Samsung did something genuinely interesting at Galaxy Unpacked 2026. For the first time in the history of its Galaxy Z foldable lineup, it split the book-style foldable line into two entirely different devices. Whether it had something to do with Apple’s purported iPhone Ultra is a conversation for another time, but for now, anyone visiting a Samsung experience center has two Fold phones to choose from: the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.
The Fold 8 is wider, lighter in hand, and built specifically for one-hand use on the cover screen and content consumption on the inner screen. The Fold 8 Ultra, on the other hand, carries forward the tall and thin design. After spending some hands-on time with both devices, I’ve come to a conclusion.
While I genuinely appreciate what the Fold 8 is trying to do, I won’t buy it with my own money. I’ll spend the extra $200 on the Ultra, and I wouldn’t think twice about it. Here’s why.
When a Fold starts feeling like a phone
As I was reading the embargoed spec sheets of both phones, one thing caught me off guard. Even though the Fold 8 weighs 201 grams, which basically makes it the lightest Samsung Fold ever, it’s not the thinnest foldable. That honor belongs to the Ultra.
The Fold 8 sits at 4.5mm when unfolded, while the Fold 8 Ultra measures 4.1mm. Folded, the Ultra is 8.9mm against the Fold 8’s 9.7mm. You might think that I’m making a fuss over a laughably small difference, but the moment you hold both devices in hand, you’ll understand what I’m saying.
To me, the Ultra feels flatter, sleeker, and more refined. I strongly believe that Samsung has managed to shave off the bulk that usually comes with a book-style foldable. At 8.9mm, the phone sits more naturally in the palm, feels less chunky, and far less brick-like.
I know we already have conventional flagships breaching the 8mm mark. The S26 Ultra is only 7.9mm thick, which already gives it a remarkably slim yet balanced in-hand feel, but the fact that the Fold 8 Ultra is almost as thick as the iPhone 17 Pro or a mere 0.4mm thicker than the Pixel 10 Pro XL says that it’s already operating in the same physical territory as regular flagship phones.
I’m perfectly aware that some Chinese foldables are thinner, but you can’t buy them in the US, at least not through official channels. They simply aren’t an option for the average American consumer, so I’m putting them out of the question.
The 8-inch inner screen is where One UI 9 shines
I’ve run One UI 9’s split-screen setup on both phones, and I have some very strong thoughts about it. Yes, the Fold 8’s 4:3 inner display is a great screen for watching content. But as a tool for getting some serious work done, it comes up short.
To me, the landscape split-screen option on the 7.6-inch Fold 8 feels slightly cramped vertically. It looks like two browser windows fighting for elbow room on a small desk. The Ultra’s 8-inch display, with its near-1:1 aspect ratio, provides a meaningfully larger vertical canvas to work with.
As someone who has to go through a couple dozen emails every single day, read as many words as fast as possible in news articles on Chrome, and generally squeeze as much information onto the screen as possible, that’s the difference between an annoyingly short and a genuinely usable split-screen setup.
Every additional line of text directly means less scrolling, fewer page turns, and less time spent moving things around.
Fun fact: the regular Fold 8 lets you use three apps in a vertical split-screen setup side by side, but the individual app windows get way too tight in my opinion. The standard one-plus-two layout works the best for me, and the Fold 8 Ultra’s display plays perfectly into that setup.
If I’m buying a foldable, I’m going to use the additional screen estate to its best, and for that, the Ultra remains the better one. What’s the point of carrying around a tablet-sized inner display if I’m constantly fighting for space on it anyway?
The dedicated telephoto wins me over
I’m not sure about everyone, but I love to capture portraits on a smartphone. And I can’t stress this enough, but the kind of subject magnification a dedicated telephoto camera adds is simply unmatched. No in-sensor 2x crop can match that, not the one on my iPhone 17, and neither the one on the Fold 8.
To be completely honest with you, I’m not as drawn to the 200MP (f/1.7) camera on the Fold 8 Ultra as I am to the presence of a 10MP (f/2.4) 3x telephoto lens. It’s not the best one out there: the 1/3.94-inch sensor doesn’t do well in poorly lit scenarios, and the night mode just makes handheld photography more tedious.
However, in broad daylight, or even with some artificial light, the results are much better than anything you can achieve with a digital crop on a 50MP or 200MP primary camera. Concerts and sports events aside, the 3x telephoto, combined with the portrait mode, gives genuinely great results.
Eventually, I’d want Samsung to improve the 10MP sensor camera with a slightly larger sensor. But for now, spending $1,899 on a 2026 flagship foldable with no zoom camera is a compromise I’m not willing to make.
Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to for me. The Fold 8 isn’t a bad phone by any measure. Samsung has made the right changes for the right audience: the ones who value content consumption and one-handed usage over everything else. However, if I’m spending nearly $2,000 on a foldable, I want the one that makes the fewest compromises.
I want the thinner, more premium design, the larger inner screen for productivity-based workflows, and a dedicated telephoto camera. At $200 cheaper, the Fold 8 might be the smarter and more accessible one for some people, but I’d rather spend the difference and get the Ultra for me.
