Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Review: Why the Passport Shape Actually Works

Galaxy Z Fold 8 is another example of how Samsung can reinvent the foldable category when needed, and in this case, the company has reimagined a form factor prioritised for a wide range of content. The company has introduced an aspect ratio that provides a familiar experience for browsing short-form content or reading on the device.

The best thing is that when you unfold the Galaxy Z Fold 8, it offers a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is great for multimedia consumption, reading and more. Samsung stresses that the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s display ratios have been designed around the way people naturally consume content throughout the day. At a starting price of Rs. 179,999, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers everything that a new-age Android bar flagship phone can offer, plus the amazing passport-style form factor that’s so convenient for one-hand use.

I have been using the Galaxy Z Fold 8 since last week’s Unpacked event, and in this review, I will break down why it is the most practical foldable Samsung launched this year, and it may become more popular than the Galaxy Z Flip clamshell phone.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Design: Easy on the Eyes and Practical for Everyday Use

• Dimensions – Folded – 123.9×81.9×9.7mm and Unfolded 161.4×123.9×4.5mm
• Weight – 201 grams
• Water Resistance – IP48
• Colours – Graphite, Cream, Lavender, and Pistachio (exclusive to Samsung online stores)

Samsung has introduced a new form factor that’s very different from what we have seen in the last 8 years. The South Korean giant has been focusing on the bar and clamshell design over the years but has introduced a new book-style design, more commonly referred to as a passport-style design that’s easy on the eyes.

Redesigned with an all-new form factor, Galaxy Z Fold 8 brings an aspect ratio optimised for all types of content

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 ticks all the right boxes when it comes to design. At 201 grams, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet and is lighter than many modern-day flagship devices like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (214 grams), iPhone 17 Pro Max (233 grams), and Vivo X300 Ultra (232 grams). The Fold 8 has been designed with one-hand usage in focus, and while folded, there’s so much more you can do without any hiccups. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, much like the new set of foldables, does a great job in reducing crease visibility. Especially compared with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, the Z Fold 8 has a crease that’s almost not there.

For the hinge, Samsung has again gone with the Armour FlexHinge, which now has a widened gap in the inner bezel for effortless opening. However, the new addition here is Samsung’s Flex Titanium technology, which introduces a dual-layer titanium shock-absorbing layer underneath the display, strengthening the screen. Long story short, Samsung says this is a titanium-based display structure that combines a titanium-alloy film with a titanium plate to make foldables thinner while maintaining durability. The hinge on the Fold 8 feels solid and is also easier to open at any point. Much like the Galaxy Fold 7, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 wobbles on a flat surface with the display up, and to fix it, you will need a rear case.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 also gets protection, comes encased in Armour Aluminium, and is fitted with Corning Gorilla Glass at the front

The magic of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is in the size: when folded, the 10:16 cover screen offers a perfect size for scrolling, be it social media, Internet browsing, or even shopping through apps on the phone. The size is also apt for typing quick texts, emails, social posts and more. On the other hand, when unfolded, the 4:3 main display offers more screen real estate for multimedia consumption, photo or video editing on the go, and more.

Interestingly, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, when unfolded and rotated, offers an aspect ratio that’s naturally suited to reading, giving users a more comfortable way to read articles on the Internet, e-books, and watch long-form videos like shows on OTT platforms.

The Fold 8 features new display proportions across its cover screen and main display

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers a two-screen setup, each designed to handle everything a modern-day device is expected to handle – be it the cover screen, which perfectly fits within your palms and makes it a solid doom-scrolling device that should impress you from your first interaction, or the main screen, which is 7.6 inches of immersive display with thin bezels.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has been launched in four colours – Graphite, Cream, Lavender, and Pistachio. The last one will be exclusive to Samsung.com buyers. I tried all the colours at the company’s global launch in London, and I feel Cream is my favourite; Lavender is my second favourite, and that’s the one the company gave us for this review. The rear design doesn’t attract smudges and enhances the overall hand feel. The one-hand feel of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is next-level and something that no other foldable in the market right now can match, even the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Once unfolded, the device expands the display to a 4:3 aspect ratio, great for multimedia consumption

Kudos to Samsung for coming up with something that may beat its Flip clamshell phone within a year. In short, this year, Samsung has a foldable for everyone, whether you are looking for a book-style, passport-style, or clamshell design. Of course, you need deep pockets for it, which goes without saying.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Displays: The Reimagined Aspect Ratio Changes the Game

• Cover screen – 5.5-inch WUXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 428ppi, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
• Main screen – 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X 403ppi, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 brings the book-style foldable in an all-new form factor that we have previously seen on the Oppo Find N, launched in 2021, and the first Pixel Fold, released in 2023. But Samsung has further refined this size to suit the new-age usage scenarios.

