Unlike previous years, Samsung has done something different with its foldable lineup this time. The South Korean brand has changed the entire shape of the Galaxy Z Fold 8. It is shorter, wider and when folded, feels more like carrying a small passport than a usual foldable smartphone. I have been reviewing Samsung’s foldable phones for several years now and I have always had one question in my mind – When will a foldable actually feel like a phone I want to use every day rather than a phone I enjoy showing people? After spending a few weeks with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, I think Samsung has finally come very close to answering that question.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 costs Rs 1,84,999 in India, which immediately puts it in the ultra-premium category. That is a lot of money for a smartphone even by flagship standards.
To be honest, there is no doubt that the Fold 8 is impressive. But after spending weeks with it, I kept coming back to one question — is the improved foldable experience enough to justify that price? Here’s what I feel.
Practical Design…Finally!
The first thing I noticed about the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is its design. The Korean giant has made it wider and shorter this time. When folded, it has a 5.5-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover display. It may sound smaller than the screen on most regular phones but I found the wider shape more comfortable to use.
I was able to comfortably hold the phone in one hand and do most of the things like checking notifications, scrolling through social media, reading messages, browsing websites and watching videos on YouTube.
I did not have to stretch my thumb to reach the top of the screen, which made the phone easier to use. I noticed this even more when I was using my primary iPhone 17 Pro.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels compact when it is closed but the moment you open it, the experience changes completely. You get a 7.6-inch display with a roughly 4:3 aspect ratio and this is where the Fold 8 starts making much more sense.
Samsung has created a phone that can behave like a regular smartphone when you need it and a small tablet when you want more screen space.
And unlike some foldables where I felt that the phone was too thick, tall or too heavy, the Fold 8 is surprisingly on the lighter side. It weighs 201 grams and measures just 4.5mm when unfolded. For something that carries two displays, a hinge, two batteries and flagship hardware, it is impressive.
There is one thing I would recommend here is a case.
The phone has a very premium finish but I found it slippery to be honest. Since I was using it without a case for much of my review period, I had a few mini-heart attack moments. The hinge was also one of the best parts of the phone. Opening it felt smoother and I did not have to use much force at the start.
Another thing which I noticed was when I placed the phone on a table, it wobbled quite a lot because of the camera module on the back especially noticeable when I tried to use the phone while it was lying flat on my office table.
The phone also comes with an IP48 rating, which gives it protection against water and dust. Overall, the build quality feels properly premium. There is no feeling that Samsung has cut corners just because this is a foldable.
The Wider Cover Screen Finally Gets My Attention
I did not expect the cover display to become one of my favourite parts of the Fold 8. Usually, when I use a foldable, I end up opening it for almost everything because the outer display feels too narrow. That is not really the case here.
The 5.5-inch cover screen is wider and I found it much easier to use with one hand. Reading text is more comfortable, and apps such as Instagram have more horizontal space. The cover screen worked well for typing and I felt it easy to use.
I also liked the way apps looked on the wider display. Photos had more space, and the screen felt more natural to use than the other foldable phone I have used in the past.
What I liked most was that I did not feel the need to open the phone every time I wanted to do something. The cover screen was good enough for most tasks, which made the Fold 8 feel more practical in everyday use.
This Is What You Get When You Unfold The Fold 8
This is where the Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts feeling special. The 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X inner display is one of the best reasons to buy this phone. The 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling smooth, colours look rich and the large canvas is particularly useful for reading, browsing and multitasking.
I found myself reading more articles on the Fold 8 than I normally do on a smartphone. That inner display makes the Fold 8 feel closer to a small tablet. You can run two apps side by side, resize them and use multiple windows without feeling like everything is squeezed into a narrow display.
For YouTube and other video content, however, the experience depends on the aspect ratio of the video. You can still see black bars or some unused space. Well, you can’t blame Samsung for that.
Gaming is another area where the larger display makes a difference.
I also played games on the bigger screen, and it felt much more like playing on a small tablet. At first, I took some time to get used to the large, square-shaped display. But once I got used to it, I enjoyed my brief gaming time on the Fold 8.
