Review: The incredibly thin Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Samsung’s best foldable yet
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Review: The incredibly thin Galaxy Z Fold 7 is my favorite Samsung foldable yet
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the latest flagship foldable from the Korean tech giant. It combines the versatility of its display modes with an almost unbelievably sleek form factor. It starts at $1,999, making it the textbook definition of a premium or luxury product. But there’s so much else to like about the Fold 7 that if you have $2,000 lying around and any part of it sounds appealing to you,. Plus, if you pre-order from Amazon, you can get a $300 gift card to soften the financial blow. It doesn’t really affect usability, but it stood out to me the first time I used the foldable. It just looks a little awkward, but foldable makers have more or less figured out that part of the problem, I think. The phone is significantly thinner and lighter than any foldable I’ve ever used, in keeping with the recent Galaxy S25 Edge , a phone that offered thinness and little else as a primary selling point.
That’s my big takeaway after several days playing with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, the latest flagship foldable from the Korean tech giant. It combines what I always liked best about this style of foldable (namely the incredible versatility of its display modes) with an almost unbelievably sleek form factor that makes it the best Samsung foldable yet.
Yes, it starts at $1,999, making it the textbook definition of a premium or luxury product. And beyond that, its battery life didn’t wow me during my testing, and what counts for new software features here mostly just bring the Fold line up to speed with previous Galaxy phones’ AI features. But there’s so much else to like about the Fold 7 that if you have $2,000 lying around and any part of it sounds appealing to you, it’s well worth your consideration. Plus, if you pre-order from Amazon, you can get a $300 gift card to soften the financial blow.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Price and specs
Just looks like a normal phone from this angle. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
As I already covered, this phone is going to cost you two grand to start. Perhaps the specs sheet will do a good job of explaining why:
8-inch AMOLED inner display with 2184×1968 resolution and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
6.5-inch AMOLED cover display with 2520x1080p resolution and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset
12/16GB RAM
256/512GB/1TB memory
4,400mAh battery
In plain English, that means you’ve got two very large, high-quality displays to go along with one of the higher-end mobile chipsets on the market right now. Even with a relatively small battery size (more on this later), this is a powerful device and the price reflects that.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design and displays
Even when folded, it’s tiny. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is pretty incremental in a lot of ways, but its physical design is probably the biggest area where Samsung made real changes this year. I’ll get to why in a second, but first, let me say the color choices this year are dull: Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, and Jet-black. Blegh. My pink iPhone 16 may not be as powerful a device, but it’s got way more pizzazz, I’ll tell you that much.
Anyway, the long and short of it is that Samsung made the Galaxy Z Fold 7 significantly thinner and lighter than any foldable I’ve ever used. It’s in keeping with the recent Galaxy S25 Edge , a phone that offered thinness and little else as a primary selling point. (Ultra-thin phones are also a major theme in the mobile world this year.) Its 215g weight is perfectly agreeable in the hands for a device with two big displays; it’s actually lighter than the S25 Ultra , which notably only has one display on it.
With a thickness of just 8.9mm when folded and 4.2mm when unfolded, the Z Fold 7 really needs to be seen and held to be believed. I’ve reviewed a handful of these tablet-style foldables over the years, and none of them have ever felt as good in the hands as this one does. I’m still a bit skeptical overall of the long-term viability of high-end foldables compared to regular smartphones (they really need to start costing less than $2,000), but from a pure usability standpoint, the Z Fold 7 is just tremendous.
Look at that little guy. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Both displays are also perfectly solid, as you’d expect from the spec sheet. The 8-inch inner display is still wonderful for watching videos on the go, while the 6.5-inch outer display works very well as a regular phone when you don’t feel like unfolding the unit. I also didn’t really notice the crease at all while using the phone in its unfolded state. It’s hard to believe, but foldable makers have more or less figured out that part.
If I have one complaint in this department, it’s that there’s a noticeably thick bezel around the outer display. It doesn’t really affect usability, but it immediately stood out to me the first time I used the Z Fold 7. It just looks a little awkward, that’s all. Not a deal-breaker, by any means, but worth pointing out.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Performance
Nothing to worry about, performance-wise. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Let’s get the hard data out of the way first: Using the GeekBench 6 benchmarking software, the Z Fold 7 recorded a multi-core score of 9,600. That’s actually a little less than the 10,049 I registered on S25 Ultra earlier this year, but still a very high score overall. I’m not convinced the difference of 449 points actually matters in any meaningful way here.
