Three reasons I’d pick the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra over the Fold 8

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has been stealing the limelight since Samsung announced its 2026 foldable lineup, mostly thanks to its new form factor.

Sales of both Fold 8 models have gone up following the iPhone Duo launch, but the regular Fold 8 still seems to be getting most of the attention.

That's a shame, because the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is Samsung's best book-style foldable yet, one Apple still doesn't have an answer to.

I've gone back to the Galaxy S26 Ultra after spending a few months using Samsung's two Folds, most of that time with the regular Fold 8. But if someone asked me which of the two foldables I would pick, there are three reasons I'd go for the Ultra.

Whether it's for watching videos hands-free or taking photos and videos on holiday, Flex Mode is very useful. Frankly, it's a feature I don't think any foldable phone should lack.

Unfortunately, the Fold 8 does lack it. The phone can stay partly open, but beyond a 90-degree angle, its hinge doesn't have enough resistance to reliably hold it in place.

And even if you manage to keep it open at the angle you want, Samsung hasn't included the software side of Flex Mode. You don't get features such as YouTube putting the video on the top half of the display and playback controls on the bottom half.

You can still use the Fold 8 in tent mode to watch videos hands-free on the cover screen. But that isn't a replacement for everything Flex Mode offers.

The Fold 8 Ultra doesn't have these limitations. It's unclear why Samsung left Flex Mode out of the regular Fold 8, and the omission stands out even more now that Apple's first foldable offers similar functionality in both hardware and software.

For years, Samsung offered at least three rear cameras on almost every flagship outside the Galaxy Z Flip lineup. The Galaxy S25 Edge was the first Galaxy S phone since 2019 to have just two rear cameras. The Fold 8 is the first Galaxy Z Fold to do the same.

There's no dedicated zoom camera on the Fold 8, and that's a big omission for me. I take zoom photos often, and not having that camera was one of the main reasons I eventually returned to the S26 Ultra.

With the Fold 8 Ultra, you get a 3x zoom camera. I'd still prefer a 5x camera like the one on the S26 Ultra, but if I had to choose between a 3x zoom camera and no zoom camera, I'd choose the former.

The regular Fold 8 unfolds straight into a wide, landscape display. That's great for watching videos and playing games, as you don't have to rotate the phone after opening it.

But I spend considerably more time browsing the web and using apps like Instagram and X. For those apps, I found myself rotating the Fold 8 into portrait almost every time I unfolded it.

The inner display is quite short in its default orientation, so you don't see as much vertically. Turning the phone gives apps more vertical room to display their content, even though they technically work in either orientation.

It's a similar story when looking at portrait photos. You can see the whole photo in landscape, but there's plenty of empty space on either side. Rotating the phone lets most photos captured in portrait take up the entire screen.

Samsung has added an option to change the screen zoom level for apps so they show more content on the wider display. But it's a workaround that doesn't really fix the issue for all apps.

The Fold 8 Ultra gives me a taller, squarer display as soon as I unfold it, so I don't have to keep turning it for these things. I rotate it for videos and games instead, but even for videos, it's not necessary. There's no substantial difference in how big they look in either orientation.

As I've said before, the Fold 8 opening directly into landscape hasn't eliminated the need to rotate the phone. It has just changed what you rotate it for. That difference doesn't get talked about enough, in my opinion, but it's an important factor in the Ultra's favor.

I still love how light the regular Fold 8 is and how easy it is to carry around. But if I were choosing between the two, I'd rather have the Ultra's Flex Mode, zoom camera, and taller display.