The crease is still there but, to be honest, hardly visible. The anti-reflective coating on the inner display was also useful. I used the phone in bright places, and the coating helped reduce reflections and made the screen easier to see. The displays also support LTPO technology and can adjust their refresh rate to save power.
Performance Is Flagship-level
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with a Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and that is exactly what you would expect from a phone at this price. I ran benchmark tests on this phone and have attached the results to give you the idea about the performance.
What impressed me more than benchmark numbers was the everyday experience.
I opened several apps one after another and did not notice any major slowdown or annoying stutter. Everything feels fast. Apps open quickly, animations are smooth and switching between applications is generally effortless
The phone also handles heavy games well. I played a few games for a brief period and the large inner screen did pretty well . You get a much bigger view of what is happening around you, and the high refresh rate makes movement feel smooth.
Battery life is good but don’t expect much. The Korean Giant has offered a 4,800mAh battery. If you look at the size of the inner display, I was little worried about battery life. In my testing, the Fold 8 managed to get me through a day.
If you spend most of your day watching videos, gaming or browsing on the 7.6-inch display, you will obviously consume more power but if you mostly use the cover screen for quick tasks, you can stretch the battery life.
The Fold 8 supports 45W wired charging. In my testing, the phone charged quickly and took around an hour to go from 0 to 100 per cent with a compatible charger.
I would not call the battery life the best but it was good enough for my daily use, especially considering how thin the phone is and the fact that it has two displays.
Hardware is only half the story with a foldable
You can have the best display in the world but if the software does not understand what to do with that extra screen, the whole experience becomes frustrating. But the good thing here is Samsung has spent years improving One UI for foldables and that I felt while testing this phone.
The phone runs Android 17 with One UI 9 and I liked how well the software worked with the bigger screen. I was able open multiple apps and move apps around easily. Moving between the cover screen and the main display was also smooth.
I also liked that I did not have to think much about the foldable design while using the phone. I could use the cover screen for quick tasks and open the phone whenever I needed more space.
Samsung also added its Galaxy AI features, along with the usual One UI customisation options. There were tools for photo editing, transcription, translation and other AI features.
But personally, I don’t think AI is the reason to buy this phone. The form factor is.
Camera Performance
The cameras are good, but Samsung has made one strange decision. This is probably my biggest complaint with the Galaxy Z Fold 8. Samsung gives the phone two 50-megapixel rear cameras- — a main sensor and an ultra-wide but there is no dedicated telephoto camera. And honestly at this price, I expected one.
The main camera is capable. In daylight, I got good detail, right colours and a decent portraits. Samsung’s image processing makes the photos look ready to share without requiring much editing.
The 50MP ultra-wide camera is also a good upgrade. It captures more detail and maintains good consistency with the main camera in terms of colours and overall image processing.
But when you want proper zoom, things change. You can use digital zoom and in good lighting the results can look decent. But once the light drops, you can see the limitations.
Details become softer and noise starts appearing. This is where I kept thinking that Samsung should have squeezed in a telephoto lens.
In terms of front camera performance, Samsung gives you 10-megapixel cameras on the cover and inner displays, and both are good enough for selfies and video calls.
But the real fun starts when you use the rear cameras for selfies. You can unfold the phone, use the cover display as a viewfinder and take a selfie using the much better main camera. The results are better especially when you want more details. It is also one of those features that makes the foldable form factor genuinely useful.
Overall, the Fold 8 is a decent camera phone. In fact, it is one of the most capable camera systems Samsung has put on a Fold. However, I feel it is still not a Galaxy S26 Ultra replacement for photography.
My Two Cents
At Rs 1,84,999, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is not a phone for everyone but after spending four weeks with the Z Fold 8, I have to say that the phone is much easier to recommend than some of Samsung’s previous generation models.
I don’t think the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is simply a phone for people who want to show off. It is actually a phone I could see myself using every day.
The passport-like design makes the folded phone easier to handle. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 provides flagship performance. One UI makes good use of the inner display and the cameras are good enough to share on social media platforms/
However, Samsung has left some obvious gaps. There is no telephoto camera. The battery is good but not exceptional. Some apps still need optimisation for the new aspect ratio.
But if you have been waiting for a foldable that does not feel like a compromise every single day, this is probably the Samsung Fold I would recommend.