Put simply, this phone works very well when you try to do pretty much anything on it. Apps load quickly, having a bunch of them open at once doesn’t noticeably slow it down, and I didn’t notice any egregious examples of the phone being uncomfortably warm to the touch after periods of use. Performance is not an issue here.
I will say, though, that this isn’t a banner year for new software ideas from Samsung’s foldable team. As far as I can tell, the Z Fold 7 just takes the AI features that were present in the S25 phones earlier this year and lightly adapts them to the bigger display. That does mean you have a much better way to edit photos than you would on a normal smartphone (complete with split-screen side-by-side editing), but the actual editing features don’t feel particularly new or novel here.
The other main advantage of the foldable form factor with regards to AI stuff is that you can drag and drop your creations from one app to another using split-screen view, which is nice. Other than that, there just isn’t a lot to play with here that wasn’t already around in one form or another before.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Cameras
Your three rear lenses. Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
To its credit, Samsung delivered a fairly beefy camera upgrade this year. The main selling point is the new 200MP main shooter on the back, which is a big jump from 50MP a year ago. Here are the full camera specs:
200MP wide rear lens
12MP ultra-wide rear lens
10MP telephoto rear lens with 3x optical zoom
10MP selfie cameras on both the exterior and interior displays
To keep it simple, the Z Fold 7 takes nice photos. The new 200MP main lens produces very pretty, clear, and vibrant shots.
Brooklyn looks good through the Z Fold 7’s lenses. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
You can also get down with some nice macro photography. I recommend taking advantage of this while flowers are still in bloom.
Pretty. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Nighttime photography is fine, too. One could argue that it makes images look a little artificial, but our backyard is nearly impossible to photograph at night, but the Z Fold 7 did a pretty good job of capturing it.
Left: No nighttime mode. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable Right: Nighttime mode. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
The Z Fold 7 is capable of up to 30x digital zoom. The results aren’t great, to be honest, but they rarely are in my experience on phones like this. You can get zoomed-in images that are technically clear and visible, but you can tell that the software is filling in some blanks to get there if you look closely enough.
Left: No zoom. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable Right: 30x zoom. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Still, it’s not a disappointing camera system by any means. Portrait mode is always there for your social media shots, too. In all, I dig it.
Looking good, my man. Credit: Alex Perry/Mashable
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Battery life
The only thing I found truly disappointing about the Z Fold 7? The battery life.
At first glance, the 4,400mAh cell size didn’t stand out to me because that’s pretty normal for smartphones, and there are other factors at play, like power efficiency, that make the size of the cell not a great indicator of total battery life. Still, maybe I should’ve been more wary. In performing Mashable’s standard battery testing (which involved playing a video in HD on the inner display at 50 percent brightness until the phone died), I got about 20 hours of life out of the Z Fold 7. Obviously, normal use that doesn’t involve a full day of video playback will probably squeeze some more juice out of it. It’s not a uselessly small battery by any means, but for a $2,000 phone, you’d like to have some more life on a single charge.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 worth it?
Battery quibbles aside, this is a really good foldable phone. I think if you can make the price work for you (via trade-in or otherwise) and you think the form factor would benefit you in any way, you might have found your next phone.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 is my favorite Samsung foldable yet almost entirely on the back of its extreme thinness and solid performance. Its software features aren’t really anything to write home about, but we live in the age of diminishing returns, so that’s to be expected at this point. It wins in enough other areas that this could be a nice everyday device for years to come, assuming there aren’t any long-term technical problems that wouldn’t show up in a launch window review.
Where to buy the new Galaxy Z Fold 7
Both Amazon and Samsung have pre-order offers available, as of this writing. The phone will officially ship on July 25.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Review: The Foldable Phone That Finally Delivers
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 feels like the holy grail of foldable phones. It’s super thin and light, so it feels like a regular phone in your pocket. And yet, the new Fold packs a bigger 8-inch display when opened. Samsung also upgraded the camera system, including a 200MP main shooter and an ultrawide camera that takes much better macros. The $2,000 price is super expensive — and Samsung ditched the S Pen — but overall this is the best foldable money can’t buy.. Tom’s Guide’s full review of the foldable phone will be published in the coming weeks. For now, check out our guide to the best phones and tablets of the year, as well as how they compare to other flagships like the S25 Ultra and the iPhone 6 and S6 Plus. The foldable device is available now from Samsung for $1,999 in the U.S. and £1,799 in the UK and Australia.
