Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review

Samsung is no stranger to making great smartphones, but every once in a while, it pushes the bar even higher. That seems to have been the mission behind the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The phone has been a smashing success, breaking pre-order records and, for the first time ever, outselling the Z Flip at launch.

I've been living with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for nearly a month, and now it’s time to deliver our definitive verdict on what is, without doubt, one of Samsung’s best smartphones yet. Let’s dive in.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the world's thinnest foldable phone—we've checked—and that really takes you by surprise. It's just 8.66mm when folded, which is about the same as any flagship slab phone. The thin frame occupies less real estate in your hand so it's more comfortable to use. At 215g, it's lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Samsung evidently focused on not just designing the device to look good, which it does, but also to feel good. You often forget you're holding a foldable phone when using the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and that’s about the highest praise you can give. It’s the closest the foldable form factor has ever come to feeling truly ready for the mainstream.

Of course, the thinness does have a few trade-offs. For one, opening the phone takes a bit more effort than before. A case definitely helps with grip, but even then, you need to be careful. The slim profile means there’s less surface to hold onto when unfolding it. It’s not difficult, but it’s something to be aware of.

Similarly, the thinner build makes double pressing the power button to launch the camera a little trickier. Each half of the phone is so narrow that there's barely any space around the buttons to rest your thumb, and the fact that the power buttons sits flush with the frame instead of sticking out doesn't help matters.

The ridged design for the rear camera setup has been retained, and it aligns well with the design language. However, since the device is so thin and the camera housing protrudes so much, the device wobbles unlike anything when you use it while it's laying flat on the table.

Samsung has made improvements to the hinge, and it's as sturdy as ever, ensuring that Flex Mode allows you to have a range of experiences not possible on a slab phone. The IP48 rating from last year has been retained, so while the device is water resistant, just be careful around dust.

The Blue Shadow color really makes the nuances of this design pop. Samsung also offers the device in Silver Shadow and Jet Black. Mint is available as an online exclusive from Samsung.

Both display panels have received major improvements. The AMOLED 120Hz cover display is larger at 6.5 inches and also wider, which makes a world of difference. This makes the Galaxy Z Fold 7 better as a foldable phone since it delivers a more natural user experience, and you wouldn't really feel the need to unfold the device as much.

The inner foldable display has made a significant jump to 8 inches with a crease that's less noticeable (but still far from being invisible). It's now firmly in tablet category, making it an exceptional device for both work and entertainment. The increased screen real estate makes having multiple apps open a breeze. You see a lot more on the screen so less scrolling is required, and the gameplay experience is second to none.

Samsung has sacrificed the S Pen for the sake of thinness. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn't support the stylus. It didn't take anyone by surprise, as Samsung's decision to do the same with the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition was notice enough that things were headed in this direction. It's not going to annoy a lot of people, though, since you always had to buy the S Pen separately anyway.

Brightness and viewing angles across both panels is excellent. We felt no issues with legibility even when out and about in the blazing sun. Read, swipe, and shoot to your heart's content, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 isn't going to let you down, no matter what the lighting conditions.

Samsung has upgraded the camera setup, and while it's not the best (that title rests firmly with the Galaxy S25 Ultra), it's much better compared to previous iterations. There's now a 200-megapixel primary sensor with which captures more detail and provides you with the ability to crop more into your shots.

The images are sharp, lit up brightly, and they feel more natural. It does seem Samsung has toned down the aggressive post-processing that we've seen on earlier models. This is also the case on the Galaxy S25 lineup. Portrait photos also look great, and the 200MP camera allows up to 5x zoom in Portrait mode.

Night-time pictures are better as well, though issues like lower detail and blown out lights can still be an issue unless you manually turn on Night mode. Samsung has also addressed shutter lag to reduce blur in photos of moving objects, but there's more work to be done here.

The Fold 7 sports a 12MP ultrawide camera, not the 50MP ultrawide from the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but picture quality is pretty great when the lighting conditions are right. It also supports autofocus so it's great for macro photography. If you like taking photos of food, you're going to love this, as it lets you get in really close and capture the finer details.

It's important to judge cameras on a foldable device based on what the form factor allows you to do that you otherwise can't with a conventional device. Rear cam selfie, for example, lets you take a high quality selfie with the main cameras with a live view on the cover display.

Use Flex Mode, set the device on a flat surface, and you can capture a moment with your loved ones that no one's left out of. No tripod required when capturing content out and about. So despite only having a 3x zoom camera, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 allows you to do things the Galaxy S25 Ultra or any other slab phone never could, and that's its true potential.

Speaking of the zoom camera, picture quality is fine in the daytime. In low-light conditions, it barely gets the job done. In fact, you could say the 3x camera is redundant now that the main camera has been upgraded. The 200-megapixel resolution of the main camera enables similar image quality using digital zoom in the 3x-5x zoom range. Unfortunately, with how thin this phone is, we don't see Samsung equipping the Fold with a more powerful zoom camera anytime soon, and that's a bummer.

