Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 hands-on review

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 hands-on

The Galaxy Z Fold7 may very well be the biggest update in the series since the second generation. Samsung finally gave us what we wanted - a wider-aspect main display, and a Z Fold that feels like a regular phone when folded.

It took years (probably a few more than Samsung truly needed) to get to the point where the Galaxy Z Fold7 doesn't look outdated compared to the popular book-style foldables from vivo, Honor, OnePlus, and even Google.

Though you wouldn't really notice it from the pictures, the Galaxy Z Fold7 feels like a completely new phone. Yes, the Galaxy design DNA is undoubtedly there, but the phone feels less like a Galaxy Z Fold and more like a Galaxy S25 Edge. It goes without saying, but the new Galaxy Z Fold7 is polished and refined.

Samsung made strides with the build of the Galaxy Z Fold7. It's the thinnest Z Fold yet and is nearly regular phone-thick at 8.9mm. In comparison, its predecessor was more akin to a TV remote with its narrow format and 12.1mm profile.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are three of them, showing the Galaxy Z Fold7 up against the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is marginally thinner at 8.2mm.

The Galaxy Z Fold7 versus the Galaxy S25 Ultra

The Galaxy Z Fold7's cover display is 6.5 inches in diagonal and has a standard 21:9 aspect ratio. That means that when the Galaxy Z Fold7 is closed, it feels like a regular Galaxy phone. You can almost imagine you're holding a Galaxy S25+ or a Galaxy S25 Ultra.

A huge part of the regular-phone-feel of the Galaxy Z Fold7 is its regular-phone-weight. At only 215g, the Z Fold7 feels just right with a perfect balance.

Handling the Galaxy Z Fold7

The sensation is completely different when you flip the Galaxy Z Fold7 open. While the previous model felt squat and crammed in comparison to its book-style folding peers, the Galaxy Z Fold7 feels spacious. The razor-thin frame digs into your palm slightly, but the Fold7 makes up for that with a truly immersive 8.0-inch canvas.

The inner screen doesn't push the specs compared to the panel it replaces. The 120Hz refresh rate is the same, the brightness is the same, and the crease is the same - noticeable if you go looking for it, but otherwise perfectly fine.

Seasoned Galaxy Z Fold users will immediately appreciate the sheer size of the new display. At 0.4 inches more, it's noticeable. Webpages look much better, but the real improvement is in using Multi Window, Samsung's split-screen multitasking. More screen equals better multitasking, simple as that!

Same old crease, but it isn't noticeable

A word on the cameras. Samsung made meaningful changes to the camera system. The Galaxy Z Fold7 uses the same 200MP main camera as the Galaxy S25 Edge and S25 Ultra. That's a claimed 44% brighter sensor that captures four times more detail. The 12MP ultrawide-angle camera also has a bigger sensor (with 56% more light capture) with autofocus, meaning you can snap macro shots with it. The third camera is seemingly the same 10MP zoom camera with a 67mm f/2.4 lens.

So far, our impression of the Galaxy Z Fold7 is very positive. But there are things we wish were better. The phone has the same 4,400mAh battery capacity as its predecessor, and even worse, the same 25W wired and 15W wireless charging.