Samsung used its July 22 Galaxy Unpacked event in London to launch three foldables at once — the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Flip 8 — alongside two new watches and its first consumer smart glasses program. The headline act was the Fold 8 Ultra, which measures 4.1 millimeters thick unfolded and weighs 215 grams, making it what Samsung calls the thinnest Galaxy Z Fold yet. Preorders opened the same day the event wrapped, and the first wave of devices reaches shelves on August 7, according to SamMobile.
How Thin Can a Foldable Get? Inside the 4.1mm Z Fold 8 Ultra
The Fold 8 Ultra is Samsung's answer to a question the whole category has been circling: can a book-style foldable stop feeling like two phones glued together? At 4.1mm unfolded, the Ultra undercuts every previous Galaxy Z Fold, and its 215-gram weight keeps it lighter than plenty of slab flagships. Samsung pairs that chassis with a spacious 8-inch main display and a Flex Titanium hinge design that the company says reduces crease visibility, per its official press materials.
Under the hood sits Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, feeding a 5,000mAh battery built on silicon-carbon technology — a notable jump for a device this thin. The camera system is the most aggressive Samsung has put in a foldable: Engadget's live coverage details a 200MP main sensor behind an f/1.7 lens, a new 50MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. On the software side, the Ultra ships with agentic AI features Samsung brands as Now Nudge, which surfaces multitasking suggestions, and Gemini Notebook, which organizes meeting materials on the large inner screen.
Galaxy Z Fold 8: A New Shape for the Mainstream Foldable
The standard Fold 8 arguably brings the bigger design change. Its 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X main display now uses a 4:3 aspect ratio that flips to 3:4 when rotated — 4:3 for movies and gaming, 3:4 for reading and browsing — while the 5.5-inch cover screen adopts a 10:16 ratio, according to Samsung Mobile Press. The result feels closer to a compact tablet than the tall, narrow inner panels of earlier Folds.
At 201 grams, Samsung bills it as the lightest Galaxy Z Fold ever. It runs the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy silicon as the Ultra, with a 4,800mAh battery that Samsung rates for more than 26 hours of video playback. Photography leans on dual 50MP wide and ultra-wide sensors, plus a My FanCam mode that automatically tracks and reframes subjects during video. Color options span graphite, cream, lavender and an online-exclusive pistachio.
Z Flip 8 and the Wearables Supporting Cast
The clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 8 slims down to 6.1mm unfolded and 180 grams, with an enhanced FlexWindow cover display and a set of video-first features: a Camcorder Grip mode for stable one-handed recording, Super Steady with horizontal lock, and Dual Recording that captures the creator and the subject simultaneously, per Samsung's first-look announcement. Engadget reports the Flip 8 starts at $1,199 in the US.
On the wrist, the Galaxy Watch 9 moves to a Snapdragon Wear Elite chip that Samsung claims delivers a 32% CPU improvement, adds FDA-cleared sleep apnea detection and introduces real-time hydration guidance based on estimated sweat loss. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 gets a battery roughly 35% larger than its predecessor, a 5,000-nit peak brightness display, and a dive computer algorithm with nitrogen absorption monitoring; it lands August 7 at $699, per Engadget's event coverage.
What Do the New Foldables Cost and When Do They Ship?
SamMobile confirms US pricing for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 at $1,899 for 12GB/256GB, $2,099 for 12GB/512GB and $2,499 for the 16GB/1TB configuration. European buyers pay €1,999, €2,199 and €2,599 respectively. Preorders began July 22, with general availability on August 7. Samsung is also sweetening the deal on the software side: new foldable buyers get six months of Google AI Pro bundled in, per Engadget.
Here is how the three new foldables stack up on the numbers Samsung has published so far:
| Model | Main display | Weight | Battery | US starting price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra | 8.0-inch | 215 g | 5,000 mAh | Not yet listed |
| Galaxy Z Fold 8 | 7.6-inch, 4:3 | 201 g | 4,800 mAh | $1,899 |
| Galaxy Z Flip 8 | FlexWindow clamshell | 180 g | Not disclosed | $1,199 |
Galaxy Glasses Signal Samsung's Next Category Bet
Beyond phones and watches, Samsung teased Galaxy Glasses built in partnership with eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The company says the glasses will run for multiple days on a charge and come in lighter than competing AI glasses, though full specifications and pricing are being held back until fall 2026, according to Engadget. The choice of fashion-forward partners mirrors the playbook Meta used with Ray-Ban, and it suggests Samsung sees eyewear as the next volume category for its Galaxy AI stack.
Taken together, this Unpacked reads as Samsung consolidating its foldable lead rather than defending it. A 4.1mm Ultra attacks the thinness race head-on, the wider Fold 8 addresses the most persistent usability complaint about book-style foldables, and the Flip 8 doubles down on the creator features that made clamshells a social-video favorite. With preorders live now and an August 7 street date, the real test — whether a three-model foldable lineup can expand the category instead of splitting it — starts in under two weeks.