Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra Review: Refinement at a Price

Samsung has rebuilt its folding hierarchy: the format that was the Z Fold 7 becomes the Ultra, while a passport-shaped Fold 8 takes the rung below. The logic brings the Z and S lines into step — and, less charitably, dresses a price rise in new clothes. What arrives at the top is thinner, faster and better-charging than anything Samsung has folded before, and it needs to be, with Motorola's Razr Fold and Honor's Magic V6 pressing hard and Apple expected to enter the segment this autumn.

At 215 g the Z Fold8 Ultra undercuts some versions of the Honor Magic V6 (224 g). Closed it measures 158.4 × 72.8 × 8.9 mm; open, 158.4 × 143.2 × 4.1 mm — another 0.1 mm shaved. It is physically less bulky than a Galaxy S26 Ultra, and despite that rarity of thinness it never feels fragile, even if you instinctively tighten your grip.

The Armor aluminium chassis pairs Gorilla Glass Victus Ceramic 3 at the front with Victus 2 behind, and the two halves close without a gap. The hinge feels robust under firm handling, though its firmness makes one-handed opening slightly awkward. The cover display now covers nearly 86 per cent of the front face, with slim borders that make closed-up use feel like an ordinary flagship.

Two irritations are worth naming. The camera housing — styled like the S26's — protrudes about 4 mm, leaving the phone unstable on a table whether open or closed; a case mitigates it. And the omissions are real: no microSD, no headphone socket and no S Pen support, officially to save space. IP48 certification guards against objects larger than 1 mm and a brief dip in the pool, but it is not the full dust rating rivals offer.

Inside sits an 8-inch LTPO AMOLED (2504 × 2256, 422 ppi); outside, a 6.5-inch panel (2520 × 1080, also 422 ppi). Both range from 1 to 120 Hz. The measurements are exceptional: a peak of 2,880 cd/m² on the inner screen (down to 0.95 cd/m² at minimum) and 1.17 to 2,876 cd/m² on the cover display — usable in direct sun and in a badly lit room alike. Colour accuracy out of the box reads delta E 1.96 at 6704 K externally and 2.15 at 6651 K internally; Natural mode improves fidelity to 1.49 and 1.68 but warms the image too far, to around 6270 K against the 6500 K reference.

The new Flex Titanium structure does more than flatten the crease — a microperforated titanium plate under a titanium-alloy top layer that both hides the fold and stops it deepening over time. It also carries an anti-reflective treatment, and the numbers back it: the inner display returns just 23.45 per cent reflectance against the reference mirror, the outer around 46 per cent, though its brightness keeps that comfortable.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 "for Galaxy" is built on 3 nm with 12 GB of RAM — two Oryon V3 Phoenix L cores at 4.74 GHz, six Phoenix M cores and an Adreno 840 GPU. Multitasking is the standout: with many applications running at once the phone stays exemplarily responsive, beating the Honor Magic V6 despite the shared processor, and using both screens to switch tasks without perceptible lag.

In games the near-4:3 open format takes adjustment, but the results are excellent — 125 fps average with peaks at 137 fps, holding steady in demanding scenarios. The chassis can approach 42 °C under heavy load, which is restrained for something this thin, particularly given how badly some rivals with the same silicon have overheated.

Unlike the standard Fold 8, which drops optical zoom entirely, the Ultra keeps a triple array: a 200 MP main sensor (f/1.7), a 50 MP ultra-wide (f/1.9) and a 10 MP 3× telephoto (f/2.4). In daylight the telephoto delivers convincing shots — decent central sharpness, legible signage, faithful colours, balanced contrast and well-judged exposure — with sharpness tapering toward the edges and a touch of software edge enhancement.

At night it struggles: detail falls away markedly under heavy smoothing that still fails to clear the noise, colours drift warm, dynamic range narrows and slight vignetting appears. Selfies come from 10 MP (f/2.2) sensors on both panels — under-display cameras are gone — with good dynamic range and portrait mode despite the modest resolution; the sharpest self-portraits still come from using the main camera with the cover display as a viewfinder. Video reaches 8K at 30 fps, with very effective stabilisation at QHD 60 fps and 4K 60 fps from the front sensors.

To keep the body this thin without sacrificing endurance, Samsung finally adopts a silicon-carbon battery — commonplace among Chinese rivals, and a genuine turning point for a company understandably cautious since the Note 7. The density gain fits 5,000 mAh into the reduced space, and the result is 21 hr 27 min average endurance: 20 hr 44 min with the main screen open, 22 hr 9 min using only the cover display.

Charging improves from 25 to 45 W wired, filling the phone in about 56 minutes whether folded or open. Wireless charging reaches 20 W with Qi2 Ready (no magnets), and 4.5 W reverse charging will rescue an accessory.

At our 2 August 2026 check, Amazon UK listed the 256 GB Graphite UK version at £1,899.00 as a pre-order, with a release date pending and 512 GB and Violet Shadow variants alongside. That figure sits below the launch pricing quoted in the source market, but this remains an ultra-premium purchase in every sense.

Thinner, more powerful and more expensive: the Z Fold8 Ultra pairs two exceptionally bright screens with a discreet crease, a versatile camera set, remarkable performance and genuinely mastered multitasking, then adds solid endurance, improved charging and long software support. The limits are clear — no S Pen, imperfect sealing, some preinstalled software and a telephoto that fades after dark. It is a highly accomplished evolution built on refinement rather than revolution.

Against the Motorola Razr Fold and Honor Magic V6, it leads on lightness, on distinctly brighter screens and on better-managed power — matching the Magic V6 in gaming and outrunning the Razr Fold's slower silicon — while conceding ground on endurance.

Does the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra support the S Pen? No. Samsung dropped S Pen compatibility officially to save internal space, and it is the omission most likely to annoy upgraders from earlier Folds.

How is the crease on the Z Fold8 Ultra? Less visible than before, to both eye and finger. The new Flex Titanium structure — a microperforated titanium plate beneath a titanium-alloy layer — both softens the fold and prevents it deepening with age.

How long does the battery last? A measured 21 hr 27 min on average: 20 hr 44 min using the inner screen and 22 hr 9 min on the cover display alone, from a 5,000 mAh silicon-carbon cell that charges fully in about 56 minutes at 45 W.

Z Fold8 Ultra or Z Fold 8? The Ultra keeps the optical zoom the standard Fold 8 sacrifices, and takes the larger format that was previously the Fold 7's. If photography past 1× matters, that is the deciding difference. Our best foldable phones guide covers the wider folding market.