The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has a small problem that has become a big issue, and is nothing to do with the phone itself.
Its problem is the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which is smaller, lighter, and more enjoyable to use. Sales numbers already show the Z Fold 8 has overshadowed the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but has it turned the original big foldable into a dinosaur that’s best forgotten?
I’ve been using the Z Fold 8 Ultra, immediately after the Z Fold 8, to find out.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra
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**SoC** - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
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**Display dimensions** - 8-inches open / 6.5-inches closed
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**Battery** - 5,000mAh
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**RAM** - 12GB / 16GB
Ignore the Ultra name for now, as this is the sequel to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, complete with its tall, thin cover screen and big, productivity-focused inner screen. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is a different proposition from the smaller, lighter Galaxy Z Fold 8, and a powerful flagship foldable.
Pros & Cons
- Almost flat inner screen
- Effective anti-reflective coating
- Immensely powerful
- Software is easy to use
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Long battery life
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Telephoto camera disappoints
- Galaxy AI features are still niche
- No Qi2 wireless charging built in
Price, specs, and availability
Samsung, most carriers, and online stores including Amazon and Best Buy all sell the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.
It starts at $2,100 for the 12GB/256GB version, $2,300 for the 12GB/512GB version, and $2,700 for the top 16GB/1TB model. This is a very expensive smartphone.
Buy the phone from Samsung and you can choose an exclusive Green Shadow color, while other stores offer Violet Shadow (seen in our photos), Cream, or Graphite.
What about alternatives? The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,900 and manages to offer something slightly different to the Z Fold 8 Ultra, while staying true to the big-screen foldable style. The Motorola Razr Fold should also be considered, and the new Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold looks great. For those outside the US, the Oppo Find N6 and Honor Magic V6 are worthy alternatives.
Specifications
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**SoC** - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
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**Display type** - Dynamic AMOLED 2x 120Hz
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**Display dimensions** - 8-inches open / 6.5-inches closed
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**Display resolution** - 2256 x 2504 open / 2520 x 1080 closed
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**RAM** - 12GB / 16GB
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**Storage** - 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
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**Battery** - 5,000mAh
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**Charge speed** - 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0 / wireless
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**Operating System** - Android 17 / One UI 9
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**Front camera** - 10MP main / 10MP cover
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**Rear camera** - 200MP main / 50MP wide / 10MP 3x telephoto
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**Wi-Fi connectivity** - Wi-Fi 7
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**Dimensions** - 158 x 143 x 4.1mm open / 158 x 73 x 8.9mm closed
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**Weight** - 215 grams
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**Colors** - Violet Shadow / Graphite / Cream / Green Shadow (online exclusive)
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**Material** - Armor Aluminum
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra design
A familiar shape
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra looks and feels identical to the Galaxy Z Fold 7. It is the same size, thickness, and weight.
This isn’t a negative, as the Z Fold 7 made significant advancements over the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which helped make the phone more usable and manageable.
However, if you tried the Z Fold 7 and still didn’t think the design was for you, there’s nothing here to change your mind.
Come from an older model, and you’ll find it’s better balanced, easier to grip, and less annoying to stow in your pocket or bag.
Here’s where the Galaxy Z Fold 8 comparisons start. The Z Fold 8 Ultra’s tall and thin folded shape feels a bit awkward, and ever so slightly ungainly next to it, particularly using it closed.
The big-screen foldable shape, shared by the Oppo Find N6, Honor Magic V6, and to a slightly lesser extent, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, is the compromise you’ve had to make in the past.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8’s shape means you don’t have to compromise anymore, and it gives the Z Fold 8 Ultra a serious challenger from within.
What this means for you is that it’s more important than ever to go and hold both these folding phones. For the first time, there’s a clear, impactful difference between the big-screen folding phones available to buy.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is refined, well-made, and durable. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is also all these things, but in a smaller, more manageable package.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra screens and hinge
Refined and made for productivity
One of the easiest ways to see how Samsung has refined the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is to open the screen. Its Flex Titanium technology, which adds titanium film into the display stack, genuinely minimizes the crease and makes it flatter than the competition.
