Galaxy Fold 7: 4 months later, it's better than I expected
4 months after its debut, I still find the Galaxy Fold 7 just as impressive and cutting-edge.
It’s been four months since the Galaxy Fold 7 launched—and four months since my initial review. And you know, this is usually the moment where the excitement has already worn off, the little annoyances have all made themselves obvious, and you really start to feel what a phone is actually like to live with, day in - day out.
The Good
Let's start with the positives.
The Galaxy Fold 7's design: Still feels cutting-edge
The first thing that still impresses me every single day is just how thin the Fold 7 is. The Fold 6 is not that bad, especially if you don’t use a case, but the Fold 7 continues to be unsurpassed in how sleek and sophisticated it is. Back when I reviewed it 4 months ago, I said that it’ll probably be leapfrogged very soon, eying companies like Honor, Oppo and Huawei, but that still hasn’t happened, and it continues to be the leader in that all-important category for foldables.
This razor-thin profile makes the whole experience with the phone feel more modern and premium. Honestly, I still get these little “wow” moments every once in a while with the Z Fold 7.
The weight reduction is real and really matters
The reduced weight has been another improvement that continues to pay dividends. I personally don’t enjoy that feeling when you put a bulky, heavy phone in your pocket, and it starts to feel like it's actively trying to pull your pants down.
Samsung's Fold phones, being a pioneering series of foldables, have always been guilty of this, along with many other huge flagships of recent years. But the Z Fold 7 is breaking that vicious cycle with its record-shattering 215 grams, because it genuinely feels way more manageable. I definitely notice a meaningful difference in the weight of the device as I switch between the Fold 6 and the 7.
The no-crease internal display continues to be a win
Bigger screens on foldables are always welcome, but the real win for the Samsung Z Fold 7 this year is that the crease is finally gone. And as much as we could take that for granted, switching between the Fold 6 and the 7, it’s made it very clear to me that life without a crease is to be preferred.
Not that the little crease on the Fold 6 ruins anything, even writing with the S Pen is generally fine, but it’s just cooler and more complete when the internal screen is this big smooth, uninterrupted surface. It’s definitely less distracting, and four months later, it still looks and feels amazing.
Larger displays are better, but the Galaxy Fold 7 hits the sweet spot
People have always complained about the small and narrow cover screens on Samsung foldables, and the Galaxy Fold 7 was the one that finally fixed that issue completely without any compromises.
The reality is, that there’s something to be said about the Fold 6’s compact footprint when closed – it's both cute and functional, because you kind of get the best of both worlds: a compact smartphone that's easy to hold and carry around, as well as a massive smartphone experience when you need one. Still, the narrow cover screen is cute until it isn’t, or more precisely – until you want to write a longer message using the on-screen keyboard. This is one use case I saw a definite improvement with when I switched to the Fold 7. I've just been making way less typos and mis-taps with the Samsung Fold 7, and that has generally equaled lower levels of stress and irritation in my life, which is always a good thing.
But honestly, I feel like the Fold 7's 6.5” cover display diagonal is the sweet spot. To me, at least. Any wider than that and the phone would become a bit too big and uncomfortable to deal with in everyday use.
The Bad
Of course, not everything has been smooth sailing. There are some notable drawbacks that I’ve experienced.
The big compromise: No S Pen
My biggest gripe with the Galaxy Fold 7 is the lack of S Pen support. I get why Samsung removed it: it wanted to catch up and even surpass the competition in terms of thinness, so it had to make a compromise and remove the digitizer screen layer that’s needed for the S Pen to work.
But here’s the problem: this is the first Fold that has a big, flat, crease-less display… and this is the year the S Pen is gone?
Not cool. And no, you cannot replace that with generic styluses (those with the soft rubber tips), or those Bluetooth fake ones – they just don’t work. They’re nowhere close to the responsiveness and precision of a proper S Pen.
I didn’t pay too much attention to that back when I first reviewed the Z Fold 7, but now I’ve realized that I’d have sacrificed some of that thinness in order to keep the S Pen, because there just aren’t any legit workarounds (aside from buying a Galaxy Tab, which would be really overkill).
The New Dex: One step forward, two steps back
So let’s talk about Dex on One UI 8.
When the Galaxy Fold 7 launched, it came with One UI 8, and Dex suddenly felt more limited. It brought better resolution and aspect ratio support, but sacrificed many quality-of-life features like proper window management and keyboard shortcuts. Afterwards, Samsung did fix a couple of major early issues, like the difficulty of forcing apps into full-screen mode, but the experience continues to lag behind what Dex used to be in One UI 7.
If Samsung wants Dex to stay relevant, and I think it should, because it's such a unique and powerful selling point, they need to stop walking it back and start doubling down on it. And I really think it doesn’t need a lot of work to become great.
Battery life: Good, but not great
The Fold 7 hasn’t given me any major battery issues, but there have been more than a few nights where I ended the day at around 15–20%, and that’s cutting it dangerously close for my taste.
Even though the battery's capacity is "just" 4400mAh, which isn't a lot by today's standards, I haven't been struggling with battery life. That said, given some competitors are already opting for next-gen silicon-carbon batteries, which deliver way bigger capacities in the same volume, this is obviously one area where Samsung should put more effort into going forward.
If there’s one clear improvement I want for the Galaxy Fold 8, aside from bringing the S Pen back, it’s a next-gen battery which will have a bigger capacity while keeping the weight down.
Final thoughts: The Galaxy Fold 7, 4 months later
So, after four months, the Galaxy Fold 7 still feels like Samsung’s most refined foldable ever; no question about that. It’s a great upgrade for Fold 4 and even Fold 5 users, but for those who're currently rocking the Fold 6? Nah, I think you guys are perfectly fine. You can just wait for next year, especially if you don’t want to suddenly lose S Pen support.
Aside from that, all of the design improvements Samsung achieved, like the super-thin design, the lighter weight and the creaseless main display, have all aged beautifully. I think nobody has been able to leapfrog the Z Fold 7 yet in these categories, especially in the US market (where the Fold 7 is mostly competing against the Pixel 10 Pro Fold).
If you’re new to the foldable market, you have to know that now is a great time to get the Galaxy Fold 7, because it won’t be replaced anytime soon, and it’s now available at much better prices than at launch. It used to start at about $2000, but now you can get it for like $1600 or even cheaper this shopping season, and that’s without any trade-ins. If you want a super-powerful and functional smartphone, there is no better deal than that right now.
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