After having the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 for a couple of weeks, I definitely can say the new shape design will easily captures the attention from Galaxy Z Flip users and other smartphone users to upgrade to it. There are plenty to love on the Galaxy Z Fold8, along with some quirkiness as well.
So, let’s get right into it.
Design
The new shape of the Fold8 now offers a shorter, wider design with a 16:10 cover screen aspect ratio and a 4:3 unfolded main screen. With the new design, it is now just weight around 201g with 4.5 mm thickness. All this translates that the device can deliver easier one hand operation especially for content consumption.
Also, when you now fold the device, it is more easier on your pocket and don’t protrude out. Unfolding the device also feels much more easier while remaining sturdy thanks to the new Flex Titanium and the inner edge of the side having curvature. The Fold8 truly deliver the feel of holding a “passport” or a small notebook.
Performance
As for the device, it is known that it will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and my review unit runs the 12GB RAM with 256GB storage.
If you’re questioning whether the performance will be similar to Galaxy S26 Ultra, the answer is yes and no. For usual task and video rendering, the device performs quite excellent as you expected from a flagship chipset. However, when it comes to gaming, it is this you can noticed there is some throttling in certain intensive game title. For older games like Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile, it ran quite fine without noticeable frame drop in max out settings. Switch it to intensive graphic game titles such CarX Street and Wuthering Waves with max settings, you will easily encounter frame drop. Switching to Performance mode does help improve the frame rate stability but still noticed some frame drop.
In the thermal solution, Samsung didn’t mentioned of any vapour chamber usage, but certain news outlet mentioned the use of graphite sheets. For long gaming sessions especially with intensive graphic game titles, you will still feel the heat from the device but it is bearable. Same case when you are doing long video recording session in 4K as well. Alternatively, I would say get a mobile cooler if you really want to push to the limits on the Fold8.
Software and AI features
The One UI 9 brings refined feature to users especially on the Galaxy AI features. However, through my usage, I generally forgo all this Galaxy AI features as I still feel most are gimmicky and tend to be forgettable. But I do appreciate the refinement such as Now Nudge.
The important features for One UI 9, that most users are going to appreciate is the Google Circle to Search and the latest addition, Share to Apple devices. Both make it remarkable to live with for daily usage and easier to get connected. Generally, Samsung did an excellent with One UI, and without any doubt, allows users to use any app without any issue.
Camera
The camera department is where you will find the Galaxy Z Fold8 is fun to use. The pairing of 50MP main camera and 50MP ultrawide camera on the rear is a great choice, albeit I do wished there is a telephoto camera. The cover display and main foldable display has a 10MP selfie shooter. Photography wise, the rear camera did an excellent job for casual users who loves to upload their daily life on social media.
The main camera produce excellent photo quality, provided there is an adequate lighting condition. I went to a fashion show and shot one of the influencer where the lighting condition is low and noticed there are some noises. Despite that, the zooming quality from the main camera is actually good. I would recommend to zoom until 4x digital zoom if you need good quality zoom shot and if you can get good lighting, you may punch in a little bit more digital zoom.
The ultrawide camera is great when you need to shoot wide scene. However, it also suffers noises when the lighting condition is not ideal. The ultrawide camera also double up to do macro shots as well, and it did a great job when you got good lighting conditions.
The 10MP selfie camera performed okay but since you can capture yourself with the 50MP main camera and 50MP ultrawide camera, hence you’ll probably used the rear cameras more since it delivered exceptional detail shots.
You can counter noises in low light condition with night mode, however your subject have to stay still. Alternatively, the flash light would be helpful but to a certain range. If you’re someone feeling creative, editing the photos also does help to remove some noises or just play around with the free filters to make the shots feeling cinematic.
As for the video recording, you can capture videos up to 8K 30fps on both rear camera or up to 4K 60fps on all the camera if you prefer lens switching. Again, in low light conditions, both rear camera can produce noise but the ultrawide camera will produce more apparent noise. I have been testing it on recording videos on 4K 30fps, so you will noticed more noises if you’re shooting on 60fps.