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It’s pretty rare that I’m so excited by a foldable phone that I’m tempted to buy it. This is one of those times.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is not yet another iterative upgrade. It is a huge leap forward in terms of design. It’s so thin and light I was shocked every time I picked it up for the first week of using the phone.
You’re no longer being penalized for wanting a phone and tablet in one device. In fact, the Fold 7 is lighter than both the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Galaxy S25 Ultra and also thinner than both of those phones when open.
That’s pretty frickin’ amazing for a foldable with a ginormous 8-inch display on the inside (one I can run three apps at once on), a 6.5-inch screen on the outside and a powerful new 200MP camera.
At the same time, Samsung is charging a staggering $2,000 for the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is the second price hike on this model in two years. And the phone maker made some sacrifices to get he Fold this thin. Bye-bye S-Pen!
Now that I’ve been living with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, here’s my reasons to buy (and skip) in my full review — and how it stacks up to other flagships like the S25 Ultra.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 Cheat Sheet
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Who is this for? Power users looking for a tablet and phone in one device — without the usual foldable phone penalty of heft and bulk.
What does it cost? The Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999/£1,799 / AU$2,899. That’s a $100 price hike over the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in the U.S.
What do I like? The amazingly thin and light design, the larger displays, more advanced 200MP camera and the seamless integration of Gemini Live AI.
What do I not like? Other than the sticker shock of that price, the unsightly punch hole camera on the main display and the just-okay battery life. Some may miss the S Pen.
(Image credit: Future)
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 starts at $1,999 for 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. No, that’s not a typo. That’s $100 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the most expensive phone you can buy in the U.S.
The Fold 7 is more affordable in the U.K. and Australia, with prices starting at £1,799 / AU$2,899. Opting for the 512GB model will run you $2,119 / £1,899 / AU$3,099. Want 1TB? You’re looking at $2,419 / £2,149 / AU$3,549, but at least that includes a bump in RAM to 16GB.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Specs
Swipe to scroll horizontally Price From $1,999 / £1,799 / AU$2,899 Main display 8 inches AMOLED (2184 x 1968, 1-120Hz) Cover display 6.5 inches AMOLED (2520 x 1080, 1-120Hz) Chipset Snapdragon 8 Elite RAM 12GB (16GB for 1TB) Storage 256GB/512GB/1TB Rear cameras 200MP wide (f/1.7), 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 10MP telephoto (f/2.4, 3x optical, 30x space zoom) Cover camera 10MP (f/2.2) Main display camera 10MP (f/2.2) Charging 25W Battery 4,400 mAh Dimensions 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9 mm (folded), 143.2 x 158.4 x 4.2 mm (unfolded) Weight 215 grams (7.5 ounces) IP Rating IP48 Colors Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Jet-black, Mint
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Design
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Let’s get something out of the way. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 may not be the thinnest and lightest book-style foldable in the world. But it is such a huge improvement over the Z Fold 6 that it feels like a totally new device.
Measuring 8.9mm thick unfolded and 4.2mm unfolded, the Z Fold 7 is 26% thinner than the Fold 6. And when I hold them side by side the contrast is dramatic. Seriously, it’s the difference between wanting to carry this phone in my front or back pocket and using a coat pocket or my bag.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 (left) and Galaxy Z Fold 6 (right) (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
For those scoring at home, the Honor Magic V5 is reportedly 8.8mm thin when closed and 4.1mm when open, but that’s not a phone that’s available for sale in the U.S.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 when folded (right) and the iPhone 16 Pro Max (left) (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
Samsung says it’s made the Fold 7 more durable, too, thanks to a new Armor FlexHinge that more evenly distributes stress, an advanced Armor Aluminum in the frame and hinge that increases strength and a main display that’s thinner but stronger.
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During my time with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it felt pretty durable despite being so thin. And I like how the hinge barely protrudes when closed. But note that this foldable is just IP48 rated once more, meaning it’s water resistant but not dust resistant. I won’t be taking the Fold to the beach.
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I do have some nitpicks with the design. The first is the camera for the inner display. Samsung moved from an invisible under-display camera to a punch hole, it’s an eyesore. I also wish the camera bump wasn’t so thick. As a result, the phone wobbles when you press use it on a table.
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One more thing. I think the Z Fold 7 could be slightly easier to open. It’s so thin you have to dig your nails in there.
How about colors? If you want to stand out, get the bold Blue Shadow option. I love it. If you don’t like fun get the Jetblack or Silver Shadow option. There’s also an exclusive Mint color on Samsung.com .
