Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: The best foldable phone

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7

Samsung was one of the first brands to launch a foldable phone, but despite being a pioneer of the form factor, its recent releases have become a little stale. Yes, they’re still some of our favourites, but the differences between generations were so slight that you really had to look for them.

With the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, that changes. Rather than an incremental step, Samsung has taken a dramatic leap, bringing us one of the slimmest and lightest foldables on the market, while simultaneously increasing the screen sizes. It’s exactly what foldable fans have been hoping for.

Of course, it’s not without competition. The Honor Magic V5 is in hot contention for the title of slimmest folding phone, and Oppo and Huawei aren’t far off, either. So, is this the foldable to buy in 2025? I’ve been living with it for the past week in an attempt to find out.

Design & Build

• Only 4.2mm thick (unfolded)
• 215g, Advanced Armor Aluminum
• IP48 rated

There’s no mistaking the Z Fold 7 for its predecessor. While the overall design language is similar, this phone feels like a different beast entirely. It’s insanely slim, according the the spec sheets, it’s 0.1mm thicker than the Honor Magic V5, but you’d need to get the callipers out to notice, because it feels just a slim in the hand.

it weighs less than current flagships like the S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

It’s 26% slimmer than the Z Fold 6, and the result is a phone that no longer feels like a folding phone. It’s easy to mistake this for a typical candybar design, and what’s even more impressive is that it weighs less than current flagships like the S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Despite the slim dimensions and the weight cutting, both screens are now larger. Samsung has finally embraced the typical 21:9 form factor on the outer display, and the knock-on effect is that the folding screen is much bigger, too. You now get a sizable 6.5-inch panel on the outside and a massive 8-inch panel on the inside.

Given the slim and light nature of the handset, you might be concerned about durability, but you needn’t be. It feels rock solid, and it’s supposedly the strongest Z Fold to date. It uses Samsung’s latest Advanced Armor Aluminum housing, along with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear, Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the screen, and a new Armor Flex Hinge reengineered to reduce stress on the screen.

It’s still IP48 rated, just like the Fold 6, and it remains one of the only folding phones to come with a rating for dust resistance (though the Pixel 10 Pro Fold might get IP68). Sure, it’s not a high rating, but it’s a rating nonetheless. In addition, there’s a new titanium lattice structure under the folding screen and a thicker coating on top, with new adhesives. So that folding screen should be stronger than ever.

The Z Fold 7 comes in three colours as standard, Jet Black, Silver Shadow and Blue Shadow. If you order from Samsung.com, you can get an exclusive Mint variant, which I think looks particularly fetching.

I have the Blue Shadow version in for testing, and I’m a big fan of this colour option, too. It has an almost metallic sheen to it, and it shifts between different shades of dark blue depending on the lighting. The back isn’t too smudge-prone when you’re using it without a case, and despite the smooth finish, it isn’t too slippery in the hand, either.

The new hinge feels robust and confidence-inspiring. It still supports free-angle adjustment, so you can use the phone in “flex mode”, but I feel like it has more of a tendency to spring open or shut at extreme angles. It’s not an issue for me, but worth noting if you like to use the hinge as a makeshift tripod.

Screen & Speakers

• Outer: 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2520, AMOLED, 120Hz
• Inner: 8-inch, 1968 x 2184, AMOLED, 120Hz
• Stereo speakers

I’ve already mentioned the change in size for both displays, and that certainly makes the biggest difference compared to the older model. Aside from a slight difference in the resolution of each panel, the specs remain largely unchanged.

That means both screens are 120Hz LTPO AMOLED displays with a peak brightness of 2600 nits. And as we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s flagship devices, they look stunning. The colours are accurate and vibrant, the black levels are perfect, and the motion is buttery smooth.

While I would have loved to see brighter displays, the 2600-nit output is more than enough for comfortable outdoor use. That said, the Fold 7 will throttle the brightness when the phone heats up, and it does so more readily than competing devices.