The cover screen of the Fold 8 offers a 10:16 aspect ratio that’s ideal for all social media apps

The 5.5-inch WUXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display is bright and great for scrolling through Instagram, X, Reddit, and more such platforms that offer scrolling content. It offers a 1248×1972-pixel screen resolution and 428ppi pixel density. The display also offers a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Whether you’re watching video content or browsing gallery pictures, the cover screen of the Fold 8 offers a size you will eventually fall in love with within a few days, like me. It is bright enough even in direct sunlight, with decent sunlight legibility. Though we do not have exact peak brightness numbers for the cover screen from Samsung, we will update the review to reflect the same.

Coming to the main screen, it offers a 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 403 PPI pixel density and 1848×2448 pixels screen resolution. It also gets a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and offers 3000nits of peak brightness alongside Vision Booster. The main screen is also bright for use outdoors and has excellent sunlight legibility.

Once rotated, the main display ratio becomes more comfortable for reading articles, e-books and long-form content

In foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has made a solid impression as a phone design purely for multimedia enthusiasts who are always on their phone scrolling Reels, Shorts, X, or various other video-based platforms. The main screen, alternatively, is ideal for watching movies, playing games, editing presentations, or tweaking photos or videos. It basically kills the need for a secondary device, as it works great for leisure use as well as for heavy-graphics-needed apps and games. It’s worth mentioning, however, that the main cover screen shows thick black bars while watching YouTube videos, which looks odd and makes it feel like the screen is unused.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 displays are among my favourite screens on a foldable this year, and I feel it will be tough to beat in 2026

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Performance: Can Match Flagship Experience

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
• 12GB + 256GB, 12GB + 512GB, and 16GB + 1TB
• Android 17-based One UI 9

One of the best things Samsung has done this year is make sure the Galaxy Z Fold 8 also offers a top-tier processor. The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, the same as the Fold 8 Ultra and S26 Ultra launched earlier this year. During the review period, I tried multitasking, photo editing, light video editing, and Galaxy AI features on the phone, and the device handled everything with ease.

From playing games to navigating routes on Google Maps to editing videos on the Instagram Edit app to more demanding apps, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 glides over tasks without throwing tantrums, definitely a trait of a top-tier flagship phone in 2026.

At just 201 grams, the Fold 8 is Samsung’s lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet

Of course, due to design restrictions and overall under-the-hood real estate, the phone does get warm with continuous gaming for about 20-30 minutes. I tried Call of Duty: Mobile in the best heavy graphic settings, and Asphalt 8. But the good news is that it cools down even faster. We ran our suite of benchmark apps, and the phone does impress with solid credentials.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is among a handful of devices this year that will come with One UI 9 based on Android 17 out of the box. The others from Samsung are the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Flip 8. While we are still a few days away from the Pixel 11 launch, which will come with Android 17 out of the box, it’s good to see that Samsung has benefited from the long-term collaboration with Google and is now beating every other brand to offer the latest Android build on its Galaxy devices. The Galaxy Fold 8 will get the best software support in the industry, like all Samsung flagships.

Honestly, the cover screen, when folded, offers a 10:16 aspect ratio that’s perfect for messaging, social platforms, and browsing on the Internet. I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun using the cover screen of a foldable device.