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Displays
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The Galaxy Z Fold 7 gets three major display upgrades versus the Z Fold 6. Both the cover and main displays are now larger, and the crease on the unfolded main display is definitely less noticeable.
Starting with the inside, the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s main display has grown from 7.6 inches to 8 inches, which is a pretty big jump.
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I appreciated the extra real estate when watching the Superman trailer on YouTube but especially when working on spreadsheets in Google Sheets. You can see a lot more info without scrolling. And it’s nice being able to see several open tabs at once when surfing the web in Chrome.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Brightness (Nits, HDR) Color (DCI-P3) Accuracy (Delta-E) Galaxy Z Fold 7 2,310 96%/105.2% (Natural/Vivid) 0.22/0.28 (Natural/Vivid) Galaxy Z Fold 6 2,317 81.2%/96.9% (Natural/Vivid) 0.24/0.24 (Natural/Vivid) Pixel Pro 9 Fold 2,319 78.9% / 89.2% (Natural/Adaptive) 0.19/0.33 (Natural/Adaptive) Galaxy S25 Ultra 1,860 90.8%/107.3% (Natural/Vivid) 0.24 iPhone 16 Pro Max 1,553 80.9% 0.26 Row 6 – Cell 0 Row 6 – Cell 1 Row 6 – Cell 2 Row 6 – Cell 3
The other plus is that Samsung has worked hard to minimize the main display’s crease. It’s still there but it’s much less noticeable. I put the Z Fold 7 and Z Fold 6 side by side and the line running down the middle of the screen is a lot more subtle from various angles. So one of the biggest complaints about foldable phones is (almost) no more.
I will say, though, that the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s panel looked a bit richer side by side next to the Z Fold 7 with slightly wider viewing angles.
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Meanwhile, the Z Fold 7’s cover display is now 6.5 inches, up from 6.3 inches on the Fold 6. It’s wider, too, so I found typing more comfortable. It’s certainly not as wide as the S25 Ultra’s 6.9-inch panel, but I had no problem checking emails, responding to Slack messages and changing tracks on Spotify, and so on.
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In our labs, the Z Fold 7’s main display delivered a peak brightness of 2,310 nits when displaying HDR content, compared to 2,317 nits for the Z Fold 6. So they’re comparable. The S25 Ultra, by comparison, reached 1,860 nits in the same test.
The Fold 7’s main display also registered 96% of the DCI-P3 color space in Natural mode and 105.2% in Vivid mode. That’s better than the Z Fold 6, and the S25 Ultra was slightly better in Vivid mode and slightly worse in Natural mode.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Cameras
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The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has three major camera upgrades, and one of them is controversial.
Samsung has upgraded the main wide camera from 50MP to 200MP. And that means you not only get more detail but can crop in more on your shots so you have more creative freedom.
You also get autofocus on the 12MP ultrawide camera, which means you can get some very detailed macro shots. Just take a look at this shot of a Rose of Sharon flower. The Z Fold 7 delivers much more details in the petals, stamen and even the flecks of pollen vs. the Z Fold 6.
Image 1 of 4 Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
Just keep in mind that the S25 Ultra’s 40MP ultrawide camera can capture even sharper looking macros, as you’ll see in the gallery above.
The third major change is the inner selfie camera. Samsung has ditched the under-display 4MP camera on the Fold 6 for a 10MP punch hole camera on its new foldable. And while aesthetically it’s not pleasing, it does take better looking photos.
Check out this selfie comparison. The Z Fold 7’s shot is more colorful and there’s more detail in my eyes and shirt. The Fold 6’s image is blurrier and a bit washed out by comparison.
Image 1 of 4 Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Pixel 9 Pro (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
The main camera did a great job with this photo of the fountain in Bryant Park. The blue forget-me-not flowers really pop, and the fountain itself has a subtle blur effect. Meanwhile, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold’s pic is more evenly focused throughout, but there’s more of a haze to the image. The fountain gets a bit lost in the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s image.
With the sun behind the clouds I took this somewhat moody image of Bryant Park using the Z Fold 7’s ultrawide camera. In this case I prefer the brighter shot taken by the S25 Ultra. But the Fold 7 does a better job of capturing the clouds than the S25 Ultra.
Image 1 of 5 Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Pixel 9 Pro (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
So how about portraits? The Z Fold 7 holds its own versus the competition. My green shirt with white stripes looks vibrant, and there’s good definition in my hair and hands. Still I slightly prefer the brighter exposure from the Z Fold 6 and S25 Ultra. The Pixel 9 Pro’s image looks a bit flat and dull, while the iPhone’s image has the best contrast.
