Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: the thinner, lighter and better folding Android

The Guardian

3 days ago

Samsung's latest flagship folding phone looks like it has been put on a diet. The result is a transformation into one of the thinnest and lightest devices available and radically changes how it handles, for the better.
The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 measures 8.9mm thick when shut – well within the realms of a standard smartphone if you ignore the camera bump on the back. It easily fits in a pocket but opens up to turn into a folding tablet just 4.2mm thick.
But at £1,799 (€2,099/$2,000/A$2,899) you pay an awful lot for such a fancy device. It is an expensive, cutting-edge gadget that can, in theory, replace your phone, tablet and PC in one pocketable device.
The seventh-generation foldable solves most of the niggles of Samsung's previous foldables. It weighs only 215g, which is 24g less than last year's model and about the same as large slab phones, and is shaped just like a regular handset when closed.
It fits better in your pocket. Typing messages, answering calls, getting directions and taking photos feel and work like a regular phone. Even the 6.5in screen on the front is top-notch – bright, colourful, crisp and 120Hz smooth – and the improved fingerprint scanner in the power button is accurate and rapid.
Open it like a book and the Fold 7 is only a hair thicker than the USB-C port. It is impressively thin yet feels solid. It is difficult to see how a device can be made any thinner without ditching the charging port. The flexible 8in OLED screen is smooth, crisp, super bright and almost square, ready for running two apps side by side.
The outside screen and back are protected by the latest technology in hardened glass, but the inside screen is still covered by a necessarily softer layer than a standard phone that picks up fingerprints easily and is relatively shiny. The crease down the middle of the screen where it folds is very nearly gone, only visible in glare.
Main screen: 8in QXGA+ 120Hz (368ppi) Amoled flexible display
Cover screen: 6.5in FHD+ 120Hz (422ppi) Amoled
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 256, 512GB or 1TB
Operating system: One UI 8 based on Android 16
Camera: 200+12+10MP rear with 3x telephoto; 10MP+10MP selfie cameras
Connectivity: 5G, dual sim, e-sim, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, GNSS
Water resistance: IP48 (1.5 metres for 30 minutes)
Dimensions folded: 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9mm
Dimensions unfolded: 158.4 x 143.2 x 4.2mm
Weight: 215g
The Fold 7 does not skimp on processing power with the same flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and 12GB of RAM as the S25 Ultra and S25 Edge. That means it flies along in everyday tasks and high-end games and is considerably more powerful than its closest rivals, such as the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
The battery lasts just shy of two days using the two screens for about four hours each and spending several hours on 5G, which is about the same as its predecessors and similar to normal slab phones. It will last longer when just using the outside screen for phone usage, but most people are likely to need to charge it every other day.
The Fold 7 is one of the first Samsungs to run One UI 8 (Android 16) out of the box. It has not changed that much since last year's software, which is a good thing all round as One UI 7 was great. It includes all the features from Samsung's S25 line, including the great Now bar at the bottom of the lock screen that shows live sports scores, music, timers and other regular tasks.
Samsung does a better job than rivals at making the most of the multiple modes and multitasking possibilities opened up by the folding tablet form. You can have up to eight apps open on the internal screen at any one time, and have different home screen layouts for each screen. You can force apps into almost any size or shape, use apps in a partly folded mode, move them between the front and internal screens, and many other small features.
The Fold 7 also has all the AI tools from the S25 series, including Google Gemini, Circle to Search, writing and drawing tools, transcription and audio editing tools, and so on. Some are good, others can be safely ignored just like most buzzy AI features. Samsung will provide Android and security updates until 31 July 2032.
The large camera lump on the back holds the 200-megapixel main, 12MP ultra wide and 10MP 3x telephoto cameras. The Fold 7 also has two 10MP selfie cameras, one in each screen.
The main 200MP camera is the best of the bunch, matching that from the S25 Edge. It is a top-drawer camera capable of capturing great images across a range of lighting conditions, and is a significant upgrade on previous generation Folds.
The 12MP ultra wide camera is solid and capable of taking some very good closeup, macro photos, which is always fun. The 3x telephoto camera is equally good, producing great portraits, but it gets a bit soft and grainy indoors and can't match the 5x zooms on top slab phones. The selfie cameras are a similar story, with great detail in good light that quickly becomes a bit grainy indoors. You can shoot selfies with the main camera using the outside screen as a viewfinder when the phone is open, which produces much better results.
The camera app has plenty of modes, is straightforward to use and shoots equally solid video. Overall, the Fold 7 has a great camera system that is not a significant downgrade on flagship slab phones, which is thoroughly impressive.
The battery has an expected lifespan of at least 2,000 full-charge cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.
The phone is generally repairable. Inside screen repairs cost about £500. Samsung offers a self-repair programme, as well as Care+ accidental damage insurance that reduces the cost of repairs to £139.
The Fold 7 is made from recycled aluminium, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, plastic, rare-earth elements and steel, accounting for 13.7% of the weight. Samsung offers trade-in and recycling schemes for old devices, and breaks down the phone's environmental impact in its report.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 costs from £1,799 (€2,099/$1,999.99/A$2,899).
For comparison, the Galaxy Z Flip costs £1,049, the Galaxy S25 Edge costs £1,099, the S25 Ultra costs £1,249, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold costs £1,399.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an incredible, extremely expensive piece of technology that feels like a giant leap over previous models, removing many of the niggles and compromises that had become synonymous with foldables.
By being so much thinner, lighter and normal-sized when shut, it feels just like a regular handset. Open it up and the internal screen is the best on a foldable yet. The crease is virtually gone, it is bright, crisp and makes the most of multitasking.
The camera sticks miles out the back but generally doesn't get in the way except to make the phone wobble on a table – a compromise worth making for a top-quality camera system. You even get the same chip, solid battery life and great software as Samsung's top regular phones.
That leaves the relative fragility of the folding form, lacking proper dust resistance and having a softer internal screen, and the eye-watering price, as the biggest compromises. If you are not sold on the idea of having a phone that is also a tablet in your pocket, I don't think this will convince you.
But the Fold 7 is the best folding phone available and the major upgrade Samsung needed after a few rather repetitive years.
Pros: a phone and tablet in one, super thin and light, just like a regular phone when closed, great software with powerful multitasking abilities, fantastic tablet screen, top performance, solid battery life, water resistance, long software support.
Cons: extremely expensive, no dust resistance, more fragile than a regular device and costly to repair, limited zoom camera compared with the very best normal phones.