Samsung has absolutely nailed the cover screen on the Galaxy Z Fold 8

When unfolded, the 4:3 main display offers larger screen real estate for multimedia consumption, and to top it off, when rotated, the same screen ratio becomes excellent for reading, giving users a more comfortable way to settle into articles, e-books and long-form content without carrying another device. Samsung has also added an anti-reflective coating that cuts down glare on the Fold 8 screen. The only little issue I encountered was the black bars above and below the display when watching videos. This wasn’t the case with any Samsung foldables yet. This is also true with some apps that don’t seem fully optimised for this aspect ratio, where you suddenly realise that certain buttons that used to be on a bar phone aren’t accessible on the Fold 8 due to aspect ratio limitations. So, Samsung definitely needs to work on app optimisations.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 gets stereo speakers positioned as one on the top and the other at the bottom, and they are good. The only thing is that both stereo speakers are located on the same half of the device. In pure audio output, I feel the Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers a slightly less loud speaker setup than I experienced on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 last year. It can be a good setup for a small room, but anything slightly bigger and the speakers are not good enough to fill the room. Samsung, however, has added Dolby Atmos support, which is not surprising considering the price tag. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 gets a nano SIM slot and also supports eSIM. Calls on the Fold 8 are crisp and clear, with no problems during calling or receiving. I tried both Jio 5G and Airtel 5G SIMs, and the data for both SIMs on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 worked well.

The Fold 8 gets 7 years of Android updates and security patches

This time around, Samsung hasn’t really gone all bullish promoting the AI features on the Fold 8 series, but there are some really interesting features. Like, Now Nudge can surface relevant next steps. It lets me open another app in split screen without leaving the primary app. For example, I was typing texts to my friend on WhatsApp, and he asked to check some address on Maps; the phone offered the Google Maps icon to tap and open in split view, and I could continue chatting with my friend while looking up the address in split screen, very smooth. Samsung has also added My FanCam, another useful AI feature that can actually work best for pet parents. Let’s say you record a video and afterwards, while editing it, you can lock the subject, and the phone will zoom in and follow the subject through the clip. The best thing is you can also select the aspect ratio you want to edit the clip in, and it works like magic.

There’s an entire suite of Galaxy AI features that I tested earlier, and then there are some additions. The Galaxy AI feature list includes Call Assist, Writing Assist, Interpreter, Note Assist, Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist, Photo Assist, Creative Studio, My FanCam, Audio Eraser, Weather Wallpaper, Now Brief, Now Nudge, and Health Assist.

Out of the box, the Fold 8 runs on One UI 9 based on Android 17

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 can also run simultaneous apps, which makes things very easy. I was able to scroll through my X feed while playing a YouTube video and also browsing on Chrome – very solid.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Camera: Catching Up

• Rear cameras – 50-megapixel main sensor with Dual Pixel autofocus, OIS, and 2x optical zoom, and 50-megapixel ultra-wide Camera with Quad Pixel autofocus, 120-degree field of view
• Cover screen – 10-megapixel selfie sensor
• Main display – 10-megapixel Camera

One of the most peculiar situations for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is that it comes at a premium price tag and offers just two lenses – a main and an ultrawide. At this price, the minimum a user expects is a full-stack three-camera setup with a telephoto sensor. I would have loved to see the S26 Ultra-like setup on the Fold 8 as it would have made the phone almost comparable to the Fold 8 Ultra. Anyway, the phone offers a 50-megapixel main sensor with an f/1.8 aperture, OIS, dual-pixel PDAF, and up to 8K video recording. Again, considering the whopping price tag of the Fold 8, a 200-megapixel primary sensor would have done wonders – at least on paper. Alongside is a 50-megapixel ultrawide sensor, which Samsung mentioned is a new sensor and gets an f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, and also supports up to 8K video recording. Both the cover and main displays feature a 10-megapixel (each) sensor with an almost identical feature set.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 gets dual 50-megapixel cameras that can deliver consistent results across lighting conditions, and the ultra-wide sensor stands out

What Samsung has done to ensure an optimum user experience is shrink the camera UI to suit one-hand usage while shooting in folded mode. All buttons are easily accessible with the thumb, and the squarish cover screen fits well in one hand for managing long video shoots or doing manual settings before clicking a photograph.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 primary camera samples (tap images to expand)

Starting with the main camera, the 50-megapixel sensor is versatile and offers excellent daylight shots with plenty of details and vivid colours. The contrast is decent while dynamic range is good. The phone can also click some good portrait shots and can be a good companion in outdoor as well as indoor light setups. The sharpness, however, I feel the Galaxy Z Fold 7 still tops. The 2x shots also come out well, and no visible issues across the shots I clicked during the review.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Clicked at 0.6x

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Clicked at 1x

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Clicked at 2x

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Clicked at 4x

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8: Clicked at 10x (Digital zoom)