In low light, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 captured a fairly impressive photo of string lights outside a restaurant. There’s a good amount of detail in the bricks and trees, and the Modelo-branded umbrellas pop. I’d give a slight edge to the iPhone 16 Pro Max because you can make out the lights a bit better in the foreground.
Image 1 of 4 Galaxy Z Fold 7 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) iPhone 16 Pro Max (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy S25 Ultra (Image credit: Tom’s Guide) Galaxy Z Fold 6 (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
Indoors the Galaxy Z Fold 7 struggled with this photo of a checkerboard lamp in a dark room with two candles behind it. It had trouble focusing but actually fared better than the S25 Ultra, whose pic turned out quite dark.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Video
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 captures crisp video up to 8K at 30 fps and promises better results in low light thanks to Samsung’s ProVisual Engine.
Galaxy Z Fold 7: Sample video – YouTube Watch On
I shot this video of a creek on a very muggy day right before a thunderstorm hit, and the Z Fold 7 recorded colorful footage with rich greens and browns against a grayish-white sky. As I zoomed in, the camera did a fine job rendering the ripples in the water.
Galaxy Z Fold 7: Sample video – YouTube Watch On
Galaxy Z Fold 6: Sample video – YouTube Watch On
In this footage of the Bryant Park fountain, the Z Fold 7’s footage looks more evenly exposed, while the Z Fold 6’s video appears overly bright and washed out. The Fold 7 clip also offers more details in the stone and water as I zoomed in.
To test the ProVisual Engine’s chops, I shot this footage of a pool in near darkness. The Z Fold 7’s clip looks brighter and a bit crisper, especially as I zoom in on the basketball net.
Galaxy Z Fold 7: Night video – YouTube Watch On
Galaxy Z Fold 6: Night video – YouTube Watch On
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: AI
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The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is so far ahead of the iPhone on AI it’s almost sad. While there aren’t many new features versus what the S25 Ultra introduced, Samsung deserves credit for making more of its Galaxy AI tools foldable friendly. And Gemini steals the show.
I love that you can just long press the Z Fold 7’s side button and then quickly launch into a live audio and video chat with Gemini Live. The window just pops up on the bottom right side so it doesn’t cover up the app you’re using. I also like that you can share your screen with Gemini and ask questions about it.
For example, I opened a photo of the Bryant Park Fountain and asked about when it was made. I learned that the Josephine Shaw Memorial Fountain in Bryant Park was dedicated in 1912, and it’s the first major public memorial dedicated to a woman in New York City.
You can even ask Gemini questions while you’re playing a game. I asked where I should go next in Wuthering Waves and Gemini gave me directions (head North) to get to the next checkpoint.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is also super smart when it comes to generative AI photo edits. I just tapped the eraser button and it automatically recommended a bunch of people to zap out of my photo. With a couple of taps they were gone.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 playing Wuthering Waves (Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
I appreciate that you can see the before and after side-by-side on the big 8-inch display. The same thing goes for other generative AI image tools like turning you and your friends into a comic, 3D cartoon, watercolor or sketch. You can even have AI fun with your pets now, including a funky Fisheye lens option.
(Image credit: Future)
One of the more popular Galaxy AI tools gets a boost with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and that’s Audio Eraser. You can now remove background noise not just from video recordings in the Gallery app but also in Voice Recorder, Notes and call transcript.
In one video, I could easily remove unwanted voices in the background in auto mode, and then I could fine tune from there for the exact desired result.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Performance
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It took me playing only a few minutes of Wuthering Waves on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 to know this is a powerhouse phone. The graphics look stunning, and the frame rate stayed super smooth as I battled a ginormous monster and ran for my life.
I could also easily run three apps at once using the Multi Window feature, such as Slack, Gallery and Spotify. And it’s neat that you can drag and drop images from one window to another.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 – Cell 0 Geekbench Adobe Premiere Rush 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited Galaxy Z Fold 7 3,052 / 9,735 52 seconds 41.2 fps / 10,812 Galaxy Z Fold 6 2,172 / 6,901 40 seconds 28.6 fps / 7,513 Galaxy S25 Ultra 3,031 / 9,829 52 seconds 42.4 fps / 11,140 iPhone 16 Pro Max 3,386 / 8,306 21 seconds 28.1 fps / 7,396
On Geekbench, which measures CPU performance, the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip paired with 12GB of RAM notched 3,052 on the single-core portion of the Geekbench test and 9,735 on multicore. That’s about the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The results were similar on our video transcoding test using Adobe Premiere Rush, taking 52 seconds to transcode a 4K video to 1080p. Strangely, last year’s Fold 6 finished in a quicker 40 seconds. The iPhone 16 Pro Max was way faster than them all.
