Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 REVIEW A Powerful Foldable That Finally Feels Refined

The Galaxy Z Fold8 combines flagship performance, a versatile foldable display, and improved One UI 9, but its high price and ecosystem compromises make the decision more complicated.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 arrives at an interesting point in the evolution of foldable smartphones. Samsung has had several generations to refine the concept, and the Fold8 represents the company’s latest attempt to make a foldable feel less like an experimental alternative and more like a legitimate flagship. With a new generation of Snapdragon hardware, updated software, a redesigned chassis, and a growing collection of AI features, there is plenty here to evaluate beyond the novelty of having a phone that folds.

For this review, I wanted to look at the Fold8 as a smartphone I could actually live with rather than simply evaluating its specifications. That means looking at its performance, battery life, software, cameras, design, and everyday usability while also considering where it fits among the other flagship phones available today.

About the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is Samsung’s latest flagship foldable smartphone, combining the portability of a traditional smartphone with a 7.6-inch foldable display that provides a much larger workspace when opened. The Fold8 features a slimmer and lighter design than previous generations, a 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X cover and inner display, and is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor. It also includes a 50MP wide camera, 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a range of Galaxy AI features designed to make multitasking, communication, photography, and everyday productivity easier.

With up to 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM, the Galaxy Z Fold8 is positioned as both a premium smartphone and a compact productivity device. Its large inner display makes it particularly suited to multitasking, content consumption, document editing, and other tasks that benefit from additional screen space, while its redesigned hinge and thinner profile make it more practical to carry throughout the day.

Features & Specs

Weight & Size

• Cover Display Dimension: 5.5”
• Main Display Dimension: 7.6”
• Weight: 201g

Camera

• Wide: 50.0 MP
• Ultra Wide: 50.0 MP
• Front: 10.0 MP (Cover) + 10.0 MP HID (Main)
• Zoom: Optical Quality Zoom 2x, Digital Zoom up to 10x

Battery

• 4800 mAh
• Up to 26 hours of video playback

Processor

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy

Display

• Cover Display Resolution: 1972 x 1248 WUXGA + Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• Main Display Resolution: 1848 x 2448 QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X

Storage Options

• 256 GB
• 512 GB
• 1 TB

Memory

• 12 GB (256 GB + 512 GB models)
• 16 GB (1 TB model)

Durability

• Frame: Armor Aluminum Frame

Glass

• Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 / Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2

Water Resistance

• IP48

Connectivity

• 5G
• WiFi

Galaxy Exclusives

• Samsung Care+
• Samsung Health
• Samsung Wallet

User Experience

Specifications and benchmark numbers only tell part of the story with a device like the Galaxy Z Fold8. A foldable can have all the right hardware on paper, but what matters is how that hardware comes together when you actually use the phone every day. After spending time with the Fold8, there are several things about the experience that stood out to me.

First of all, the Galaxy Z Fold8 has a bright display that does an excellent job of hiding the crease in most lighting conditions. When the screen is on, the crease is almost impossible to see, which makes the display feel much more like a traditional smartphone screen than I expected.

The hinge also feels tight and well made. Samsung has put a significant amount of R&D into the hinge, including testing how many times it can be opened and closed, and that engineering is apparent in the way it feels during everyday use.

The glass on the front of the phone is nice, although it does not seem to be as scratch-resistant as the glass on the iPhone. If you take care of the phone or use a screen protector, I don’t expect this to be a major issue. The enter screen can potentially scratch, but this isn’t necessarily Samsung’s fault. It is simply where we are with current screen technology. We haven’t quite caught up with what we want to be able to do with glass while maintaining the durability we expect from it.

A Form Factor That Works

Using the wider form factor has been a joy for my eyes. I’ve been noticing that I have to squint when looking at text on my iPhone, but text renders comfortably on the Fold8’s larger display. Reading on this phone has been a joy.

The phone is smaller than an iPhone Pro Max when it is closed, yet the screen still feels like you’re reading from a much larger display. The combination of its compact closed form and large inner display is one of the things I have enjoyed most about using the Fold8.

If you’re an Apple fan, this form factor could be particularly interesting when Apple eventually releases its own foldable iPhone coming up in a month. The Fold8 provides a good example of what a larger foldable phone can offer without requiring you to carry a tablet-sized device.

Typing

Typing on the Fold8 has been a joy, both open and closed. The wider body when the phone is closed gives me a better grip while texting.

One of my concerns was that typing with the phone open would feel unwieldy, similar to typing on an iPad mini. Instead, the split design of the keyboard felt natural after just a few minutes of use and has been very comfortable.

