{"id":23672,"date":"2026-07-22T15:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/review-after-a-year-with-galaxy-z-fold-7-im-worried-fold-8-will-make-the-same\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T15:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T14:46:29","slug":"review-after-a-year-with-galaxy-z-fold-7-im-worried-fold-8-will-make-the-same","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/review-after-a-year-with-galaxy-z-fold-7-im-worried-fold-8-will-make-the-same\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: After a year with Galaxy Z Fold 7, I\u2019m worried Fold 8 will make the same\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The topic Review: After a year with Galaxy Z Fold 7, I\u2019m worried Fold 8 will make the same\u2026<\/strong> is currently the subject of lively discussion \u2014 readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.<\/p>\n

This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies\u2019 decisions and competitors\u2019 reactions can quickly change the picture.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been buying Samsung foldables for years now, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the first one that, as a reviewer, I\u2019ve actually managed to keep in my pocket all year long. And, after all of that time, I\u2019ve got a lot of thoughts on where Samsung fell short, what it got right, and what I\u2019m worried about on the Galaxy Z Fold 8.<\/p>\n

The whole appeal of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, quite frankly, was the hardware. Samsung finally caught up with the rest of the market, offering a much thinner foldable that delivered the experience we were looking for from the beginning \u2013 a pretty-normal phone that opens up to reveal a bigger canvas.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve tried just about every other foldable released over the past year \u2013 Oppo Find N6, Honor Magic V6, Motorola Razr Fold, etc \u2013 and the Fold 7 is overall my favorite hardware of the bunch. On top of the ineffable charm of Samsung\u2019s industrial design, it just feels the best in my hand. That\u2019s a personal take, though, and everyone will have slightly different opinions here. I can fully acknowledge the shortcomings, like the lack of grip in opening the display, or that godawful camera bump that makes it impossible to use this thing on a table without sending out alerts in Morse code. But I think it\u2019s hard to ignore just how good Samsung did here.<\/p>\n

It aged well, too. I\u2019ve been using Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a year, never applying a case that whole time, just a skin on the rear and a screen protector on the front display. There are a couple of scuffs on the chassis \u2013 which happened to a lot of people even without drops from the looks of it \u2013 but it\u2019s been mostly scot-free over the past year. The inner display is also in good shape, no bubbles on the screen protector or anything.<\/p>\n

Heat is a tricky thing in foldables. No matter what, physics just disagree with this form factor, especially as thin as they\u2019ve been getting. Samsung isn\u2019t alone here, but oh man does the Galaxy Z Fold 7 run warm.<\/p>\n

Even with light use, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 heats up quite a bit. Most of the time, it doesn\u2019t overheat, but it\u2019s pretty jarring to pick up. That\u2019s been all the more true this Summer, as temperatures in North Carolina have been pretty consistently in the high 90s, approaching or passing 100 degrees (F) pretty often. Through that, the Fold 7 has been running incredibly hot, especially on the days I try to use it outside during a disc golf round in that heat.<\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s not alone. Razr Fold, Honor Magic V6, Oppo Find N6, they all also run warm. But the Fold tends to warm up faster in day-to-day use, regardless of the ambient temperature. It\u2019s something I\u2019d love to see Samsung work on, even if it means adding a millimeter somewhere.<\/p>\n

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As far as the design goes, I think this is roughly as good as we can expect a \u201ctallboy\u201d foldable to get. It\u2019s thin enough to double as a normal phone, the outer screen\u2019s aspect ratio is completely usable in apps and typing, and the inner display is solid too.<\/p>\n

You simply can\u2019t ask for any better here, and that\u2019s why it feels like wide foldables are the logical \u201cwhat\u2019s next.\u201d This form factor is fantastic for web browsing and opening a bigger canvas for apps, but split-screen multitasking often feels a bit cramped, and media doesn\u2019t benefit from any of this larger size either. Wider devices will open \u2013 sure, why not, pun intended \u2013 up foldables to a new audience and new use cases. That\u2019s why I\u2019m glad Samsung is opting for a split setup where you get one of each form factor.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be real here. The cameras on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 are not very good, especially for a $2,000 smartphone. The 200MP main sensor is perfectly acceptable, but it doesn\u2019t have much depth to shots, and often feels lacking life. Admittedly, I\u2019ve been spoiled by phones like the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, which run laps around basically everything else, but Samsung\u2019s cameras here don\u2019t even hold up that well in the foldable market. Pixel 10 Pro Fold has Google\u2019s usual consistency, Oppo Find N6 and Honor Magic V6 pack impressive hardware into thin designs, and even the Motorola Razr Fold is much better than the Fold 7 in basically every way.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gotten good shots out of the Fold 7 in a pinch \u2013 see below for a gallery of shots I\u2019ve taken over the past year \u2013 but it\u2019s never the first device I\u2019m grabbing to capture a scene.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m fortunate enough in this job to be dual-wielding multiple phones at any given time, offering me the chance to carry a better camera alongside the Fold 7. If I weren\u2019t in that position, I\u2019d have a harder time living with what Samsung is offering here.<\/p>\n

