The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 is a truly remarkable device. It brings together so many features – and two displays – into a product that you’ll will always want to have in your hand. The Z Fold7 will lead the way in introducing the foldable smartphone to everyday customers. It’s one of the best smartphones you can buy today.
- RATING
Samsung has absolutely hit its stride with its foldable range. The new Galaxy Z Fold7 is a marvel of engineering that has come a long away even from last year’s model.
Tech Guide has been using the Z Fold7 for the past two weeks as our daily driver and we’ll tell you up front – it’s one of the best smartphones we’ve ever used.
Since the first Galaxy Z Fold was unveiled in 2019, it has a niche product favoured by a small yet passionate group of customers.
Samsung paved the road for other companies to drive when it comes to folding smartphones.
The technology has blossomed over these seven generations. The Galaxy Z Fold7 makes that first generation model look like a brick.
Even the improvement from the Z Fold6 to the Z Fold7 is nothing short of remarkable.
Just the fact the device can go from being 12.1mm thick to 8.9mm thick in less than 12 months is quite an achievement.
The Z Fold7 is also now not much thicker than Samsung’s other flagship device – the S25 Ultra which is 8.2mm thick.
And when the Z Fold7 is unfolded you’re looking a thickness of just 4.2mm which provides barely enough room for the USB-C charging port and the SIM card tray.
The other vital improvement is to the Dynamic AMOLED 2X front screen which is now 6.5-inch and offers much more room to do the everyday tasks and messages, browsing and using apps.
In fact, it looks more like a regular smartphone than any previous models which had narrower and smaller displays that for us were nearly unusable.
That meant we would have to open the Fold even to do something as simple as typing out a message.
But with the Z Fold7 that has all changed – it has reached the optimal formfactor.
Now we open the device when we want to – not because we have to. That’s a huge difference.
And we think because of this upgrade it will now be appealing to a mainstream customer who may have thought the previous models were bulky and heavy.
They can’t say the same thing about the Z Fold7.
Samsung has nailed the design.
On the rear panel is the large camera bump which does add to the overall thickness.
One other thing it does is make the device uneven when resting on a surface.
It’s not so bad when the device is unfolded but it’s only an issue if you’re touching the device while it’s resting on a surface. It’s a bit like that chair in the cafe that’s a little wobbly.
It is no issue if you’re just watching content.
One other little downside was that the device, being so thin, is sometimes hard to open.
Because the edge is so narrow it’s hard to get a good grip to open the device like a book.
But this was only a day one problem – we soon got the hang of it and was able to open the device quite easily.
And inside is the gorgeous 8-inch Super AMOLED display which give users more room to multitask – you can have three apps open side by side at once.
Users can also enjoy individual apps on a grander scale.
A lot of apps have been already updated with a default aspect ratio so that it uses the entire screen while others can be adjusted in the settings to offer either a zoomed in view or the same portrait shape of regular smartphone.
The larger inside display is also great for viewing content like videos and images.
And if you’re into playing games on your phone then the Z Fold7 8-inch screen is a great venue.
You can see an ever so slight indentation above the hinge but it a lot more subtle than previous models.
But when you’re looking at your content you don’t even know it’s there.
Under the hood is the purpose built Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor that offers superior NPU (41 per cent boost), GPU (26 per cent boost) and CPU (38 per cent boost) performance.
The device is running its new One UI 8 platform on top of Android 16.
Performance-wise the Galaxy Z Fold7 was smooth and snappy to use and it was easy to move from app to app and even run apps at the same time side by side.
On the camera side the Z Fold7 also delivers.
In years gone by, the Samsung Fold devices wouldn’t be given the same flagship camera as its Galaxy S range.
But that’s all changed now thanks to the inclusion of the 200-megapixel wide angle camera for the first time along with the 10-megapixel telephoto and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
Now there’s no room for a periscope lens to achieve those huge zoom shots but the Z Fold7 camera’s credentials are still in the same ballpark as its flagship devices.
Whether you’re capturing images or shooting video you’ll be very pleased with the results.
What we liked was taking photos using the large 8-inch display as our viewfinder.
It just made it even easier to frame up our photos and see what we’re shooting in greater detail.
Another favourite feature was activating the front screen when we were taking a photo of somebody so they could see themselves in the frame.
The cameras not only allow you to take great images and videos but they are also your eyes and ears for the onboard Galaxy AI and Gemini.
So not only can the onboard AI help you with your creativity, efficiency and productivity it can also see things around you through the camera and respond to relevant questions.
You might ask about where you are and what you can do.
One example we saw was a person aiming the camera at a staircase with a railing and asking what skateboard tricks they could perform.
The impressive thing about it is the ability for Galaxy AI and Gemini to work together and even go across different apps to answer your query
For example, you might ask to find the best cafes in a certain area and then text the result and directions to a friend via text message.
The AI on the device, while still in its early iterations, still offers more possibilities and capabilities then we’re seeing on other smartphones.
The great news is it’s only going to get even better.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 has a 4400 mAh battery that will get you through a day and a half before you need to plug in the charger.
The battery capacity is lower than the Samsung Galaxy S25 ultra – it has a 5000 mAh battery – at only running one screen.
We were slightly concerned that the lower capacity 4400 mAh battery for the Z Fold7 running two screens would mean a mid-afternoon scrambled to recharge.
But boy weren’t we wrong.
The battery sailed through even when we were using the largest 8-inch display throughout the day and by evening we still had enough in the tank to head out and still have enough juice to get us home.
Another thing to talk about is the price.
Samsung is obviously positioning the Galaxy Z Fold7 as a flagship device with prices to match starting at $2,899.
This makes it one of the most expensive phones on the market.
We can justify this by saying you are really getting two products in one with the smartphone through the front screen and a tablet when you unfold the device.
But there are numerous deals and offers around which can reduce your outlay either through trade-ins or contract offers with various telcos.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 is available in three colours Jet Black, Blue Shadow and Silver Shadow and priced at $2,899 (256GB), $3,099 (512GB) and $3,549 (1TB).
VERDICT
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 is a truly remarkable device. It brings together so many features – and two displays – into a product that you’ll will always want to have in your hand. The Z Fold7 will lead the way in introducing the foldable smartphone to everyday customers. It’s one of the best smartphones you can buy today.
