Last month, Samsung launched three of their latest foldable smartphones, which include the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8. What’s different this time is that the Z Fold8 Ultra comes with the same design as the previous Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 comes with a new, more compact design.
I was given the opportunity to test and review the Z Fold8 Ultra, and although last year I tested and used the Samsung Galazy Z Flip7 for a while, I went back to the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro Edition because of its larger screen and much better performance.
So this Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra review will show the perspective of someone who is using a premium foldable device for the first time in their life.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra
External Screen – 6.5″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz
Inside – 8″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz
HDR10+
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor for Galaxy (3nm)
2×4.74 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L chip
6×3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M
Adreno 840 Graphics Chip
RAM 12/16GB LPDDR5X
12GB RAM Plus
Internal Storage 256/512/1000 GB UFS 4.0
Main Camera 200MP f/1.7 OIS, (Wide Angle)
50MP f/2.2 (Ultra Wide)
10MP, f/2.4, OIS 3x Optical Zoom (Telephoto)
10MP f/2.2 Selfie Camera (Outside)
10MP f/2.2 (Inside)
Battery 5000 mAh
45W wired charging
15W wireless charging
4.5W reverse charging
SIM/Telephony 2 Nano, 1 eSIM
5G
NFC Yes
Audio Jack No
Waterproof IP48
Scanning System Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Selling Price RM8,099 (12/256 GB)
RM8,899 (12/512 GB)
RM10,499 (16/1 TB)
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra may feature a design that is almost identical to last year's Fold offering, but it's a different story when it comes to internal specifications. The Z Fold8 Ultra is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor with upgrades in terms of IPC and graphics processing capabilities that are not only smoother, but also more efficient in terms of power consumption.
The memory and storage offerings are the same as last year, with a combination of 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X memory options with storage options from 256GB, 512GB and 1TB of Samsung's fastest UFS 4.0 storage to date.
The camera department also sees an upgrade in terms of the ultra-wide lens, where the module now comes with a 50MP sensor, a significant upgrade compared to the 12MP offering on the previous model.
Battery and charging features also finally see an upgrade in terms of capacity and charging capabilities, where the Z Fold8 Ultra and also Samsung's latest foldable smartphones now use a silicon carbon battery. For the Z Fold8 Ultra, the battery capacity has been upgraded to 5000mAH, and now has wired charging support as high as 45W, with wireless and reverse charging maintained at 15W and 4.5W.
Screen and Design
Before I get into the specifications of the screen size and frame of the Z Fold8 Ultra device, I want to say that I am quite impressed with how the science of device frame design has now reached a level where device brands can produce very thin smart devices.
Almost the entire frame and size of the Z Fold8 Ultra device comes with dimensions that are almost the same as what was offered on the Z Fold7 device last year. Its external screen comes with a 6.5-inch display size with a resolution of 1080 x 2520 pixels and a refresh rate of 120Hz with a brightness value of up to 3000 nits, while the internal display comes with a size of 8.0 inches with a resolution of 2256 x 2504 pixels with the same refresh rate.
Just like all previous premium Samsung devices, the Z Fold8 Ultra comes with a Samsung Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel for both its internal and external screen displays. For me, apart from the beautiful color processing and game graphics, the main advantage of this display comes from its high brightness value.
The main advantage of this bright display, apart from making it easier for me to see the screen in bright sunlight, is that it gives the display a relatively wide viewing angle and also reduces the obvious crease in the middle of the device when watching content with the internal screen.
Speaking of the folding effect, with this year's Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip series of devices, Samsung has updated their Flex Hinge with a new version called Flex Hinge Titanium. A brief explanation of this hinge technology is that Samsung uses two layers of titanium material to create a stronger hinge but allows the device to maintain a thin and light design.
The Flex Hinge Titanium update was made to address complaints about the previous Z Fold and Z Flip devices that came with hinges that were not strong enough to hold the device's display in the 90-degree Flex position. It also helps users open the device in a folded state more easily, and still maintains the durability to open and close 400 thousand times.
In fact, if you ask me if the Z Fold8 Ultra's folding effect is easy to see, I would say that unless you look at this display from a very close distance, chances are you won't even notice the fold. However, I will still say that if the screen is closed, you will still be able to see a slight bend in the middle of the fold.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra frame also comes with a slightly thinner thickness compared to the previous Z Fold7, which is 4.1mm. Regardless of whether it is open or closed, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for me is a very smart device with a very thin design.