Galaxy Z Fold 8, the wide one, will have a worse main camera and no 3x telephoto. Meanwhile, Samsung is throwing this exact same camera setup in the \u201cGalaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra\u201d \u2013 though with a better ultrawide shooter \u2013 and that\u2019s just utterly ridiculous, at least assuming the leaks turn out true.<\/p>\n

On the software side, Samsung\u2019s One UI is in a pretty good place.<\/p>\n

Samsung\u2019s skin on top of Android 16 is still pretty heavy, but it\u2019s packed with features and feels better thought-out than it has in prior years. And while Samsung is slowly pushing its way into Liquid Glass territory (boo), it\u2019s also being good about supporting the Fold\u2019s inner display. In One UI 8.5, for example, Samsung tweaked the notification tray so it swipes down according to the data where your finger was on the display. It\u2019s something Google did in older versions of Android for tablets, and that Samsung reintroduced on its latest crop of Galaxy tablets last year. It has its quirks on the Fold 7, but I\u2019m glad to see it.<\/p>\n

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Easily the worst thing about the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the battery life.<\/p>\n

Everything else I\u2019ve talked about here is not a huge problem in day-to-day use, but the battery life on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is simply miserable. Even during times where it\u2019s being used as a second phone just for the sake of Android Auto, my smartwatch, and the occasional message or phone call, it still drains most of its battery in a day. When it\u2019s my primary device, I\u2019m lucky to go to sleep with more than 10% left on this battery. I\u2019m carrying battery banks with this thing constantly because it brings more battery anxiety than any other smartphone I\u2019ve used in the past few years.<\/p>\n

This is the single biggest thing I\u2019m worried about on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series. Samsung is finally delivering bigger batteries at 4,800 mAh (wide) and 5,000 mAh (Ultra), but that just does not feel like enough. Not when even the Motorola Razr Fold is packing a 6,000 mAh battery that runs laps around my Fold 7. It\u2019s also a problem considering it sounds like the chipset in Fold 8 will be a full-power version, rather than the slightly toned-down one in Fold 7. That\u2019s a recipe for mediocre battery life at best, and no improvement at all at worst.<\/p>\n

As a final note, I think the biggest problem I\u2019m seeing with Samsung\u2019s Galaxy Z Fold 8, at least in terms of my own personal use, is the continued ignorance around built-in Qi2 magnets.<\/p>\n

I get it, thin phones make it tough to include these. But the biggest modification I made on Fold 7 was slapping on a cheap little magnet ring, and it was a huge quality-of-life upgrade. Yes, you\u2019ll be able to do this with a case, but I\u2019m actually a bit less inclined to use a case with foldables. It just doesn\u2019t feel right and, as mentioned, I\u2019ll never tell anyone to own one of these devices without having insurance on it. If you\u2019re already paying for insurance and not particularly accident-prone, I\u2019m all for going case-less.<\/p>\n

Either way, I really hope to see this happen next time around. It\u2019s ridiculous to me that Samsung has continued to ignore Qi2 magnets thus far, and Fold 8 will be the last time I buy a new Samsung device without Qi2 built-in \u2013 if this goes on another year, it\u2019s simply unacceptable.<\/p>\n

A year with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has really just cemented my feelings on foldables. I\u2019ll always have one of these in my pocket, and they just continue to get better. But for as much of a leap forward as Fold 7 was over prior generations, all of this time has really shown me just how much room there is left for improvement, especially compared to the likes of what Oppo, Honor, and Motorola are putting out.<\/p>\n

Samsung is set to launch its new Galaxy Z Fold 8 series this week, consisting of the \u201cFold 8 Ultra\u201d as a direct replacement to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and the Fold 8, which adopts a new wider form factor that\u2019s readying itself to put up a battle with the first foldable iPhone. I\u2019m still very much on the fence between these two, but I\u2019m certainly leaning towards the new shape both just to try something new, and because I think the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra might be a bit of a cruel joke.<\/p>\n

But, with both, I\u2019m just worried Samsung hasn\u2019t addressed any of the \u201cbad\u201d I\u2019ve talked about here. The battery life is still going to be awful, the cameras don\u2019t look any better, and I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ll see any overheating improvements with the processor tweaks coming.<\/p>\n

I guess we\u2019ll find out soon enough. Stay tuned for hands-on coverage this week! Samsung\u2019s event takes place on July 22.<\/p>\n