Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Hands-on: Finally, The Foldable Phone I've Been Waiting For

1 week ago

Has Samsung yet done it? As a foldable telephone enthusiast, I've been asking myself that mobility passim nan period starring up to Unpacked, wherever nan institution coming sounded its newest shape-shifting handset, nan Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Within a 2nd of nan phone's unveiling, nan reply was a resounding yes. But I didn't request nan roar of nan crowd to show maine that.

Also: Everything announced astatine Samsung Unpacked: Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7, Watch 8 Series, more

Samsung's latest foldable looks and feels for illustration what we each hoped for erstwhile nan shape facet was introduced six years ago. Even nan quality betwixt this year's exemplary and past year's is noticeably dramatic.

Ahead of nan Wednesday keynote, I spent an friendly greeting testing nan Galaxy Z Fold 7. At $2,000 -- a $100 value bump from nan erstwhile exemplary -- nan Z Fold 7 remains a niche merchandise for a very dedicated personification base. But for those who person longed for a much competitory foldable by Samsung, 1 that's fitted to compete pinch Asia's best, that clip has yet arrived.

The biggest alteration pinch nan caller Z Fold 7 is its dimensions. Compared to its predecessor, we're looking astatine a thickness that's 3.2mm less, a weight that's 24 grams lighter, and a brace of displays that are some wider and larger. While those whitethorn conscionable beryllium numbers connected a spec sheet, they equate to a hardware acquisition that's noticeably improved compared to past year's Z Fold 6.

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The sides of nan Z Fold 7 fresh nan contours of my thenar much naturally, nan 6.5-inch screen surface is overmuch easier to type on, and erstwhile unfolded, nan 8-inch canvas feels for illustration a playground for multi-app usage and multimedia consumption. Having tested nan Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 up of Unpacked, it's safe to opportunity that Samsung yet has a foldable telephone creation that tin bent pinch nan market's best.

Samsung says it has achieved this melodramatic displacement successful creation by making galore smaller decisions, from opting for an precocious armor aluminum that's thinner yet stronger, to a flex hinge strategy that closes much tightly. It besides made immoderate alternatively arguable decisions on nan way, specified arsenic removing nan surface coating that allows nan Z Fold 7 to registry S Pen inputs for illustration its predecessors.

It's a trade-off that stems from personification investigation and nan 'slimmification' of nan Z Fold, according to Samsung, and doesn't travel arsenic overmuch of a astonishment to maine aft nan institution nerfed nan S25 Ultra's S Pen earlier this year. I'll spot really overmuch I miss penning and scribbling connected nan larger foldable surface during reappraisal time. Stay tuned.

This year's handset is powered by 12GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, a processor that has proven to reliably grip multi-app workflows, intensive gaming sessions, and AI tasks. I was satisfied pinch nan chipset's capacity connected nan S25 Ultra and S25 Edge and americium very willing to spot really it holds up connected nan Z Fold 7, pinch its expansive surface that demands dense usage.

In fact, there's a caller multi-window mode connected OneUI 8 that reminds maine a batch of OnePlus' Open Canvas. It's constricted to 2 apps astatine a time, but fundamentally allows you to quickly move from 1 to different by tapping connected nan side- aliases bottom-tucked model that's inactive.

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Disappointingly, nan Z Fold 7 has nan aforesaid artillery capacity arsenic nan Z Fold 6, which, successful my testing past year, didn't way well. I'll quote from my review: "Compared to nan OnePlus Open, nan Z Fold 6 doesn't past arsenic agelong and charges slower -- a large miss for a instrumentality that costs $200 more." With nan Z Fold 7 priced astatine $2,000 now, and Samsung having not mentioned thing astir improved thermal guidance and cooling solutions, I'm not expecting nan telephone to beryllium received immoderate much positively.

On nan brighter side, nan Z Fold 7 yet has an Ultra-level camera, pinch an improved 200MP main sensor (2x optical zoom) that Samsung claims captures 4 times much item and 44% brighter images. The remainder of nan rear triple camera setup includes nan existing 12MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lens (3x optical zoom). Samsung has besides swapped retired nan under-display camera successful nan soul surface for a much accepted 10MP hole-punch sensor.

Pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is disposable for preorder coming pinch a starting value of $2,000 for nan 256GB retention configuration, and wide readiness will beryllium connected July 25. You tin take from Blue Shadow, Jet Black, and Silver Shadow crossed astir retailers and carriers, but Samsung will besides connection nan foldable successful an online-exclusive mint greenish shade.

As always, trade-in offers and bearer promotions are your champion friends, truthful I highly urge scanning nan catalogs of aggregate retailers to find nan woody that useful champion for you.