That was one of the surprises of using the Fold8. I expected the larger screen to make typing more awkward, but Samsung’s approach to the keyboard makes good use of the additional screen real estate.

Setup and Connectivity

When setting up the phone, I wanted to test the transfer option between Android devices. Unfortunately, this is where I ran into a problem. The phone would get so far into the transfer process and then fail.

This may have been related to the Google Pixel I was transferring from, but I also ran into an issue when trying to transfer my eSIM. I was ultimately unable to complete the transfer and had to have a brand-new eSIM sent to me via email.

The setup experience wasn’t as seamless as I had hoped, although I don’t necessarily think the transfer issue can be attributed entirely to Samsung.

Samsung’s Magnetic Case

I’m currently using Samsung’s magnetic case with the Fold8. This case is designed only to fit on the back of the phone. It isn’t intended to protect the front or sides. Its primary purpose is to provide MagSafe-style charging and compatibility with magnetic accessories.

When using this case, the phone actually feels lighter than my iPhone Pro Max with a thin case attached to it. That’s an impressive difference considering how much more screen the Fold8 provides when opened.

The magnetic functionality also gives the Fold8 access to a range of charging options and MagSafe-style accessories, which adds another layer of flexibility to the phone.

Performance and Software

Overall, I am very excited about the hardware in this phone. The Snapdragon processor is extremely fast, and the phone comes with a 12GB of RAM. If you keep the phone for more than a year, I expect that combination to make it a relatively future-proof device.

The software experience has also surprised me.

The last time I used a Samsung device, I believe we were on One UI 6 or 7, and I wasn’t a huge fan of it. With One UI 9 and Android 17, the experience feels much more polished. The software feels stable and much more visually appealing than I remember.

I can see how casual iPhone and Pixel users could be tempted to switch to Samsung because of the Fold8. There is a lot to like here, particularly when you combine the hardware with the improved One UI experience.

That said, there are small things I miss from iOS.

For example, I frequently take screenshots, and copying text from a screenshot is incredibly simple on an iPhone. I also miss being able to tap text within an image and select it directly. If this functionality is available in Android 17, I haven’t been able to find the setting that enables it.

These may sound like small things, but when you use a particular operating system for years, those small conveniences add up.

Ecosystem Matters

Having my phone work seamlessly with my Mac, iPad, Apple TV, and the other devices in my Apple ecosystem is another factor that is difficult to overlook. Those little conveniences can turn an otherwise excellent hardware experience into more of a challenge when you move outside of that ecosystem.

For someone who is already heavily invested in Apple, the Fold8 would require giving up some of those conveniences. The hardware may be compelling enough to make that worthwhile, but it is something potential buyers should consider before making the switch.

The same is true for Google users. If you enjoy the Google ecosystem, it is worth remembering that Google has an event coming up on Wednesday where it is expected to introduce its next generation of foldable devices, while Apple is expected to make its own announcements the following month.

Pixel vs. Fold8

For me, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL has been my secondary phone. It is a great flagship testing phone and has worked well for my second number.

However, as my primary device, as much as I enjoy the new form factor and the speed of the hardware in the Fold8, it can’t push my iPhone into the secondary position. What it has done is knock the Pixel down a spot and taken its place as my secondary phone.

That puts me at something of a crossroads.

I enjoy the bare-bones approach of Google Pixel phones, but that more stripped-down version of Android can sometimes feel a little plain. I previously strongly disliked Samsung’s One UI, but the current version feels much more stable and visually appealing.

Ultimately, both devices are running Android, and your data belongs to either Samsung, Google, or both depending on the services you use. With the Google Pixel, you have options such as GrapheneOS, while there are also Android debloating tools that can be used on the Fold8 to remove some of the software you don’t want.

For example, tools such as Universal Android Debloater Next Generation and ADB AppControl can give experienced users more control over what is installed and running on their device.

For most people, the default experience will be perfectly fine. It’s simply nice to know that tools exist to give you more control if you need it.

Overall Feel

After spending time with the Fold8, I’m very impressed with the hardware. The display is bright, the crease is surprisingly easy to ignore, the hinge feels solid, and the phone is comfortable to hold and use.

The rounded corners are a nice touch, although I think a more pronounced curve could have made the phone slightly more comfortable to hold for long periods. This is a relatively minor complaint, but when you’re using a device this large for extended periods, small ergonomic details matter.

The biggest consideration for me isn’t whether the Fold8 is a good phone. It absolutely is. The question is whether its excellent hardware and improved software experience are enough to overcome the ecosystem conveniences I get from using an iPhone.