With the recent spate of hot weather we’ve been having in the UK, I frequently found the displays dimming in direct sunlight. It can be quite frustrating when you’re trying to navigate with Google Maps or frame a photo, so those living in hot climates might be in for a rough time.

the Fold 7’s groove is barely noticeable in use

All folding phones have some level of creasing, but Samsung has made a massive step in the right direction with this launch. The Fold 6 crease looks like the Grand Canyon by comparison, while the Fold 7’s groove is barely noticeable in use.

That said, certain lighting conditions can make the crease look worse than it is. This is because Samsung uses a very reflective and glossy screen protector on the folding display. It’s a double-edged sword, because on one hand, it makes the phone less susceptible to fingerprint smudges, and there’s less friction than more matte displays, but on the other, you have reflections to deal with.

Another big change is that the under-display camera is gone, and there’s now a traditional punch-hole camera on the inner screen. I’ll talk more about the camera performance later on, but if you really appreciated that uninterrupted view, you likely won’t be too pleased.

Personally, I thought the under-display camera was awful, and the low-pixel density covering it was just as distracting, if not more so, than a little cutout for a camera. So I’m very much in favour of this change. However, I do wish that Samsung had placed it out of the way in the upper-right, as this one cuts into full-screen 16:9 content, and that could have been avoided.

It’s also worth mentioning that the digitiser has been removed from this panel, so it no longer works with the S Pen. I’m sure some people used the S Pen with their fold, but it’s not something that has ever appealed to me, especially with a crease running down the middle of the screen. Personally, I couldn’t care less, but S Pen lovers might not be too keen on this model.

There doesn’t seem to be anything new with the speakers, but I liked the speakers on the Z Fold 6, and these sound great, too. They aren’t the loudest speakers you’ll find, but there’s plenty of clarity and a bit more low-end grunt than some of the competition. Considering the size constraints this time around, I think Samsung has done a good job.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• 12GB / 16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite, and it’s a special overclocked “for Galaxy” edition, which should give it a slight performance bump compared to other 8 Elite phones. The 256GB and 512GB models pair this with 12GB of RAM, while the top-of-the-line 1TB model gets 16GB. I have the base model in for testing, but with the exception of heavy multitasking, all three options should perform very similarly.

This thinner chassis doesn’t leave a lot of room for cooling, and unfortunately, that does make a difference.

As expected, the Z Fold 7 manages higher scores than its predecessor across our usual suite of benchmark tests, not by a massive margin, but higher nonetheless. The older model was already super quick, and the opportunities to push this chip to the limit are few and far between.

We already knew the Snapdragon 8 Elite was a monster, though. What’s of more concern is the thermals. This thinner chassis doesn’t leave a lot of room for cooling, and unfortunately, that does make a difference.

I noticed some throttling and slowdowns when playing Wuthering Waves at 60fps with the graphics maxed out. In fairness, it’s one of the most challenging games to run, but it’s a challenge that the S25 Ultra takes in its stride. Despite having the same chip inside, the Z Fold 7 can’t keep pace.

I confirmed this by running 3DMark’s Wildlife Extreme Stress Test, and the Z Fold 7 scored just 52% for stability. I even saw a score as low as 22% when the ambient temperatures were higher. Essentially, the phone has to throttle quickly to keep the temperatures down, and it works; The phone doesn’t get too hot, but the performance suffers.

You’ll only really notice this if you’re into graphically demanding games or intensive video editing on your phone. For the most part, the phone is lightning quick, no matter what you’re doing. Hardcore gamers might find this one misses the mark, though.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 benchmarks

Cameras

• 200 Mp f/1.7 main camera
• 10 Mp f/2.4 3x telephoto
• 12 Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide
• 10 Mp, f/2.2 selfie camera x2

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has adopted the same main camera as Samsung’s most advanced camera phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra. It’s a 1/1.3-inch sensor with a 200Mp resolution, a huge upgrade from the previous model, which has a 1/1.56-inch sensor and a 50Mp resolution.