For the durability of the screen and frame of the device, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra uses Corningware Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 for the front cover screen, and maintains the use of Corningware Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for the back. The IP48 standard for waterproof and dust resistance is also maintained on this device.
Software
Each launch of the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip devices shows the use of the Android operating system and the new OneUI interface. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is no exception, and it shows the use of the Android 17 operating system with One UI 9. In terms of future software updates, this device will come with support for seven future versions of the Android operating system and security updates for the next seven years.
If you are used to using Samsung devices with the One UI interface before, using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra device may only require a little adjustment, especially when using this device with this 8.0-inch display.
What I noticed about the Z Fold8 Ultra device is that using the device in a closed display state is different from when it is used with the internal display. When closed, the interface is not that different from other candy bar smart devices. However, when open, the interface looks more like a tablet.
This can be seen when you use applications with a larger display, where with button navigation, the taskbar interface with a list of applications active in the background can be quickly accessed by pressing the icons. If you want to maximize the use of the screen, you can change the navigation settings to use scrolling, and it will hide this taskbar, and you only need to scroll up from the bottom to access it.
This 8.0-inch display is interestingly presented with multi-tasking capabilities where it can show up to four applications at once, if you want. This feature is a little awkward because technically this display can show three applications separated in a configuration of two small windows and one large window, but the fourth window can only be shown in a floating window that will overlap the middle of these three applications.
Using this application stack mode will also cause a slight lagging issue, but not to the point that the device cannot be used. For me, the sweet spot for multitasking is with two apps running at once to maximize the visual capabilities of the display and the processing power of the device.
Usage Experience
As a first-time user of a premium foldable device, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra was the first device that blew me away with its features. Because of this, I will be separating this section into my first-time experience using the device and its performance.
When I first held the device during its launch event, it was hard to believe that it came with such a thin design and housed the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor.
Overall, the design of the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is quite beautiful, but one critical issue can be seen in the camera bump that looks a bit awkward especially when I use the Cover Screen in a vertical position like this, which makes the device look tilted. It’s not a big issue, but if you want to use the device in this orientation, it might be an issue in the long run.
The 8.0-inch internal screen display not only comes with beautiful color reproduction and smooth performance, but its ability to display up to four active apps at once is something I didn't expect to use.
As a game addict, I often use this multi-tasking function to play my favorite game, Honkai Star Rail and play videos on YouTube or Netflix and take advantage of the Multi Window function. For me, the optimal division to use the Multi Window function is to use two application windows horizontally.
The Flex Mode feature on this device gave me a big surprise where Samsung showed various other functions such as touchpad mode and virtual scrolling that can be used for various types of applications on this device, whether they are optimized for it or not.
This Flex Mode feature may be seen as a gimmick, but it at least shows how Samsung wants to maximize the number of functions that can be introduced through a device like this. For me, it is a good attempt, although not many people will take advantage of all these functions.
Some of the games I played, such as Honkai Star Rail, Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves which I often play, also seem to be able to take full advantage of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra's 8.0-inch screen. For Zenless Zone Zero and Wuthering Waves, the in-game controls can be a bit awkward due to the placement of the built-in virtual buttons, but that's something I can fix myself by using a Bluetooth controller.
Moving on to the performance of the device, as a hardcore gamer, I'm quite happy with the performance of this Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 processor chip. The games I mentioned earlier can be played with a combination of medium and high graphics settings at a refresh rate of 50-60FPS without too much trouble.
There are no issues with the quality of the games being stuck, in fact, playing these games, I didn't face the issue of the device getting too hot to the point of being unusable. The temperature of this device will be warm, but it is still comfortable to hold even with long gaming sessions.
For users like me, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra comes with a built-in Pass Through charging feature that allows the charger to supply power directly to the SoC components called Pause USB Power Delivery Charging either through the Battery settings menu or in-game by accessing the Game Booster menu while the game is being played.