For me, the answer is no, at least as my primary phone. But the Fold8 has absolutely earned its place as my secondary device, replacing the Pixel 10 Pro XL in that role.

Benchmark Testing

To get a better understanding of how the Galaxy Z Fold8 performs beyond everyday use, I ran a series of industry-standard benchmarks covering CPU performance, GPU performance, artificial intelligence, everyday productivity, battery life, and sustained graphics performance. These tests provide a consistent way to measure the hardware and compare the results with Samsung’s published performance claims.

Benchmarks don’t necessarily represent how a phone will perform during every real-world task, but they can reveal the capabilities of the processor, GPU, NPU, memory subsystem, and battery. They can also help determine whether a device can maintain its performance under sustained workloads rather than simply delivering a high score during a short test.

Geekbench 7

Geekbench 7 provides a standardized way to measure CPU and GPU performance. The CPU tests are particularly useful for evaluating the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy’s ability to handle both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. Single-core performance is important for many everyday tasks, while multi-core performance becomes more important when several demanding processes are running simultaneously.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 produced a single-core score of 3,056 and a multi-core score of 9,629.

Geekbench 7 CPU

• Single-Core: 3,056
• Multi-Core: 9,629

These results provide a useful baseline for the Fold8’s overall processing capability and help demonstrate whether Samsung’s flagship hardware delivers the level of performance expected from the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.

Geekbench 7 also includes a GPU compute test. Rather than measuring traditional gaming performance, this test evaluates how effectively the GPU handles compute workloads.

Geekbench 7 GPU

• OpenCL: 17,377

The OpenCL result gives us another way to evaluate the Adreno GPU and provides a useful point of comparison with other flagship smartphones. While it shouldn’t be treated as a direct representation of gaming frame rates, it helps establish how much computational power is available for GPU-accelerated workloads.

Geekbench AI

The Fold8’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy isn’t only designed to deliver high CPU and GPU performance. Samsung also places considerable emphasis on AI capabilities, making Geekbench AI an especially relevant benchmark for this phone.

Geekbench AI measures machine-learning performance across different hardware acceleration paths. Running the benchmark using the CPU, GPU, NNAPI, and Qualcomm’s QNN framework helps show how the phone handles AI workloads depending on which processing hardware is being used.

CPU

Geekbench AI CPU

• Single Precision: 2,552
• Half Precision: 4,109
• Quantized: 6,153

The CPU results provide a baseline for AI workloads without relying on the phone’s dedicated AI acceleration hardware. These numbers are useful for understanding how the Snapdragon processor handles AI tasks when they are executed through the general-purpose CPU.

GPU

Geekbench AI GPU

• Single Precision: 2,984
• Half Precision: 4,576
• Quantized: 4,082

The GPU results demonstrate how the Fold8 handles AI workloads using its graphics processor. This is particularly relevant for applications that can take advantage of GPU acceleration rather than relying entirely on the CPU or dedicated NPU.

NNAPI

Geekbench AI NNAPI

• Single Precision: 670
• Half Precision: 646
• Quantized: 1,476

NNAPI, or Android’s Neural Networks API, provides a standardized way for Android applications to access available neural-network acceleration hardware. These results help show how AI workloads can perform through Android’s broader machine-learning framework.

QNN

Geekbench AI QNN

• Single Precision: 659
• Half Precision: 27,041
• Quantized: 67,208

The QNN results are particularly interesting because QNN is Qualcomm’s neural-network framework and is designed to take advantage of Qualcomm’s AI hardware. The dramatic increase in the half-precision and quantized results compared with the CPU, GPU, and NNAPI results highlights the difference between general-purpose AI processing and the specialized acceleration available through Qualcomm’s QNN framework.

The 67,208 quantized QNN score is especially noteworthy. Quantized models use reduced numerical precision to make AI workloads more efficient, which is important for running AI features locally on a smartphone while minimizing power consumption and processing overhead.

These results don’t mean that every AI application will achieve anything close to the Geekbench AI scores. Applications use different models and APIs, and software optimization plays a significant role. However, they provide evidence that the Fold8 has the specialized hardware needed to support the local AI processing Samsung is promoting with this generation of Galaxy devices.

PCMark for Android

PCMark provides a different perspective than Geekbench because its Work benchmark is designed around common smartphone tasks rather than isolated processor workloads.

For this test, the Galaxy Z Fold8 achieved a PCMark Work 3.1 score of 20,546.