The anti-reflective coating is also effective, and the combination of these elements makes the inner screen a joy to look at and touch. Put next to the Motorola Razr Fold, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra looks considerably more modern, and crucially, the one you’d want to pick up and use.
Samsung’s hinge remains one of the best in the business with no audible sound, wonderful motion, and due to some small tweaks to the phone’s shape, it's easier to open than before. Both screens are bright, and viewing angles are great.
While I used the Galaxy Z Fold 8 open more than I did closed, it has been the opposite with the Z Fold 8 Ultra. Typing on the cover screen is faster, and apps scale well.
What’s interesting is the activities that make the Z Fold 8 so enjoyable — video, games, and reading — are also good on the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but there’s something about the size and the way you hold the phone that doesn’t encourage you to open it up as often, which is different to the smaller Z Fold 8.
The speaker placement is the same as the Z Fold 8, where in portrait orientation they’re on the top and bottom of the left-hand-side panel. Hold the phone in landscape, and they’re in the more traditional left/right orientation. The sound is full and loud, and makes media even more enjoyable.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra camera
Not an Ultra experience
The big new feature in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s camera is an upgrade from a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera to a 50MP wide-angle. Photos taken with it are punchy with deep contrast and lots of detail, so you’ll want to use it more.
Otherwise, it’s another 200MP main camera and a 10MP telephoto for a 3x optical zoom. There’s good consistency between the three, and provided you like bright primary colors that pop off the screen, you’ll be pleased with the results.
In a camera test with the Motorola Razr Fold, the 10MP telephoto’s shortcomings were obvious. Photos taken indoors with the Razr Fold’s 50MP telephoto reveal more detail and better color balance. The Z Fold 8 Ultra’s telephoto looks poor quality next to it. Outdoor photos are better, though.
Editing photos on the open screen is a great experience. I like the way you can use the cover screen as a viewfinder for selfies, the AI generative mode can produce some startling results, and the My FanCam mode is an interesting but niche addition.
Ignore the Ultra name here. The Z Fold 8 Ultra’s camera is a small step up from the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s camera, and nowhere near as versatile as the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera. The 10MP telephoto is a letdown, but unless you’re exclusively taking photos with it indoors, or directly comparing it with another phone, most will probably accept its performance.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra software and performance
Powerful and hugely capable
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is promoted as a productivity device. Multitasking using split-window on the open screen is intuitive and simple. I love the way you can drag an app from the useful taskbar into its own space on the screen, whether it’s a side-by-side or top/down view; then you can add a third to one of the panels, and a floating window too.
Flex Mode adds another element to multitasking, as, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the hinge supports the screen at a 90-degree angle. The lower half can be used as a touchpad, a keyboard, or as controls in some apps. Whether it’s useful or not depends on how concerned you are about screen damage resting the Z Fold 8 Ultra on a desk.
Unfortunately, there’s no stylus support. The Motorola Razr Fold comes with a stylus in the box, and an optional stylus is available for the Honor Magic V6 and the Oppo Find N6.
The Quick Share feature now works with Apple's AirDrop, allowing you to share files between the Z Fold 8 Ultra and an Apple device. It works really well, and takes just seconds to send photos to macOS and iOS. It's a genuinely useful addition.
Android 17 with Samsung’s One UI 9 looks very similar to the software on the Z Fold 7. It’s polished, smart, and fast. I like the way you can use the Search bar to find how to adjust some of the settings, which helps us use the phone more naturally.
Samsung’s Now Brief and Now Nudge, also seen on the Z Fold 8, fail to do the same. Now Brief is supposed to help you organize your life, but it seems to be little more than a weather app with some news stories I don’t want to read. Now Nudge, which anticipates apps you may need during messaging conversations, hasn’t activated enough to prove helpful. It's the same story for most of the Galaxy AI features.
