Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Review: Is this the ultra form-factor?

Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra Design and Display

Slightly refined, every bit as thin and compact as before.

Not much has changed with the exterior of Samsung’s top-shelf Fold. The Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra looks more or less exactly the same as its predecessor, which is not a bad thing, because that’s still a fresh enough design.

The characteristic vibe of the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra is still to be somewhat compact and super-slim. The dimensions are the same, but I’ve noticed that the edges that most come in contact with your hand while using the phone are now slightly smoother. There was some sharpness to the Fold 7, while the Fold 8 Ultra feels a bit more refined.

Aside from that, the other new design thing has to do with the colors the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra comes in. In short, you can take your pick from off-white, the online-exclusive lime, and one of three super-dark shades – let’s call them blackish, greenish and purplish.

I generally don’t care about the full range of colors a phone comes in, as long as there’s at least one that I really like, but in this case, I have to admit that even I am slightly disappointed by this year’s color selection.

I don’t know; it just feels uninspired. They probably wanted to go for a more conservative, pro vibe, but the options just don’t sync with me. The good thing is there’s white and black, which is probably enough to cover the vast majority of the audience.

Still, if I were a Samsung designer, I’d take a look at what Honor has done with the Magic V6, because that phone’s variations have just enough character to make them look cool and interesting, without going too crazy.

Also, sometimes, things just work, and you don’t necessarily need to change them. In that line of thought, I think the Galaxy Fold 6 offered a pretty great selection of color variants.

Overall, though, the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra is still a looker! We’ve stopped counting, but I believe it’s still the slimmest foldable phone out there, and it’s genuinely cute. Open it up and it’s mind-bogglingly thin!

My only complaint is this thinness had to come at the expense of S Pen support. Sadly, the Fold 8 Ultra again skips the S Pen, which is a shame, considering the beautiful 8” display with pretty much zero crease. But we’ll get to the display in a bit.

Titanium inside

The Fold 8 Ultra may look the same from the outside, but there are some very welcome upgrades on the inside.

A new titanium hinge, along with a titanium plate under the display, acts to reinforce the foldable mechanism and screen, making them stronger and more durable. The flexible panel can now better withstand pressure, and both the screen and hinge are said to better handle drops and other impacts. Forgive me for not putting these claims to the test. I’ll just take Samsung’s word for it.

But my point is this is a huge improvement that shouldn’t be overlooked just because it’s under the hood. Long-term reliability is still one of the primary concerns users have when considering foldable phones, so Samsung’s efforts in this area are extremely important.

Not only are the screen and hinge supposed to be stronger, but I can tell you for a fact that opening the Fold 8 Ultra is now more pleasant and effortless. It’s just that the whole mechanism is now more refined and perfected.

And what about the crease? Well, every year there are talks of reducing the crease and even achieving zero crease. The reality is we’re already in a pretty amazing place with regards to how visible creases are on foldable phones. The Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra is not quite zero-crease, but it’s definitely one of the best ones I’ve seen (along with the Fold 8). So, yes, it is another step forward in the right direction.

Now, let’s talk displays!

The cover screen is still the same, cute, 6.5” panel, which is gorgeous, but is mostly suited to quick, surface-level tasks, and not full immersion.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s spacious enough for most essential tasks, but when you have quick access to that beautiful, 8” canvas inside, you just don’t want to linger on the cover screen for too long.

Speaking of the internal display, it’s been upgraded and can now reach even higher levels of brightness: we measured close to 2900 nits of peak brightness (20% APL), up from 2500 nits.

Another thing that’s higher is the resolution, which is now 2256x2504 pixels, up from 1968x2184 pixels. This takes the pixel density from 368 ppi to 422 ppi, which is a considerable upgrade.

And there you have it – Samsung did indeed upgrade the OLED tech in use here in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, which is awesome. To me, however, bringing back S Pen support would have been a much more substantial upgrade, because it unlocks so many new features that cannot be replicated without stylus support.

Especially now that the display is basically flat with barely any interruption in the middle, it feels like such a missed opportunity.

On the bright side, Samsung is making a big deal out of the new foldable structure here, like the dual titanium layers beneath the flexible OLED panel, further increasing the display’s durability. Again, this is superb news for anyone eying a new foldable phone.

What’s more, the thing with foldables is that they do tend to get a bit more wear with time. The internal display is soft and accumulates microscratches, which is fine, but also the crease tends to become slightly more visible with time on some models. Samsung’s new titanium structure promises to fix this, so the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra’s display should remain perfectly flat and almost crease-free even after years of use.

Only time will tell if this is true, but we aren’t in a hurry, are we?

Check out the in-depth lab display measurements of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra for even more technical information!