Samsung has consistently improved video capture and that's true on this device as well. You've got 8K video recording with LOG, providing you with a lot more control in post-processing. Like the Galaxy S25-series phones, the Fold 7 records videos in 10-bit HDR by default, up from 8-bit HDR on previous models, with an option to switch to HDR10+ using Samsung's Camera Assistant app.

Samsung has done away with the under-display camera and gone with a standard 10-megapixel sensor for both the outer and inner front cameras. However, the camera on the foldable panel has a considerably wider field of view, and it's a huge improvement. It may appear unsightly to some, and the camera is no longer (almost) invisible when you're watching videos, but the considerably higher picture quality you get makes the trade-offs worth it.

You'd expect the device to crush it in this segment given the sort of hardware it boasts. Samsung has equipped with the device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset and 12GB of RAM as standard.

The Fold 7 is a powerhouse in the true sense of the word. There's no lag or stutter while you whiz through three apps with Multi Window, Galaxy AI features work without breaking a sweat, and games render exceptionally well with super smooth frame rates.

Even when you're hooked up to an external monitor to run DeX, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 handles it all with incredible poise. No matter what you throw at the device, it doesn't get bogged down. The only noticeable slowdown is when switching from the cover screen to the inner display – the phone seems to take a second or two to recognize that it has been unfolded before the inner display comes on, which makes it seem like the software is lagging.

The thermals would be a concern for some buyers since this is a very thin device. But Samsung has optimized things very nicely, and the Fold 7 doesn't get unreasonably hot even during periods of intense use. Even if it does get a little hot, the heat is confined to a small area in the upper half of the phone, so you will rarely feel the increased temperatures in your fingers.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 ships with Android 16 and One UI 8 out of the box. There's all the Galaxy AI stuff that you'd expect. Features like side-by-side editing in Photo Assist, Audio Eraser for videos, additional styles in Drawing Assist, and enhanced Gemini capabilities truly position the device as an AI-forward foldable. Circle to Search now works in games as well.

Samsung's software on the foldables has been pretty solid. Form factor-specific features like cover screen continuity and Multi Window taskbar allow you to take full advantage of the device's capabilities.

Much of the new feature set has been carried over from One UI 7, such as Now Bar and Now Brief, with the latest iteration mostly delivering refinements. It's perfectly optimized and delivers a really high quality user experience. For more details on the software experience, be sure to check out our Galaxy S25 Ultra review.

Samsung has promised to provide seven years of Android OS upgrades and security updates for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, so you can keep holding on to the device for years and still get the latest features.

The Galaxy Z Fold lineup has offered the best speaker quality of any Samsung flagship since day one, as every Fold features two dedicated speakers instead of combining a dedicated speaker and the earpiece for outputting audio. Sadly, that advantage has now been taken away by the Fold 7's ultra-thin design.

The main issue with the speakers is the lack of bass. It's almost completely been stripped away, and if you want the best loudspeakers on a Samsung phone, you will want to opt for a Galaxy S smartphone like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Fold 7's speakers just don't sound like they belong on a $1999 phone.

There's also no 3.5mm headphone port here, as is to be expected from Samsung flagships, so you either opt for a USB-C wired pair or go with Samsung's wireless Galaxy Buds. On the connectivity front, the Fold 7 has picked up Wi-Fi 7 support, making it future proof.

Despite all of the incredible improvements Samsung has made to the device, it decided to retain the battery capacity at 4,400mAh. It's the same as the last five Fold models and also supports fast charging at the same 25W speed.

The battery life is just good enough, not stellar or amazing, as Samsung has tried to strike a balance here between an ultra-thin design and everything else. You will get through the day on a full charge with mixed use, and there won't be many instances where you need to get to a power outlet as soon as possible.

Expect between 5-6 hours of screen on time split between the two displays over 24 hours of screen off time. As we said, good enough. These are estimates that can vary based on how hard you push the device. The drain will typically be faster if you're extensively using mobile data or Galaxy AI features.

However, for a device that feels exceptional in almost every other way, good enough just doesn't cut it. It's especially disappointing when you consider that the Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers similar battery life, even though it's the Fold that's designed for power users.

Even a charging speed upgrade would have been a welcome change, as you still have to wait around 30 minutes to get a 45-50% charge and almost 90 minutes for a full charge. While Chinese manufacturers are pushing the boundaries with both battery capacity and charging speeds, Samsung continues to play it too safe, and it's getting a little frustrating at this point.

Bottom line: Samsung has the best and the thinnest foldable phone on the market right now. The phenomenal response that the company has received from the market shows that customers recognize the value proposition and are willing to spend their money on Samsung's most expensive phone.

You can nit-pick and find things to dock points for. Perhaps you dislike not having S Pen support, or you feel that the cameras aren't flagship enough. The downgrade in speaker quality is also a let-down. But those points in isolation aren't enough to ruin the whole package.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a strikingly beautiful phone with durable build quality and flagship specifications. It has one of the best software experiences on an Android phone. Its form factor advantages are numerous. There are no gimmicks or useless tricks.

This is as big of an upgrade for anyone coming from previous Galaxy Z Fold models as it is for someone who's never owned a foldable phone. The Fold 7 will awe them both equally.