Galaxy Z Fold 8 is official: The new favorite form factor for media buffs?

Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the company's first foldable phone in six years to feature a fundamentally different form factor. It is shorter and wider than all previous Galaxy Z Fold phones and is designed for media enthusiasts.

It is also expected to compete directly with Apple's rumored first foldable iPhone.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch inner foldable display, both using Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels with variable refresh rates from 1Hz to 120Hz. Both screens support HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG.

The internal screen can reach up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness and has an anti-reflective coating, making content easier to see outdoors.

Its cover display has a 10:16 aspect ratio, making it well suited for watching vertical content, such as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, in portrait orientation. In landscape orientation, it is great for movies and TV shows.

The internal screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio in landscape orientation and a 3:4 aspect ratio in portrait orientation. This makes it well suited for productivity, split-screen multitasking, and watching videos. The phone lacks support for the S Pen, though.

Samsung says it designed the Flex Titanium mechanism for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which makes its foldable screen less prone to a visible crease and makes it easier to open and close. The new system also makes the screen stronger and feels more like glass.

Samsung has also worked extensively to make the Galaxy Z Fold 8 the lightest book-style foldable phone it has ever made. The phone weighs just 201g, making it lighter than even the Galaxy S26 Ultra, a conventional bar-style phone.

It measures 123.9 x 81.9 x 9.7mm when folded and 123.9 x 161.4 x 4.5mm when unfolded. The phone has an IP48 rating for dust and water resistance.

The phone has a dual-camera setup on the rear consisting of a 50MP primary camera with OIS and an F1.8 aperture, as well as a 50MP ultrawide camera with an F1.9 aperture. It also has two 10MP front-facing cameras, one for each display.

All the cameras on the device can record 4K 60fps HDR videos, while the rear cameras can also capture 8K 30fps videos. Using its My FanCam feature, you can create videos that keep you in the center of the frame even when you move around.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor. It has 12GB of RAM in the 256GB and 512GB versions and 16GB of RAM in the 1TB version.

The device is powered by a 4,800mAh battery, which is larger than the Galaxy Z Fold 7's 4,400mAh battery despite the phone being significantly smaller overall. It supports 45W wired charging, allowing the battery to charge from 0% to 63% in just 30 minutes. It also supports 20W wireless charging and is Qi2 Ready.

Connectivity features include GPS, 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, UWB, NFC, and a USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 speeds of up to 5Gbps. It has a side-mounted fingerprint reader and stereo speakers. The phone also supports Dolby Atmos, Quick Share, Samsung DeX, and Samsung Pay.

It is one of the world's first phones to run One UI 9.0 out of the box. It will receive seven generations of Android updates and security patches for up to seven years.

It is also one of the first Samsung phones to support Advanced Automation powered by Google's Gemini Intelligence. With this feature, Gemini can complete tasks in the background. For example, it can book a movie ticket or hotel reservation with minimal input from you. You only need to complete the final step, such as making the payment.

One of the new Galaxy AI features on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a more proactive version of Now Nudge, which can appear in the keyboard, notifications, or near the bottom corner of the screen. When a friend sends you a location in a messaging app, Now Nudge can instantly show an option to save it to Google Maps. When you tap that option, Google Maps opens in split-screen view.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 sits one step below the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in terms of hardware specifications but offers a screen that is better suited to content and media consumption.

It costs $1,899 in the US and €1,999 in Europe, and will be available for pre-order starting today. You can view more detailed pricing and availability information by clicking here.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes in three colors: Cream, Graphite, and Lavender. There is also a fourth option, Pistachio, but it is exclusive to Samsung's online store.