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| 5911 | 48% | 8% |
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| 5255 | 56% | 11% |
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| 6554 | 49% | 13% |
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is very powerful. There hasn’t been a situation where it has seemed lethargic, scrolling on the 120Hz screens is smooth and fast, and even running benchmarking tests with the screen closed in very high ambient temperatures didn’t cause it to overheat.
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| 3317 | 8907 | 20845 |
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| 2280 | 6483 | 11916 |
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| 1583 | 5390 | 19716 |
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra battery life and charging
Long life with some charging frustration
By adopting silicon-carbon, Samsung has increased the Z Fold 8 Ultra’s battery capacity to 5,000mAh, and combined with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy’s efficiency, battery life is excellent.
With three-to-four hours screen time each day, without games, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has lasted for two days on a single charge for me. The 3DMark benchmarking app’s 20-minute stress test took just 8%, indicating the Z Fold 8 Ultra is efficient when playing games.
Samsung has also updated the charging, but not in the way many will want. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has 45W wired charging and 20W wireless, but you’ll need a special phone case to activate Qi 2.2.
Use a Super Fast Charging 2.0 compatible charger and the battery will reach 100% in about 65 minutes, which is excellent. A 50% charge arrived in about 25 minutes. Getting the right charger is important, and not every one I tried delivered reliable fast charging.
What even is Ultra anymore?
Ignore the marketing nonsense
You may have read the name of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and immediately equated it with Samsung's other Ultra phone, the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, this sudden change in nomenclature needs some explanation.
Samsung’s marketing team is playing 4D chess. To non-marketing types, this is not an Ultra phone in the same way the S26 Ultra is, and anyone thinking logically would have expected the actually new Galaxy Z Fold 8 to have a ‘new’ name, rather than adding Ultra here.
However, rather than trying to make sense and keeping things simple and clear, Samsung may be pre-empting Apple’s folding phone, widely accepted to launch later this year.
Rumors swirl around the possible name of Apple’s foldable, and the candidates include the iPhone Ultra. The last time Samsung anticipated Apple’s product strategy, we got the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, and before that, we got the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro.
During Unpacked, Samsung made plenty of references to its considerable experience making folding phones, another early jab at newcomer Apple.
What this means is, don't pay much attention to the Ultra name. It's no more ‘ultra’ than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. It shouldn’t be looked at as an entry into Samsung’s revered range of top S series phones.
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra?
Yes, you should consider buying the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but during your consideration, make sure you try the Galaxy Z Fold 8 out too.
It’s smaller, lighter, and wonderful to use both open and closed. It’s a breath of fresh air in the world of big folding phones, which takes a small but meaningful diversion from the established design and style, and becomes a more fun phone to own.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is another entry into an established genre. It’s a very good entry, and there aren’t many reasons not to buy it, but the Z Fold 8 is a better option if you want to watch videos, read books, and use social media apps. It’s also cheaper than the shockingly expensive Z Fold 8 Ultra.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was a decent upgrade for Z Fold 6 owners, and the Z Fold 8 Ultra’s excellent inner screen and long battery life may be enough to tempt Fold 7 owners to upgrade too.
I’ve enjoyed the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but the hard truth is, I am counting down the days until I can go back to using the Z Fold 8.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra
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**SoC** - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
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**Display dimensions** - 8-inches open / 6.5-inches closed
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**Storage** - 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
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**Charge speed** - 45W Super Fast Charging 2.0 / wireless
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra ends up in the Galaxy Z Fold 8's shadow. It's a highly capable folding phone, but it's not dramatically different to the Galaxy Z Fold 7, so anyone who dismissed that phone won't find a reason to buy this one. It's still worth considering, but we recommend trying the Z Fold 8 before handing over your money.