The low-light shots with the main camera are solid. In darker frames, the post-processing takes some time, but it comes out well. The details, noise control, and colours are mostly up to the mark. Samsung has surprisingly removed the Night Mode selector from the camera UI, which means you are dependent on sensors to optimise and enable Night Mode based on available lighting conditions. The photos clicked with auto Night Mode on came out better than standard ones, with sharper results.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 low-light camera sample (tap image to expand)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Golden hour shot taken by primary camera (tap image to expand)

Low light photography isn’t a stronghold of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 (tap image to expand)

The ultrawide shots in daylight come out good with excellent colours and details. The dynamic range is excellent as well, which isn’t quite common for foldables. The auto-focusing is quick as well. I clicked plenty of building shots in London during the Unpacked event week using the ultrawide sensor, and the results are terrific. Even the low-light shots are pretty solid.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 ultrawide camera samples (tap images to expand)

The best thing about foldables is that there are a number of ways you can capture selfies. One of the most convenient ways is through the cover screen, and with a squarish design, the Fold 8 offers the best form factor for selfies. The cover screen manages to click amazing quality selfies with natural skin tones, colours, and details. Even the sharpness is great. Next, if you want to squeeze more people in, switch to the selfie from the main display, which offers a bigger frame size and solid selfies. Plenty of details, sharpness and good overall performance during day and night. Interestingly, you can use the main and ultrawide camera for selfies as well, and you can expect great quality selfies.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 cover screen selfie camera sample (tap image to expand)

Talking about video quality, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 offers up to 8K at 30fps video support on the main and ultrawide cameras. The selfie cameras can record up to 4K quality at 60fps. The quality is great and pretty usable for social media.

To sum it up, the cameras on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 won’t disappoint, but they may not set benchmarks. The primary camera is solid across lighting situations, while the ultrawide sensor is the best I have experienced on foldable devices so far and is consistent. Of course, the missing telephoto sensor leaves a lot to be desired.

The phone gets a 4800mAh battery with 45W charging support

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Battery: Impresses

• 4,800mAh dual battery
• Wired Charging – 45W fast-charging support, up to 63 percent charge in around 30 min.
• Wireless Charging support 20W

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 packs a decent 4800mAh battery, which is good enough for lasting over a day. In my time with the device, the Fold 8 offered a solid 6-7 hours of screen on time in multiple runs, where I watched a full show for a few hours, read an e-book, took calls, and did some casual gaming for an hour. The usage also included camera use, and the phone still had over 25 per cent charge by the end of the day, which isn’t bad for a phone of this size.

Samsung has added 45W charging support on the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which the company claims can charge the phone up to 63 percent in around 30 minutes, and a full charge (0 to 100 percent) takes about 70 to 80 minutes. The Fold 8 also supports 20W wireless charging. Overall, the phone impresses in this department and can match the battery performance of some premium flagships.

The Fold 8 also gets Samsung’s new Flex Titanium tech that brings a titanium-based display structure, combining a titanium-alloy film with an enhanced titanium plate, to make foldables thinner while maintaining durability

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Verdict

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is in a league of its own unless it gets company from other competition brands. Most likely, Apple will offer a similar size in the next two months, but that won’t come cheap either. At a starting price of Rs. 179,999 for the 256GB storage and 12GB RAM, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is among ultra-premium foldables launched in 2026. It goes all the way to Rs. 239,999 for the 1TB storage and 16GB RAM variant. And if you want a full-fledged ultra, there’s the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra as well, which you can get after putting a few thousand more.

What works in its favour? Well, the biggest thing that works for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is its form factor. The passport-style design works at first glance, especially for people who always love to buy phones that are not common.

With the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung finally built the foldable phone we’ve been waiting for. Let’s face it, the form factor suits doom scrolling, multimedia consumption, reading e-books, and you can pretty much do anything and everything on both displays of the device. The chipset is among the best of 2026, and the displays are excellent. Mostly everything works in favour of the Fold 8.

At these prices, the only real alternative to the Fold 8 is the Galaxy Z Fold 7, which is available at Rs. 174,990. It offers a full-stack rear camera setup complete with a telephoto sensor and offers a bar design too. It is still Gadgets 360’s best foldable phone of 2025.