Display Measurements:

As usual, Samsung has opted for a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, which works without issues.

The new fingerprint registration process feels faster and more effortless, which makes things even better.

There’s also the usual basic face recognition that you can’t use for high-security things like authorizing payments, but is great for day-to-day convenience.

Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra Camera

The 3x telephoto is back, but overall, I’m not super impressed with this camera system.

We can talk all we want about the “ultra” camera of the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra, but the reality is that you’ll look at the sample photos and videos below, and you’ll decide for yourself whether the camera suits your taste or not.

My opinion is that it’s a capable and dependable camera that you can count on to produce great shots in a wide variety of circumstances; however, I wouldn’t really call it an “ultra” camera at this point.

I understand Samsung wanted to differentiate between the new Fold 8 (wide) and the classic Fold 8 Ultra (square), and the camera felt like a reasonable way to achieve that. The thing is that mobile camera technology has progressed considerably over the last couple years, including in foldable phones, and what we have on the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra is by no means cutting-edge.

The main, 200 MP camera is pretty great. It’s got that perfectly capable, 1/1.3” sensor and wide f/1.7 aperture - so it’s really versatile in what it can achieve. This is both good and bad, because the phone often decides to fall back to the main camera when you’re trying to zoom in, especially when you’re dealing with darker environments.

Why does it do that? Because the 3x telephoto is still that basic, 10-megapixel, 1/3.94” sensor that is only good when used in optimal conditions. I’m definitely not impressed by the zoom capabilities on the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra, and I think this is probably the most important area Samsung should focus on for the Fold 9-series.

It just has to give this phone a proper periscope zoom with a larger sensor, if it wants to confidently keep calling it an “ultra” foldable.

Still, fans of ultrawide cameras will be happy to know that at least the ultrawide has been upgraded to a new, 50 MP sensor that can capture considerably more detailed and cleaner shots.

And this is pretty much my breakdown of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra’s cameras. It’s by no means bad; the photos are actually very likable most of the time. Samsung’s processing is on point when it comes to exposure, colors and so on. If you’ve seen what a modern Galaxy S or Fold camera can do, then you already know what to expect from the Fold 8 Ultra.

It’s just that the zoom capabilities are in serious need of an upgrade.

One thing I’ve noticed when taking pictures with the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra (and I’ve heard similar complaints about other modern Galaxy flagships), is you need to keep your hands steady, because it’s fairly easy to end up with slightly blurry shots, especially in low light.

The same remarks I shared about the photographs hold true for video recording as well. If you’ve seen video from a modern Galaxy camera, you know what to expect here.

It’s generally great and dependable. On top of that, Samsung gives you the option to switch to any camera on the phone in the middle of recording video, which is super-convenient.

Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra Performance & Benchmarks

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy brings another significant performance jump, but the extra-challenging foldable thermals mean it can’t quite reach its potential here.

In my Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra hands-on, I mentioned I was very excited about the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset coming to the Fold.

And the performance gains are real: we were able to achieve a roughly 10% increase in CPU speed, and about a 25% increase in GPU performance, which is impressive!

The thing with foldable phones is that due to their extra-slim bodies, thermal management becomes an even greater issue than it already is with normal phones. Because of this, the Fold 8 Ultra cannot give you the very best performance the Elite Gen 5 is capable of. If you want that, you’ll have to get a non-folding phone.

Despite the form-factor’s limitations, having the new chip here does mean you get even stronger performance than last year’s Fold 7, and this is, for all intents and purposes, a very useful upgrade.

One thing I’ve noticed is that Samsung doesn’t really let the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra get hot. Even under very heavy load, the phone gets moderately warm at most.

It feels like there’s some unused capacity, like if they let it get a bit warmer, it can squeeze more performance out of the chip, but this is just my subjective take. I’m sure Samsung’s engineers know what they are doing, and the thermal profile is probably set optimally considering many different factors.

CPU Performance Benchmarks:

GPU Performance

Storage

The Samsung Fold 8 Ultra comes with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB built-in storage. The 256GB and 512GB models are equipped with 12GB RAM, and the top-end, 1TB one has 16GB RAM, as usual with Samsung’s latest releases.

The Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra introduces One UI 9. Samsung’s latest software is built on Android 17, and while it doesn’t have the new bubble app minimization interface yet, it does try to be more helpful with proactive Galaxy AI features.

Whether you’re a fan or want to use these AI features is up to you, but they are here if you’d like to try them.

The Now Nudge feature aims to give you useful “next steps” to act upon. Imagine you’re in the middle of a conversation on Samsung Messages, and someone mentions you guys should meet soon. Now Nudge may suggest suitable free slots in your calendar, or even places where you can meet up. I’m personally not that excited about these things.

