The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra continues to set the benchmark for premium foldable smartphones. It's flagship features, stunning design, excellent cameras, longer battery life and Galaxy AI puts unlimited possibilities at your fingertips.
- RATING
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra remains the pinnacle of the company’s foldable portfolio delivering pro level performance and stunning design.
While the new Galaxy Z Fold8 with its passport shape has stolen most of the headlines, the Fold8 Ultra has also seen an impressive improvement.
The Fold8 Ultra remains the device aimed at pro-level high end users, content creators and multitaskers.
Tech Guide has been using the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for three weeks.
DESIGN
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra hasn’t had a massive change design-wise but Samsung has still managed to make it thinner.
It’s not much thinner but you can see they barely had room to fit the USB-C charging port.
Not that the previous model, the Fold7 was overly bulky. It was the first Samsung foldable that looked just like a regular phone in size and thickness and thankfully they’ve carried that forward with the Fold8 Ultra.
It is just 4.1mm thick when unfolded and weighs just 215g.
And despite the fact it’s a foldable device that happens to be thin and light, it doesn’t compromise its durability.
The device is made from armour aluminium and fitted with Corning Gorilla glass.
It has an IP48 rating, which offers water resistance against accidental spills and splashes.
DISPLAYS
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has a 6.5-inch front screen and an 8-inch internal screen with up to 3000 nits peak brightness.
They are sharp and clear for you to view in any conditions at any time of the day or night.
The size of the front screen has increased over the years and the bezels have also shrunk.
It has now reached a point where it can be used for your day-to-day and immediate activities like answering calls and responding to messages.
One complaint we’ve had in years gone by with previous models is that the front screen didn’t offer us enough room with our fat thumbs to complete those everyday tasks and we were forced to open the device to complete them.
But since the Fold7 last year and this year’s Fold8 Ultra, that is no longer an issue.
Of course you’ve got the larger 8-inch display when you unfold the device, which is the ideal venue for viewing your content and multitasking.
The difference here between the Fold8 Ultra and the new Fold8 is the shape of that larger inside screen.
The Fold8 Ultra screen is square and while it gives you more room to move than the Fold8, the result is the same no matter how you hold the device.
The Fold8 7.6-inch display has a 4:3 shape, which means it has a landscape and portrait viewing mode.
That’s not the case with the Fold8 Ultra but your content still looks rather impressive.
And the crease is now virtually invisible when you open the Fold8 Ultra.
The hinge technology has improved remarkably over the year.
What helps here is the new Flex Titanium technology not only adds strength, virtually eliminates the crease and improves the viewing experience.
PERFORMANCE
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy it offers slick performance when switching between apps and multi-tasking and running up to three apps at a time on the larger screen.
Whether you are watching content or playing the latest games the Fold8 Ultra has more than enough juice to keep things flowing smoothly and seamlessly.
The device is running the One UI 9 – a minimal and easy-to-navigate interface above Android 17.
Also on board is Galaxy AI, which can keep you on top of things and boost your efficiency and creativity.
Whether it’s editing your photos or bringing your calendar to your fingertips when discussing your plans, the onboard Galaxy AI we’ll provide the nudges that you need to take action and get things done.
CAMERAS
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra offers a slight improvement to the triple camera system.
It includes 200MP main wide camera with improved high dynamic range, a new 50MP ultra-wide to offer added detail and clarity for wider shots, and a 10MP telephoto camera.
The big change here is the move to a 50MP ultra-wide camera – up from the 12MP on the Z Fold7. This improved resolution means sharper wider shots.
Optical zoom is limited to 3x and 30x digital zoom – not in the same league as the S26 Ultra, which has 5x and 100x Space Zoom – but it’s still respectable.
Both selfie cameras – the one on the front screen and on the main screen – are 10MP.
On the video side the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra can shoot up to 8K video at 30 frames a second and 4K at 60 frames a second.
What continues to impress with the Samsung Galaxy cameras is its Nightography, which can produce remarkable results in near darkness.
We took a shot of our astrophotography set up and the amount of light it somehow added it was amazing.
BATTERY
Another area which has been boosted is the battery capacity.
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has a 5000 mAh battery, which is a decent jump from the Fold7’s 4,400 mAh battery.
And the great thing is that despite powering two screens, three cameras, and multi-tasking, the battery easily got us through an entire day and well into the next before we even had to think about charging.
And when it was time to recharge, we got back to 100 per cent quickly, either through the 45W wired charging or the 20W wireless charging.
We went from 20 per cent to 100 per cent with a 45W charger in 48 minutes.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is available now and is priced from $2,999.
VERDICT
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra continues to set the benchmark for premium foldable smartphones. It’s flagship features, stunning design, excellent cameras, longer battery life and Galaxy AI puts unlimited possibilities at your fingertips.