There is also HDR video recording which I think is great to punch in more dynamic range, providing a more lively video quality. Highly recommend to turn on HDR video recording. You can also do LOG video recording and if you want even better video recording, there is also APV video recording but I do recommend get the 512GB storage and above or get an external storage because both recording video format will consume a lot of space.
There is also My FanCam feature, whereby it is an AI feature to lock on a specific subject in your video recording. You can access it through the video editing and tap on the AI button and press the My FanCam button. It’s a little mixed bag as there are some quirkiness such as if there is too many people in group in the video, the AI just only can detect certain subject. Also, you need to make sure you’re recording in 4K as the AI will be zooming into the subject, where you might lose some detail quality. If you want my advise, turn on high bitrate video recording in the camera settings if you want better My FanCam to lock on to your subject. Do make sure try to shot it in properly lit area and the subject aren’t too far to get the best My FanCam locking on the subject.
The only one thing I truly missed from the Fold series camera feature is the lack of Flex mode. Would it make a return through software update? Maybe not, but I welcome it if Samsung decided to add it back for the Fold8.
Display and Audio
Let’s jump straight to the main foldable display. As for the crease, you only can noticed it if you specifically lock on to the middle part. The past Fold series usually will feel center crease, but for the Fold8, it is way less noticeable when you swipe in the middle part. It is an excellent choice to use the new Flex Titanium.
With the 4:3 aspect ratio main foldable display, you can actually do multitasking without any issue. But do take note, most mobile app is not catered to that aspect ratio so you might face some minor issue when you use one app on the main foldable display. For content consumption, the large 7.6-inch main foldable display is just spectacular for immersive viewing. On YouTube, you can go full screen and pinch zoom to make full use of the large 4:3 aspect ratio main foldable display.
As for the 5.5-inch cover display, it brings back the nostalgic time in the 2000s era when phones are still around 4-5 inch size display. It still works well in 2026 and the 10:16 is great for social media browsing. Even for content consumption, it was great. However, if you’re planning to type, prepare for the keyboard taking up the space.
Overall, both displays are bright enough for anytime of viewing and the fast refresh rate of up to 120Hz just feel solid for seamless scrolling.
Audio wise, the stereo speakers delivers great audio tone with proper balance bass, mid tones and clarity. I do find that when you unfold, the speaker will be only coming out from the left top and bottom.
Battery
The Fold8 is equipped with a 4,800 mAh battery and it offers tremendous battery life, which is definitely able to at least last you a day worth of battery life. You can stretch it more than a day of battery life if you’re a light to medium user.
Charging the device also feels generally fast with the 45W wired fast charging. It also does support 20W wireless charging but I still prefer wired charging as it can give lesser down time.
Final Verdict
The Galaxy Z Fold8 delivers an exceptional all-in-one foldable device experience, be it folded or unfolded, it is worthy to be called as content consumption king, thanks to the new shape. In my opinion, most people who are going to get the Galaxy Z Fold8 will probably coming from the Galaxy Z Flip series or someone planning to try out foldable series.
The slim, compact shape mixed with the flagship performance, software, optics and battery, Samsung has basically made the correct formula for foldables. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all perfect sailing but if you can look aside to some of the quirkiness, it gives more reason to why people are moving into the Galaxy Z Fold series. I would love to see what is the next iteration, for now it is what it is.
For recommendations, I will give a go outright buy it if you have been thinking of getting a foldable and if it meets your budget. My recommendation is to take the 512GB storage and above if you’re someone that create content, play games and consume a lot of content on the go.
On the ratings, the Galaxy Z Fold8 gets a commendable 9 out of 10. But, the question remains, are you going to get one? Give TrendGrnd a shout out if you’re getting one after reading the review article.
Editor’s note: The review is made possible with review unit by Samsung Malaysia. However, this is not a paid review, therefore there is no creative review or any input by the brand. It is based on the writer’s slightly more than 2 weeks of experience it. Do take note future software may or would provide a different result and usage.