Aside from the usual Now Nudge / Now Brief tweaks, My FanCam is way more useful, at least to me, because it allows you to record a large scene with multiple people in it, and then it will reframe and cut new vertical video out of it, while tracking and focusing on the one individual you want.

There’s also a host of smaller tweaks and refinements, like fade in/out animations, reworked drop-down toggle menus, and updates to essentials apps, like the gallery, where new AI and non-AI editing options are available to help you take your shots to the next level.

Samsung is finally delivering some much-needed upgrades in the battery specs.

Chief among these is the new, 5000 mAh silicon-carbon battery, which brings a 13.6% increase in capacity.

We may joke all day how Samsung is late to the table, or how the battery is still considerably smaller than those of competing Chinese phones, but we have to realize that Samsung is a much bigger company than those competing brands. It has a way bigger reputation to protect worldwide, which flows across numerous different business categories. As such, it cannot rush to adopt new, unproven technology and make risky moves.

First, it needs any new technology to have sufficient scale, and so far the production of silicon-carbon batteries hasn’t had that level of scale. And second, I understand why Samsung may want to play it more conservatively, especially in terms of the battery. Remember the Note 7?

In other words, Samsung has way more to lose, compared to many of its smaller, bolder competitors, which I believe is why it’s decided to be slower at adopting certain new technologies. And it’s a similar story with Apple.

That said, the new, 5000 mAh Si-Ca battery is very much welcome here. Our PhoneArena Battery Score currently doesn’t indicate an overall jump in battery life, for some reason. The web browsing test result, in particular, ends up being lower than that of the Fold 7. I'll investigate further where that difference comes from. It’s been a while since I used the Galaxy Fold 7, but I do find the Fold 8 Ultra to last at least as long as the Fold 7. Which I realize is not what we're looking for here, but it could be a matter of software optimization. We'll be on the lookout for new software updates on the Fold 8 Ultra and will retest it to see if the battery results change.

The jump in capacity isn’t huge. It’s not like Samsung went for a 6660 mAh battery like in the Honor Magic V6. A 5000 mAh battery in the Fold 8 Ultra should mean we experience a little less anxiety towards the end of the day, but make no mistake, this ain’t a two-day phone.

Charging speed is another area that was long overdue for an upgrade, and it’s finally here. In the typical conservative Samsung fashion, wired charging is going up from 25W to 45W, which isn’t out of this world, but it’s still pretty decent. It makes a big difference.

Wireless charging is also going up from 15W to 20W, in what is arguably a modest upgrade.

Thankfully, Samsung’s managed to fit some pretty decent stereo speakers in the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra, despite the impossibly compact space.

These aren’t the fullest speakers, but they hold up pretty well against things like the S26 Ultra – you won’t be missing out on a lot of fidelity with this phone. Loudness and low frequencies are pretty decent for a flagship phone of this caliber, and the sound is fairly clear and well controlled; it’s not muddy.

I have no complaints about the haptics. Everything works as it should.

 

Should you buy it?

At the end of the day, there isn’t much that is wrong with the Fold 8 Ultra. It is a very solid foldable phone all around. Could it have been even better, if it had a more powerful zoom camera or S Pen support? Absolutely! But if these things aren’t of such importance to you, as they probably aren’t for a lot of people, it’s a magnificent machine that will serve you for years to come.

So, should you seriously consider getting the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra?

If you currently have the Fold 7 – no. This isn’t a product for you. I mean, sure, if you absolutely need to have the latest and greatest, no one can stop you. But practically speaking, I don’t think there’s much here to significantly level up your experience.

If you are a Fold 6 user – it depends on how important the S Pen is to you, and if you desperately want to move to a slimmer phone. To me, the Galaxy Fold 6 it still a banger of a phone with a fairly unique style, so if you don’t mind the thicker profile, you probably won’t get too much out of this upgrade.

Users of the Galaxy Fold 5 and below – I’m pretty sure the Fold 8 Ultra will be a very significant upgrade overall, especially if you don’t mind losing the S Pen.

As mentioned in the beginning, the Fold 8 Ultra is an expensive phone. It now starts at $2100 for 256 GB, moves up to $2300 for 512 GB, and then jumps all the way up to the astonishing $2700 for the 1 TB model.

This sure is a lot of cash, but at least Samsung always has some pretty good deals going on.

Especially if you’re a current Fold user, you should definitely take advantage of a trade-in, because that can massively reduce the amount of money that will have to leave your bank account. So… do not pay full price right away. Always check Samsung’s website or carrier stores for ongoing promos, and possibly wait a couple months – this can usually bring even more savings your way!