Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: The best foldable phone yet

Foldable phones have been on shop shelves for some six years now, and in this time they've not exactly managed to capture the attention of the masses.

This is a shame... but not really a surprise. A shame because many are missing out on one of the greatest technical feats since the arrival of the smartphone. But unsurprising, because prices have been pretty prohibitive and their design has naturally meant that there’s a chunkiness to the devices that have put some off.

Skip to 2025 and one of these irks has been banished — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, despite some claims from rival handset manufacturers, is the slimmest foldable ever. It’s so svelte that it’s lighter than the non-folding Samsung Galaxy 25 Ultra.

Shortlist has been using the Z Fold 7 as its daily driver for a little while now. Here are 5 things to know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7...

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: core specs and features

• Super cameras: 7x cameras including a new 200MP lens
• Powerful processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
• Multi-tasking master: Up to 16GB RAM
• Storage a'plenty: Up to 1TB
• Runway slim: 26% thinner than previous models
• Big screen options: 8-inch and 6.5-inch screens
• Long-lasting battery: 4,400mAh battery capacity
• A lot of phone... for a lot of money: Starts at £1,799 / $1,999

1. The Z Fold 7 is slick and slim

I don’t know how Samsung has managed it — I’m guessing millions of R&D budget is helpful — but there is no underestimating just how slim the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is.

It’s some 26% thinner than the previous iteration, just 4.2mm when fully open and 8.9mm when folded. Compare this to the 5.6mm and 12.1mm of the Z Fold 6, and given the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is only 8.2mm thick, we are inching ever closer to normal smartphone parity.

And if that isn’t enough to pique your interest, it is actually lighter than the S25 Ultra at 215g (compared to 218g). The Z Fold 6 is now a little portly in comparison, at 239g.

Its thin frame doesn’t mean it’s vulnerable, either. In the hand it’s a solid device and opening and closing the device is an absolute joy. At no point did it feel flimsy when unfurling the thing.

The tech behind this is something called the Armor FlexHinge. Couple this with Advanced Armor Aluminum and you have got a phone that sounds like it’s equipped for war. I didn’t take it battle but it more than survived being in my pocket while on a London commute.

Given it's foldable, it’s pretty impressive how much waterproofing there is (it’s got an IP48 rating). Dust wise, though, it hasn’t got as much protection — presumably it's tougher to keep that's particles away from a hinged device.

2. The extra screen real estate is exceptional

The screens have been improved somewhat. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 has an 8-inch 1968 x 2184 foldable display (this is up 0.4 inches on the Z Fold 6), and a 6.5-inch 1080 x 2520 front screen (up 0.2 inches on the Z Fold 6).

These screens are AMOLED, with a 1-120Hz refresh rate (the higher the refresh rate, the smoother your games will look on it). When it comes to the main screen, this has a peak brightness of 2,600 nits — which is super bright.

One of the best changes is that the front screen has been widened. This means that it's so much more usable and, frankly, more like a normal smartphone screen, with its 21:9 aspect ratio.

And then there's the new, lighter hinge. Moving between the folded out screen to the normal screen is an absolute joy and I was constantly surprised at just how well it looked when things snapped together. The phone could do with a little ridge to help simplify the folding, but you get used to it.

The main screen is fantastic, for both game playing and movie watching. Load up a movie and the handset supports HDR10+ streaming, which means that the picture quality is incredible.

The bigger real estate also meant that the majority of mobile games played just great. Call of Duty Mobile was superb on the larger screen.

3. This is one of the most powerful handsets around

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a powerful device. It uses the best chipset available to Android phones, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite, and because of this, you can throw a lot at the Fold 7 and it doesn't buckle at all.

Couple this with 12GB of RAM and it's a device that packs a punch.

From doom scrolling to game playing, there wasn't any judder or stutter — when flipping from it being folded and unfolded it only takes a moment for the UI to switch over. Flicking between apps was a breeze as well.

There was a little warmth when working on more power-intensive apps but it was never worrisome. It did get very warm when using it in the full sun of the UK's summer weather, but that's the same for every glass handset out there.

I have to admit that I have 'warmed' to the Samsung UI layer over Google's OS.

It offers a decent alternative to Google's stock apps, with the weather fitness and Now Brief apps all now really good.

When it comes to the camera, the biggest selling point here is the 200MP lens. This is a significant upgrade to the 50MP of before and it is a joy to use, taking clear, crisp pictures.

Most of the other cameras are the same as before: a 12MP ultra-wide camera (with a 120-degree field of view), a 10MP telephoto camera, with 3x optical zoom.

There's a pair of upgraded 10MP front-facing cameras (one for each screen).

The slightly annoying thing is the chunky lenses on the back do mean that you can't lay the phone out flush — the lenses mean that the thing will rock on a hard surface.

4. AI is a big part of the Z Fold 7

Samsung bloody love a bit of AI and this means that it is, quite rightly, seen to be at the forefront of this technology in the mobile world.

AI is all over the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, from briefings that start your day to the post-processing on images you take on the camera. While some of it is hit and miss, there is a lot to like here.

Smart Briefings work well. You can have both morning and evening ones and they consolidate information such as news alerts, calendar entries and the weather.

Other AI-infused additions I liked was the use of live transcribing phone calls, photo searching has vastly improved thanks to AI. There are also some interesting image manipulation that can be done with AI.

AI is here to stay and while the Fold 7 has it in abundance, it's still subtle and genuinely helpful most of the time.

5. Battery life is long, depending on how you use it

Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is solid. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 lasted around 11 hours in our tests, which improves on the Fold 6 — even if it's only by 20 minutes or so.

That's interesting because the 4,400 mAh battery is the same in both handsets, which means that the chip being used here is a touch more power efficient.

Samsung deserves some credit for trying to make the battery last longer on the Fold 7 but the gains here aren't huge.

There is wireless charging on board and some pretty swift wired charging, too.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 final verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the best foldable to date. Samsung has done well to revitalise the foldable market, by releasing the slimmest foldable around — a handset that is even lighter than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The device's improved 8-inch and 6.5-inch AMOLED screens are a joy to use and while I sometimes had to remember that there was a bigger screen waiting to be folded out, the concept of a foldable really does work in this slimmer form factor.

But there is a catch: while your pockets will no longer bulge thanks to the slimmer frame, you better make sure they are still deep. Because with prices starting at £1,799 / $1,999, this is a handset that is as premium as they come. But that's the price you pay for sheer innovation.