung says it has improved the selfie-taking expertise. There’s now an Auto Zoom perform for hands-free pictures. It might assess the scene and body the quick accordingly. Furthermore, there is a super-easy-to-use, one-handed Zoom Slider that allows you to immediately set the correct amount of zoom on your pictures. The Flip 7 FE gives comparable digital camera {hardware} however depends on a unique processing engine.
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Galaxy Z Flip 7 digital camera app (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The Densest Circuit Board
Yearly upgrades do not hinge on design, shows, and cameras alone. Samsung has boosted the specs of every machine to make sure it may well ship the very best experiences.
As anticipated, the Z Fold 7 makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite for Galaxy processor, which additionally powers Samsung’s Galaxy S25 line. This chip will not be solely quick but additionally extra environment friendly and higher at AI calculations, and it does all that whereas drawing much less energy. The cellphone carries over the identical storage choices as final 12 months, which embody 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The Z Flip 7 has “the most recent 3nm chip for superior efficiency,” which is the homegrown Exynos 2500 chip. The cellphone will are available 256GB and 512GB variants. Each telephones include 12GB of RAM throughout the board. Samsung did not say something concerning the FE’s processor or RAM, however did say it will likely be obtainable in 128GB and 256GB fashions.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Samsung says the circuit board of the Z Flip 7, specifically, is essentially the most dense one it has ever designed for a cellphone. It spent further time engineering a board to deal with each potential characteristic within the cellphone’s small type issue. It additionally refined core elements, just like the digital camera module and battery, to squish every thing inside.
Considerably disappointingly, the batteries are the identical 12 months over 12 months. The Z Fold 7 has a 4,400mAh battery, and the Z Flip 7 has a 4,300mAh battery. Each assist the identical 25W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging specs as final 12 months, too. Samsung claims each telephones can cost to 50% in about half-hour with 25W adapters. Samsung stated the Z Fold 7 can play video for 26 hours straight and the Z Flip 7 can play video for 31 hours straight. (That is with the video saved on the machine at 720p.) We check battery life by streaming 1080p video over Wi-Fi with the display at full brightness.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Samsung has performed it conservative with the charging capabilities of its prime telephones, selecting 25W as “quick sufficient” for most individuals. Competing telephones from OnePlus, Oppo, Honor, and others can cost at speeds as much as 120W. Motorola’s newest foldable, the Razr Extremely, helps 68W wired charging and 30W wi-fi charging.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
The telephones include the most recent Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7, in addition to 5G. Samsung did not specify which variations of 5G. The Fold and Flip 7 possible assist C-band, mmWave, and sub-6GHz, whereas the Flip 7 FE could also be restricted to C-band and sub-6GHz. The telephones can deal with one bodily SIM card in addition to an eSIM card.
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Gemini Reside Takes Middle Stage
Google’s Gemini Reside now performs an excellent larger function in Samsung’s Galaxy AI expertise and is extra deeply ingrained within the One UI 8 platform. These are the primary telephones to ship with Android 16 out of the field, and so they pack Samsung’s One UI 8 to begin. One UI 8 focuses on enhancing the multitasking expertise, optimizing content material and controls for the brand new screens and floating home windows, and making it extra seamless than ever to pull content material from one app into one other.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Maybe the Z Flip 7 positive aspects essentially the most important improve. The outer display, which Samsung calls the Flex Window, carries over all of the Galaxy AI and Gemini instruments from the Galaxy S25 line. This consists of the Now Bar and the Now Temporary, that are AI-driven notifications that feed you particulars about your day and that of the world round you. Furthermore, the Flex Window helps pure voice search, the place you will get solutions and take actions immediately with out opening the cellphone. Gemini can look into apps to make options, in addition to proactively activate Discover My Machine whenever you depart house, or verify the climate on your vacation spot forward of upcoming journeys. Gemini Reside on the Flex Window consists of utilizing the digital camera for solutions about what’s in entrance of you, or offering you with a match verify towards the most recent kinds.
Circle to Search takes a step ahead. AI Mode in Circle to Search helps you to entry superior reasoning and multimodal capabilities to discover issues when on the go. You may as well ask follow-up inquiries to study extra with out opening up the cellphone. Furthermore, Circle to Search now works inside video games. You may snap a screenshot and study new characters, achieve suggestions, get unstuck, or discover a profitable technique. The demo I noticed allowed a Samsung rep to hunt out the solutions to a puzzle by sending a Circle to Search consequence to Google.
Galaxy Z Flip 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Gemini Reside additionally works natively with extra apps on the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, together with Samsung Calendar, Notes, and Reminders.
Galaxy AI positive aspects pro-level picture enhancing. For instance, Picture Help now suggests what background gadgets to erase out of your pictures, and Generative Edit performs the erasures with a single faucet. Within the demo I noticed, the device mechanically highlighted all of the individuals within the background of a shot taken in a forest. It then seamlessly deleted them with a faucet. Galaxy AI powers side-by-side enhancing on the Z Fold 7 so you possibly can see the unique and new model in actual time. The Audio Eraser device can now immediately take away undesirable sounds, like wind, crowd noise, and site visitors, from movies. Additional, Audio Eraser now works within the Samsung Notes voice recorder app and with recorded cellphone calls.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Credit score: Eric Zeman)
Samsung continues to spice up Knox, its enterprise safety suite. All the brand new telephones embody KEEP (Knox Enhanced Encrypted Safety), which locks every thing down and prevents apps from accessing private particulars with out specific permission. It might auto-detect threats after which mechanically signal you out of your machine to forestall private info from being compromised. Samsung says that is all strengthened by quantum-resistant encryption.
As with its different current flagships, Samsung is promising seven years of OS and safety updates for its new foldables. Samsung additionally says it is not going to cost anybody for any Gemini AI characteristic that ships on the machine. A 12 months in the past, the corporate urged it might finally cost individuals to make use of Gemini options after a set time, however it seems that Samsung is placing that plan on maintain.
Pricing and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 can be found for preorder now and can hit retailer cabinets on July 15. In the event you order immediately from Samsung, you possibly can rating reductions on storage upgrades and equipment. Samsung can be providing $50 credit and beneficiant trade-in offers.
The Z Fold 7 begins at $1,999.99 for the 256GB mannequin, $100 greater than final 12 months’s cellphone. The Z Flip 7 begins at $1,099.99, the identical as final 12 months’s mannequin. Contemplating the Z Flip 7 FE is meant to be an inexpensive entry level into foldables, it begins at a surprisingly expensive $899.99. Samsung did not instantly present pricing for the higher-capacity fashions.
I plan to place all three telephones to the check, so verify again quickly for my evaluations. In the intervening time, examine Samsung’s newest smartwatches.
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About Eric Zeman
Managing Editor, Shopper Electronics
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