Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Review: A Genuinely New Shape, One Camera Lens Lighter
The Galaxy Z Fold8 trades Samsung's old cramped cover screen for a wider 'passport' shape and drops to Samsung's lightest Fold yet — but loses the telephoto lens along the way. Read our full verdict.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold8 in August 2026 with something genuinely rare for this line: a real change of shape rather than another year of incremental hinge and bezel refinement. The Z Fold8 moves to a wider, shorter "passport" silhouette, finally addressing the single most consistent complaint about every Z Fold since the original — a cramped, unusably narrow cover screen. It comes at a real cost, though: Samsung has dropped the dedicated telephoto lens entirely, a first for the standard Z Fold line.
Design and Build
At 201g, this is the lightest Z Fold Samsung has ever shipped, and it's immediately noticeable in daily one-handed use compared to previous generations. Unfolded, it measures 123.9 × 161.4 × 4.5mm; folded, 123.9 × 81.9 × 9.7mm — genuinely slim for a book-style foldable with this much internal display real estate. It's available in Graphite, Cream, Lavender, and Pistachio, a softer palette than Samsung's more business-oriented Fold colourways of recent years.
The IP48 rating is worth understanding precisely: the "8" means full protection against water jets and temporary submersion, matching Samsung's non-folding flagships, but the "4" means only protection against dust particles larger than 1mm rather than the fully dust-tight seal a standard IP68 rating implies. That's a genuine, if narrow, gap against rigid-body phones, and it reflects a real engineering constraint of current folding hinges rather than a corner Samsung chose to cut carelessly.
Displays
This is where the Z Fold8's redesign actually pays off. The new 5.5-inch, 16:10 cover display is a genuine improvement over the narrow strip Z Fold owners have tolerated for years — wide enough to type a full-width keyboard comfortably and to browse without the cramped, letterboxed feeling of earlier generations. Unfold it and you get a 7.6-inch, 4:3 LTPO AMOLED inner display at roughly 403ppi, built on Samsung's Flex Titanium hinge material for improved crease resistance. Both panels share a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a shared 3,000-nit peak brightness — Samsung didn't compromise the inner display's quality to fund the cover screen's redesign.
Camera
Here's the trade-off that comes with the new shape: the Z Fold8 ships with only two rear cameras, a 50MP f/1.8 main sensor with 2x in-sensor zoom and a 50MP f/1.9 120-degree ultrawide. There is no dedicated telephoto lens — a first for a standard-tier Z Fold, and a genuine downgrade against the Z Fold7's three-camera system for anyone who used optical zoom regularly. Samsung's own device data explicitly notes the Z Fold8 Ultra retains a dedicated telephoto if that capability matters more to you than the redesigned body. The dual selfie setup — 10MP on the cover, 10MP on the inner display, both f/2.2 — is unchanged and competent rather than exceptional.
Performance
A Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, built on a 3nm process, handles performance duties, paired with 12GB RAM on the 256GB and 512GB storage tiers and 16GB on the 1TB configuration — a sensible scaling choice that reserves the extra memory for buyers most likely to run demanding multitasking workflows across the large inner display. Samsung's multitasking and app-continuity software, refined over several Fold generations now, remains the strongest reason to choose this form factor over a rigid-body flagship for anyone who genuinely uses split-screen and drag-and-drop between apps. Android 17 with One UI 9 ships with Samsung's now-standard 7-year OS and security update commitment.
Battery and Charging
The 4,800mAh silicon-carbon battery is respectable for a foldable of this size but not class-leading — foldables inherently sacrifice battery volume to internal hinge mechanics compared to equivalently-priced rigid flagships. 45W wired charging gets you to 63% in 30 minutes, and 20W Qi2 wireless charging (with 4.5W reverse wireless for topping up earbuds or a watch) rounds out a charging picture that's competitive without being exceptional.
Verdict
GSMTechTok Verdict
The Galaxy Z Fold8 is the first Z Fold in years that feels like a genuine rethink rather than an annual refinement — the wider cover screen alone fixes the line's longest-standing complaint, and 201g makes it Samsung's most comfortable Fold to carry yet. But the loss of the telephoto lens is a real downgrade for anyone who used it, and at £1,699 with a value sub-score of just 70, this remains a phone you buy for the form factor and multitasking, not for outright specs-per-pound. If camera zoom matters to you specifically, look at the Z Fold8 Ultra instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Samsung remove the telephoto lens from the Z Fold8?
Samsung hasn't given a full public explanation, but the most likely driver is the new 'passport' body shape itself — a wider, shorter form factor that leaves less internal depth for a periscope module than the taller Z Fold7's chassis did. Buyers who specifically want a telephoto lens on a Samsung foldable need to step up to the Z Fold8 Ultra, which retains one.
Is the new cover screen shape actually more usable?
Yes, meaningfully so. The 5.5-inch 16:10 cover display is noticeably wider than the narrow, tall cover screens on every Z Fold since the original — it types more like a normal phone keyboard and displays more content per line without needing to unfold the inner screen for routine tasks like messaging or browsing.
What's the IP48 rating, and is it as good as IP68?
No — IP48 means the Z Fold8 is tested against water jets and submersion (the '8') but only against dust particles larger than 1mm (the '4'), rather than full dust-tight protection. That's a real, if narrow, gap against non-folding flagships' IP68 rating, and it's a limitation inherent to current folding-hinge engineering rather than something Samsung could easily close.
Price history · 90 days · GBP
Galaxy Z Fold8
Current
£1,699
90d Low
£1,595
7 Jul
90d High
£1,732
16 Jul
Launch price
£1,699
All-time low ↓
Price tracking from major UK retailers. Updated daily. Prices may vary.
How it compares: Galaxy Z Fold8 vs Z Fold8 Ultra
Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold8
From £1,699
Samsung
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra
From £1,899
7.6", 4:3, 120Hz
Inner display
—
50MP + 50MP, no telephoto
Main cam
—
201g
Weight
—
4,800mAh · 45W
Battery
—
From £1,699
Price
From £1,899
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