Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is still the best foldable, but its not a big upgrade
Samsung's new Ultra foldable is very similar to the Z Fold 7, but a couple of key upgrades keep it great.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra remains the top choice among foldable smartphones, but it doesn't offer significant improvements over its predecessor, the Z Fold 7. While it boasts a sleeker design with a reduced thickness of just 4.1mm compared to the Z Fold 7's 4.2mm, the overall appearance, feel, and weight of the devices remain largely unchanged. The color options have remained static, with Cream, Graphite, Violet Shadow, and Green Shadow being the only choices available.
The inner display, measuring 8 inches with a 120Hz refresh rate, and the outer display, measuring 6.5 inches with a 120Hz refresh rate, remain largely unchanged from the Z Fold 7. The device is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset for Samsung, which brings a multi-score of 11,262 in Geekbench 6 benchmarking, an improvement over the Z Fold 7's 9,600 score. However, this incremental performance boost is not immediately noticeable in everyday use.
Perhaps the most noteworthy upgrade is the larger 5,000mAh battery, up from the 4,400mAh battery in the Z Fold 7. This increase in battery capacity translates to approximately 24 hours of usage, a significant improvement over the Z Fold 7's below-average 20 hours of battery life. Despite this, the Z Fold 8 Ultra still falls short of being an exceptional battery life contender for a phone in its price range.
In terms of cameras, the Z Fold 8 Ultra retains the same camera setup as its predecessor, with no major enhancements. The device's AI features, such as Now Brief and Now Nudge, remain largely unchanged and require time to learn user preferences, making them difficult to evaluate fully during a brief review period. One intriguing feature, My FanCam, which allows for locking the frame around a human subject in videos, is currently limited to human subjects and not effective for capturing animal footage.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is a solid option for those seeking a premium foldable smartphone experience, but potential buyers should weigh the lack of significant upgrades against the $100 price increase and consider whether they truly need the latest iteration of the Fold series.
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