Samsung's newest foldable is packed with nearly everything you could want. But can you afford it?
My biggest complaint about the Galaxy Z Fold from the past few generations is that, despite all its good and great features, it lacks some key elements that most people want in a daily driver. Primarily, the camera system paired with the device was middling compared to its Galaxy S counterparts. It wasn't good enough for me to rely on it to snap photos of my Dutchie from a distance (I call him that lovingly), even with its neat built-in tripod feature. That sucks for a device that's $2,000 after all is said and done.
The bulk was also annoying. I understand that a folding smartphone folds up like a book, and then it's essentially a phone sandwich. However, as I mentioned a few newsletters ago, that point made it uncomfortable to carry around in a loose pocket or an already cramped sling bag.
I may not be the target demographic for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. But I feel willing to give this latest generation another try. It's thinner and lighter this time around, and Samsung wants you to know it got it down to the size of a USB-C port when splayed open. The cover screen is a wider 6.5 inches this time around. It's more comfortable to hold two-handed when the situation calls for it, even though it does take up slightly more room in the pocket.
It's bigger when opened up, too. Samsung increased the size of the inside screen to a full 8 inches. It feels more like a bona fide fold-out tablet than the previous three generations, which felt like a phone trying to pass itself off as a tablet. Now, when it's open, the Z Fold 7 feels like a tablet. And when it's closed, it's a phone, and not an overtly narrow one with a hot dog bun shape.
Images: Florence Ion / Android Faithful
One way Samsung made the Z Fold 7's chassis thinner and lighter is by removing the digitizer layer. The result is that there's no longer any S Pen compatibility, which is fine! You had to buy the thing seperately if you wanted to use it, anyway.
The trade-off is an Ultra-worthy camera system. Samsung packed the Galaxy S25 Ultra's 200-MP primary sensor into the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The only bummer is that it's still limited to 3x optical zoom. It's not the kind of device you want to shoot concert footage with, which is a bummer, because I still see people with tablets at shows, and Samsung had a real opportunity to be the foldable tablet that does it all.
At least the inside camera has improved somewhat. It's a 10-MP camera with a 100-degree field of view, which should be sharper than the mid-range 8-MP sensor found on the last few generations of Folds. I did try out the device at Samsung's Unpacked demonstration area, and it felt considerably less blurry than I'm used to on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. If you're video chatting, you're likely doing so with the camera inside the foldable, because that's how you'd use it on a tablet. It made no sense to have the inside camera be such a poor performer.
Does the Galaxy Z Fold 7 need to be everything it can be? Well, yes. I mean, at a starting price of $2,000 before taxes on at least a 128GB model with 12GB of RAM, this better be the ultimate foldable that you can buy. On the plus side, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy will be substantial enough to meet your gaming and multitasking needs, including utilizing AI for help whenever needed. That's another significant aspect of Samsung's foldable experience that you'll encounter through marketing, and we'll have more to say about that in our full review.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is available with up to 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM, so if you're willing to pony up the cash, you can spend as much on the foldable as on a capable gaming laptop. The book-style foldable is available for pre-order at Samsung.com and through your carrier and will be on sale starting July 25.