However, the iPhone lags the Fold 7 on the 3DMark graphics test. The foldable reached 41 frames per second (fps) on the demanding Solar Bay Unlimited portion of the test, compared to just 28 fps for the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Battery life & charging
The bad news is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 packs the same size 4,400 mAh battery as the Galaxy Z Fold 6. This at a time when Chinese phone makers like Honor and Oppo are rolling out higher capacity silicon carbon batteries.
For example, the Honor Magic V5 packs a 6,100 mAh battery using the new technology and the Oppo Find N5 offers a 5,600 mAh cell. Samsung has told us that it is investigating silicon carbon batteries but for now it is prioritizing safety.
Swipe to scroll horizontally Row 0 – Cell 0 Battery size (mAh) Battery life (hrs:mins) Galaxy Z Fold 7 4,400 mAh 10:55 Galaxy Z Fold 6 4,400 10:25 Pixel 9 Pro Fold 4,650 mAh 10:32 / 11:29 (Smooth display on / off) Galaxy S25 Ultra 5,000 mAh 17 review:14 iPhone 16 Pro Max 4,685 mAh 17 review:35
On the Tom’s Guide battery test, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 lasted a somewhat mediocre 10 hours and 55 minutes when surfing the web over 5G. Compare that to 10:25 for the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max both lasted over 17 hours, or 6 hours longer than the new Fold.
Alas, the charging picture isn’t much prettier. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 supports relatively slow 25W charging. That means you get a 54% charge in our testing in 30 minutes. The S25 Ultra’s 45W charger got to 71% in the same amount of time. Meanwhile, the above Honor and Oppo phones boast 80W charging, but we haven’t measured their charging speed yet.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: OneUI 8 & software
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The Galaxy Z Fold runs Samsung’s One UI 8 software on top of Android 16, and there are some notable upgrades for foldable fans.
As mentioned above, Gemini Live is now enhanced with multimodal AI, which means it can process information from your voice and what the camera “sees” in real-time, as well as what’s on your screen.
The Gemini Live interface floats on top of whatever you’re doing, so it doesn’t feel like it’s taking over your phone, and when you’re sharing your screen and talking to Gemini you’ll see an indicator in the top left corner that it’s listening, so you can tap there to pause or turn it off at any time.
Circle to Search gets an upgrade in One UI 8, too. You can use Circle to Search when playing a game and get instant tips or find out more about characters or enemies.
Another AI perk is that you can now drag and drop AI-created content from one window to another when using the multi window feature, including images.
Thanks to its larger screen, there’s a revamped Studio video editor in the gallery that lets you edit videos almost like on a computer. What makes it unique is how it’s laid out, along with the ability to layer tracks much like on professional video editors. For creators, it’s a helpful tool that offers on-device editing to save you time. This is exclusive to the Z Fold 7 for now, as the Z Flip 7 doesn’t have it.
As for Android 16 features, some of the biggest highlights include live updates for ride-share and food delivery apps (which is coming to Samsung’s Now Bar). Another welcome upgrade is grouping notifications from a single app for reducing clutter on your lock screen.
As with other Samsung flagships, the Z Fold 7 comes with seven years of OS and security updates. However, it only comes with 6 months of free Gemini Advanced — whereas Google’s Pixel 9 phones get a full year.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: Verdict
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Samsung has done it. They’ve won over a foldable phone skeptic with a design that just feels right.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a triumph of engineering, packing larger displays in a design that’s so thin and light you forget that you’re carrying a foldable around.
You get two vibrant screens in one device, awesome multitasking power and a flagship-grade camera system. And the AI features really shine on this bigger canvas, especially Gemini Live screen sharing.
So what’s the problem? The $2,000 price is super steep, and I wish Samsung found a way to pack in a larger battery. I personally can live without the S Pen, though creatively-inclined users may be peeved, and I really don’t mind the punch hole camera. The megapixel upgrade makes up for it.
I think the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the better option if you want longer battery life, even better cameras and S Pen support for hundreds less. But if you’re even thinking about splurging for a foldable, you’ll be more than happy with the Z Fold 7. It’s the best foldable phone you can buy in the U.S. and maybe the world.
It finally feels like the future we were promised is here.
Source: https://mashable.com/review/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-7-review