Samsung says it has reworked the lens module to allow the large sensor to fit into a smaller housing. After all, there’s not as much room in this svelte chassis. However, as a photographer, that’s a bit of a red flag. Smaller optics tend to come with compromises, and there are likely shortcomings compared to the full-size S25 Ultra main camera.

In addition, the ultrawide has gained autofocusing capabilities and can now be used for macro shots. And the under-display selfie camera has been replaced with a more traditional unit, with a much higher resolution and a wider field of view. The 3x telephoto is unchanged, which is a bit of a shame (but the same is true for the S25 Ultra). That said, it still performs well; It’s just a very grainy sensor in low light conditions.

In the majority of situations, photos from this phone and the S25 Ultra are almost indistinguishable

Overall, I have been very pleased with the shots from the Z Fold 7. In the majority of situations, photos from this phone and the S25 Ultra are almost indistinguishable. Of course, it doesn’t handle longer zooms quite as well without the 5x telephoto, but the colour tuning and sharpness are almost identical, and that’s a very good thing.

The ultrawide is much more versatile now that it has autofocus, and while the ultrawide wouldn’t be my first choice for macro photography, I was surprised how much I liked the close-ups I shot with it. It’s a smaller sensor and a lower resolution than the S25 Ultra’s ultrawide, so it’s not quite as good in low light conditions, but it’s still a cut above your average ultrawide, and I found it very handy.

The 200Mp main sensor is very familiar to Ultra users, and it continues to impress here. The larger sensor and wider aperture create a little more bokeh and subject separation than the Z Fold 6’s main camera, and that adds some nice depth to the shots. The only downside compared to the full-fat S25 Ultra version is that the minimum focus distance seems to have increased slightly; otherwise, the performance is very similar.

Video performance is strong, too. Samsung continues to have some of the best microphones available on an Android device, and frame rate stability is a cut above most of the competition. The excellent LOG profile that was introduced with the S25 series is available here, too, which makes it a pretty powerful tool for content creators.

Battery Life & Charging

• 4400mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• 15W wireless charging

Sadly, we don’t get any battery or charging upgrades this year; the Z Fold 7 still has the same 4400mAh capacity, with underwhelming 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. As with all Samsung flagships, there’s no charger in the box, just a USB-C cable.

On paper, none of these figures are very impressive, especially when compared to some of the foldable competition coming out of China. Honor’s latest is just as slim, but still crams in a 5820mAh cell, for example.

However, numbers are only part of the story. I recently tested the Poco F7, which has a huge 6500mAh battery inside, but the actual battery life was quite unimpressive. Software makes just as much of an impact, and that’s something Samsung does very well.

the Z Fold 7 never failed to get me to the end of the day, but it frequently cut it close

Unfortunately, after multiple attempts, our usual PC Mark Battery Drain test failed to run correctly. So I can’t compare apples to apples. Anecdotally, though, the Z Fold 7 felt like it lasted for about the same amount of time as the Z Fold 6. Considering it has larger displays to power, that’s quite impressive. 

Like its predecessor, the Z Fold 7 never failed to get me to the end of the day, but it frequently cut it close. You’ll probably want to keep a good power bank at the ready if you’re on a longer trip.

When it comes to charging, the phone matched Samsung’s claims of a 50% charge in half an hour exactly. It’s not stunningly quick, but it’s not a bad showing either. Unfortunately, the other 50% will take longer to fill up, and I was waiting well over an hour for a full charge.

The 15W wireless charging is, of course, even slower. But hey, if you’re gonna be sitting at your desk for a while, or if you have a charging pad in the car, it’s still very convenient.

Software & Apps

• One UI 8, based on Android 16
• 7 years of software and security updates
• New AI features

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the first phone I’ve tested that runs Android 16 out of the box. You might think that means big changes, but the reality is a lot more subtle. For the most part, One UI 8 looks and acts exactly the same as One UI 7.

