Samsung's New Galaxy Z Fold8 Shows Off Unusual Forms

Samsung did really well with its promo of Galaxy Z Flip and Fold 7 last year, so much that many long-time iPhone users switched to its fun foldable smartphones (and Apple decided to make its own). If you're already tired of your Flip or Fold, Samsung has a new version, announced on July 22. Spoiler: version 8 costs more than 7, but did the company manage to introduce something so fine in just a year that it would be worth jumping on a new hype train?

Galaxy Z Flip8

I'm a proud Flip7 owner, and I was sad (and grateful – this girl doesn't need more expenses) to see that Flip8 doesn't offer much novelty to justify the $100 price jump. The new Flip is 8 g lighter, and Samsung decided to return to Snapdragon processors, switching from the Exynos 2500 to the 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.

The smartphone comes in white, black, pink, and mint.

The dimension differences are slight enough to be negligible, and the new phone sports an armor aluminum frame. Everything else, including the cameras, stayed the same: it looks like Samsung made the new Flip just to follow tradition; its focus was certainly on the Fold.

Galaxy Z Fold8

Now that's the star of the show: Fold8 is strikingly different from the Fold7 model. The shape is the most obvious part: instead of the 158.4 x 143.2 x 4.2 dimensions, the phone is 123.9 x 161.4 x 4.5 unfolded and 123.9 x 81.9 x 9.7 folded, as opposed to the older 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9, which changes the appearance dramatically: it's more of a tiny tablet than a phone with its 16:10 cover and a 4:3 inner display.

This is a new form factor, so it might not be fair to compare it to the Fold7, but I'll do it anyway.

The Fold7 features a 6.5" cover display, while the Fold8 has a smaller 5.5" one. The Fold8's cover display drops to 1972 x 1248 (WUXGA+), down from the Fold7's 2520 x 1080 (FHD+). The Fold8's main display is 1848 x 2448, while the Fold7's is 2184 x 1968. 

Samsung upgraded the Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic to version 3 and added 400 nits to the phone's peak brightness (3000 nits total), installing the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor.

The battery is now 4800 mAh, promising up to 26 hours of video playback.

But you probably want to know more about the cameras. With only 3 on board, the Fold8 drops the wide from 200 MP to 50.0 MP but improves the ultra-wide from 12 MP to 50.0 MP. The front camera is 10.0 MP.

While the Fold7 offers a 3x optical zoom, a 2x optical quality zoom, and a digital zoom up to 30x, the Fold8 has a 2x optical quality zoom and a digital zoom up to 10x.

The Fold8 can be white, black, lavender, and pistachio.

Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra 

If you want something more similar to the traditional Fold, the Fold8 Ultra is what you need: with the same dimensions, it boosts the ultra-wide lens to 50.0 MP and the battery to 5000 mAh, which should ensure 27 hours of video playback.

The main display resolution is 2504 x 2256 instead of the old 2184 x 1968, the processor is also the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, the peak brightness is 3000 nits, and the phone lost "advanced" from its armor aluminum frame.

Other than the updated Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, the rest is the same as the Fold7 has.

The Fold8 Ultra is white, black, deep violet, and dark green.

Pricing

No surprise there: the new phones are $100 more expensive than their predecessors. The Flip8 costs $1,200 and the Z Fold8 Ultra is $2,100.The new form factor of the Z Fold8 is actually $100 cheaper than the Fold7: you can buy it for $1,900.

Overall, the changes don't look groundbreaking enough to buy a new Flip/Fold phone, but the unusual shape of the Fold8 makes me want to try it.

Which one attracts you the most? 

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