PCMark Work 3.1

• Overall: 20,546

PCMark Work 3.1 evaluates tasks representative of everyday smartphone use, including web browsing, document and data manipulation, image editing, and other productivity-oriented workloads. This makes it useful for putting the synthetic CPU and GPU results into a more practical context.

A strong Geekbench score tells us that the processor is powerful. A strong PCMark score helps demonstrate how that hardware translates into everyday productivity.

3DMark

To evaluate the Galaxy Z Fold8’s sustained graphics performance, I ran 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. Unlike a standard benchmark that measures peak performance during a relatively short workload, the Stress Test repeatedly runs the same demanding graphics workload to determine how well the phone maintains performance as it heats up.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 produced the following results:

3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test

• Best Loop Score: 5,949
• Lowest Loop Score: 3,037
• Stability: 51%

The most notable result here is the difference between the best and lowest loop scores. The Fold8 started with a score of 5,949 but dropped to 3,037 during the later loops. That’s a reduction of approximately 49% from its best performance.

The resulting 51% stability rating indicates that the phone was unable to maintain anywhere near its initial level of GPU performance throughout the extended workload. This is important because it demonstrates the difference between peak performance and sustained performance. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is capable of delivering very strong graphics performance, but when the GPU is pushed continuously, thermal limitations have a significant impact on how much of that performance can be sustained.

This doesn’t mean the Fold8 will constantly operate at half of its benchmark performance during normal use. Everyday tasks typically don’t place the same continuous load on the GPU that a stress test does. Gaming sessions, however, can create workloads that are much closer to this type of sustained testing, particularly with demanding 3D titles.

For Samsung’s performance claims, the result provides an important qualification. The Fold8 clearly has the hardware necessary to deliver flagship-level peak performance, but the Stress Test shows that sustained performance is considerably lower than peak performance under prolonged heavy workloads. That’s not unusual for a thin, powerful smartphone, but it is something potential buyers should keep in mind if they intend to use the Fold8 for extended gaming or other graphics-intensive tasks.

What the Results Tell Us

Taken together, these benchmarks show that the Galaxy Z Fold8 has the hardware to deliver a true flagship-level experience. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy provides strong CPU and GPU performance, while the Geekbench AI results, particularly through QNN, demonstrate the potential of Qualcomm’s dedicated AI hardware. The PCMark Work 3.1 score of 20,546 also shows that this performance translates well to everyday productivity workloads.

The 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test provides an important look at what happens when that hardware is pushed for an extended period. While the Fold8 achieved a strong Best Loop Score of 5,949, its Lowest Loop Score fell to 3,037, resulting in 51% stability. This shows that sustained GPU performance is considerably lower than peak performance under a prolonged, demanding workload. While most users won’t place this kind of continuous load on the phone, it is worth considering for extended gaming sessions or other graphics-intensive tasks.

No benchmark can completely reproduce the way someone uses a smartphone. However, by combining CPU, GPU, AI, productivity, and sustained-performance testing, we get a much more complete picture of what the Galaxy Z Fold8’s hardware is capable of. The results largely support Samsung’s positioning of the Fold8 as a high-performance flagship, while also showing that peak performance and sustained performance are two very different things.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 has left me with a somewhat unexpected conclusion. I went into this review expecting to evaluate another generation of Samsung’s foldable hardware, but I came away genuinely impressed by how mature the overall experience has become. The hardware is excellent, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy provides plenty of performance, the displays are impressive, and One UI 9 is considerably more polished than I remember from my previous experiences with Samsung.

The Fold8 also demonstrated why foldable smartphones continue to be interesting. The larger inner display isn’t simply a novelty. For reading, typing, multitasking, and working with content, it can fundamentally change how you use a smartphone. At the same time, the device remains relatively compact when closed, making the form factor surprisingly practical.

The biggest drawback is the price. The Fold8 is an expensive smartphone, and while the hardware helps justify some of that premium, buyers need to decide whether the foldable form factor provides enough additional value to warrant the cost. The 3DMark results also show that while the Fold8 delivers excellent peak performance, sustained GPU performance can drop considerably under prolonged workloads.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 isn’t perfect, and it doesn’t have to be. What matters is that Samsung has continued refining the concept rather than simply making a phone that folds. The Fold8 feels like a mature flagship with a different approach to what a smartphone can be. For users who want a larger screen without carrying a tablet, it is one of the most compelling options available. For those deeply invested in another ecosystem, however, the decision is more complicated.

For me, the Fold8 doesn’t replace my iPhone. It does something arguably more interesting: it made me enjoy using a Samsung phone.

For more information, visit Samsung.com