To be clear, that’s not an issue. Samsung is renowned for its software, and this version feels just as polished and speedy as the versions that came before it.

One of the big selling points for the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Galaxy AI, and all the features from the S25 series phones make an appearance on the Z Fold, too. There are some new additions debuting with the Z-series, but I’d classify them as relatively minor.

For instance, a new feature called Photo Assist will now suggest objects/people to remove from your photos. Which could be handy, but doesn’t add much utility over the AI eraser that we already had access to. In a similar vein, the audio eraser now has an “auto” button, so you can remove background noise without needing to manually adjust sliders.

Circle to Search now works while you’re playing a game, so if you get stuck, you can circle the problem to get instant hints and tips

There have also been some UI tweaks that make better use of the folding display. For instance, you can view your image edits side-by-side to see the improvements you’ve made, and you can also drag and drop AI search results or image generations between apps when using split-screen multi-window.

Google is also debuting some of its AI features with this device. Circle to Search now works while you’re playing a game, so if you get stuck, you can circle the problem to get instant hints and tips. You can also share your camera feed or share your screen with Gemini Live to get context-based answers. 

I found Circle to Search while gaming to be quite handy, but I just didn’t really end up using the other features too much. Regardless, Samsung already had one of the most robust AI offerings on the market, and the offering continues to grow with each release.

In addition, you can expect one of the longest support windows on the market. Just like other Samsung flagships, the Z Fold 7 will continue to get Android OS upgrades and security patches for the next 7 years.

Price & Availability

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at £1,799 in the UK, the exact same price as its predecessor. However, in the US and Europe, there has been a price increase; it starts at $1,999/€2,099, while the Z Fold 6 was $1,899/€1,999.

The 12GB+512GB model goes for £1,899/$2,119/€2,119 while the 16GB+1TB model will cost you a hefty £2,099/$2,419/€2,359.

You can buy one from a variety of retailers, including Samsung and Amazon in the UK or Samsung and Amazon in the US.

It’s a pricey phone, but that’s to be expected with a large-format foldable, and the competition commands similarly high price tags. One of the big benefits of this device is that it’s readily available in most regions across the globe, while most Chinese foldables avoid the US market entirely.

It’s also available on contract through all the major networks, and you can read our Z Fold 7 buying guide for the best prices and deals on free upgrades and extras. 

Should you buy the Galaxy Z Fold 7?

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a massive upgrade over its predecessor. It’s now so slim and lightweight that you could easily mistake it for a bar phone. Using it folded down feels incredibly natural, and unfolding it gives you a luxurious, tablet-like experience with exceptionally slim bezels.

The crease is much, much shallower, it’s quicker, and the cameras have had a healthy upgrade, too. Combined with Samsung’s slick, speedy OS and advanced AI tools, it’s a powerhouse for mobile productivity and content creation.

That said, there’s still room for improvement. The sustained performance isn’t great for intense gaming, and the battery capacity and charging speeds are far from impressive. I still think they’re sufficient, but the competition is leagues ahead in that department.

It’s worth mentioning that the Honor Magic V5 is expected to launch internationally soon, and Google’s next Pixel foldable shouldn’t be far behind, either. Right now, I think the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the best folding phone that you can buy globally (of the book-style), but how long it can keep hold of that title remains to be seen.

Specs

• One UI 8, based on Android 16
• Outer: 6.5-inch, 1080 x 2520, OLED, 120Hz
• Inner: 8-inch, 1968 x 2184, OLED, 120Hz
• Power-button fingerprint sensor
• Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• 12GB /16GB RAM
• 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage
• Cameras:
  • 200Mp main sensor
  • 12Mp ultrawide (macro)
  • 10Mp 3x telephoto
  • Dual 10Mp selfie camera
  • Up to 8K30 / 4K60 rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM and eSIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 4400mAh battery
• 25W wired charging
• 15W wireless charging
• 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9 mm (folded)
• IP48 certified
• 215g
• Colours: Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Jet Black, Mint (Online exclusive)

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7