Benchmarks
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra comes with a very powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip and also has battery power consumption that I think is quite efficient. However, when talking about synthetic scores on benchmark software, the performance is also seen to depend on factors such as the amount of memory (RAM) on the device.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 – Exynos 2600
Honor Magic V6 – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Oppo Find N6 – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 – Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Vivo X300 Pro – Dimensity 9500
Apple iPhone 17 Pro – A19 Pro
Antutu 3D
Score Device
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra 2,630,271
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 2,184,626
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 2,463,934
Honor Magic V6 3,439,798
Oppo Find N6 3,080,123
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 1,747,012
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 3,136,285
Vivo X300 Pro 3,507,869
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 2,634,345
Geekbench 6
Single Core Multi Core Device
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra 3295 9125
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 3512 9871
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 1923 5091
Honor Magic V6 3529 9938
Oppo Find N6 3450 9393
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 2745 9060
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 3651 10819
Vivo X300 Pro 3507 10469
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 3560 8835
3DMark Wildlife Extreme
Chip Score
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra 5996
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 5365
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 4099
Honor Magic V6 6481
Oppo Find N6 6020
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 5633
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 7375
Vivo X300 Pro 7075
Apple iPhone 17 Pro 5873
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra model we reviewed comes with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM which can be expanded by another 12GB via the RAM Plus feature introduced on previous Samsung devices. The use of this feature is also subject to the amount of built-in storage of the device, which our device comes with 256GB of built-in UFS 4.0 storage. Here are the scores of some of the benchmark software we tested to evaluate the performance of this device.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra comes with a camera build that is almost identical to last year's Z Fold7 offering, with one notable difference being the wide camera which now uses a 50MP sensor.
The Z Fold8 rear camera system comes with 3x optical zoom and up to 30x digital zoom capabilities. The image quality produced by this camera is very good in conditions where the lighting is sufficient. For conditions where the lighting is not so bright, the quality is acceptable as long as you stay within the optical zoom range.
If you are someone who likes to record videos, especially at concerts, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra camera comes with a feature called Fan Cam that allows you to record videos with several people in it, and with this feature, you can choose the individual you want to focus on, and this device will edit the video to focus on that individual only. This feature was introduced on all the latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip devices.
Battery
As we said at the beginning of this review, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra now comes with a 5000mAH battery and 45W wired charging which is a significant upgrade when compared to other previous Samsung devices, matching the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra's battery capacity with the same value, but a slower charging speed (60W on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra).
The advantage of using Samsung's latest silicon carbon battery in my opinion can be shown through how applications that require a lot of battery power will also not cause the device to overheat.
However, the capacity and charging rate on this device are still far behind when compared to other foldable device models on the market today, and those devices do not show the issues that Samsung is still concerned about.
I understand that Samsung is still concerned about the battery issue on their devices, but my expectation is that the Z Fold8 Ultra will at least come with the same charging speed as the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra since they share the same SoC and battery capacity and type.
My experience using this device when talking about battery usage is not that much different from Effi's experience with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 last year, but in terms of charging speed, I was able to charge this device at 45W from empty to full in about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Audio
Audio quality can be said to be a very subjective aspect of a smart device. However, I have to say that the audio quality is the weakest aspect for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra device.
Audio volume is not an issue because the sound produced by the built-in speaker is loud, but the audio volume is the only positive point for the audio quality of this Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8. Unfortunately, other details such as sound staging, treble, bass and others cannot be heard clearly.
I realize that this is because the device comes with a very thin frame design, and this causes the speakers installed on this device to also come in a small size, but it is something that I feel I need to mention based on my experience using this device.
What's In The Box
Here is what is included in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra box:
1x Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra
1x USB-C to USB-C charging cable
1x Manual
1x SIM Pin
Cover
Using a foldable device like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for the first time is a pretty interesting experience. It took me a few days to learn what most of the functions I would use on this device are, and even after two weeks, I found that there are many more functions that I still haven't really used.
At a starting price tag of RM8099 to RM10,499, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is a premium class smartphone that for me is in a class of its own. I also can't say for sure whether it's worth upgrading to this device if you already own a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7.
Are the new SoC, slightly larger battery capacity, and slightly faster charging capacity worth spending your money on or upgrading to the latest model? That's a decision you'll have to make for yourself.
I just find it a bit funny that the device's closest competitor is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 before Apple's foldable is expected to hit the market soon.
Pros:
Great optimal performance.
The Titanium Flex Hinge is neat and sturdy.
The camera quality is good for a variety of situations
The Flex Mode and multi-tasking features are very useful
Support for 7 Android version updates and 7 years of security patches.
Samsung's ecosystem of software, accessories, and hardware is still unmatched.
Cons:
Big camera bump.
Battery technology still lags behind competitors.
Speaker quality still needs improvement.
