Samsung’s New Galaxy Z Fold 8 Undercuts Its Own Ultra

Samsung is no longer selling one flagship foldable. It is selling two, priced on opposite sides of last year’s phone. The new Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899.99, actually cheaper than the Galaxy Z Fold 7 it replaces, while the freshly created Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099, exactly $100 more. Both were unveiled July 22 at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in London and ship Aug. 7.

The split is not a rounding error. It is a wager that a wider, passport-shaped phone without a telephoto lens can hold a customer Samsung might otherwise lose to a thinner, pricier Ultra, all while Apple prepares its own foldable debut and analysts predict Samsung’s grip on the category will loosen.

Samsung Splits One Flagship Into Two Rival Price Tags

For seven straight generations, Samsung sold exactly one Fold at exactly one starting price each summer. This year that changed. The standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes in a new 4:3 aspect ratio, a 5.5-inch cover screen and 7.6-inch main display, a 4,800-mAh battery and two 50-megapixel rear cameras with no telephoto lens at all. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra keeps the taller, thinner shape the Z Fold 7 popularized, adds a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto lens, a 5,000-mAh battery and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, the same silicon inside the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Samsung also broke with geography. This was the company’s first major UK launch event in 14 years, held at Old Billingsgate rather than its usual Seoul or New York venues. The Fold 8 pair shared the stage with a new Galaxy Z Flip 8, a Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, a Galaxy Watch 9 that also picked up a redesigned case and a chip reset flagged in pre-launch leaks, plus new smart eyewear.

Inside the Reviewer’s Shift Back to the Big Screen

CNET senior technology reporter Abrar Al-Heeti has been carrying the Z Fold 8 since Unpacked, and her early notes describe a phone that changes behavior. With the Z Fold 7, its 6.5-inch cover screen handled nearly everything, so the bigger inner display mostly stayed shut. The Z Fold 8’s wider, shorter shape is pulling her back inside more often, for Instagram, Google Maps and texting rather than just movies.

The new shape has real friction points. In split screen landscape mode, an app placed in the top half can push key controls, including Instagram’s like button, off screen entirely, though a double tap still works around it. Typing across the full 7.6-inch display in landscape can feel like a stretch, even for a reviewer with larger hands, while portrait mode fixes both problems at once.

The phone’s size is doing something else, too. At 201 grams it is the lightest Fold Samsung has built, a figure pre-launch leaks had already pegged almost exactly right. Closed, it measures 9.7mm, slightly thicker than the Ultra’s 8.9mm but still barely bulkier than a regular slab phone.

I can’t help feeling like a fictional detective jotting down a note or checking a map when I pull out this phone.

That is how Al-Heeti described using it, a small detail that captures why Samsung is betting shape, not spec sheets, sells this version.

Why Does the Cheaper Fold 8 Skip a Telephoto Camera?

Samsung cut the telephoto lens from the standard Fold 8 to protect the price gap under its new Ultra tier. The wide Fold 8 carries two 50-megapixel rear cameras and nothing else, while the Ultra keeps a three-lens array anchored by a 200-megapixel sensor, positioning the cheaper phone as the shape play and the pricier one as the camera flagship.

One reviewer at Tech Advisor put the tension plainly, noting the standard model’s weaker main sensor “does feel at odds with the premium price tag of the Z Fold 8.” At just under $1,900, buyers are still paying flagship money for a phone whose camera hardware trails a $1,000 slab phone.

Notice the trade both ways. The cheaper phone is lighter, the pricier one is thinner. Neither wins outright, which is exactly the point of selling two shapes instead of one.

Counterpoint Sees Samsung’s Lead Shrinking to 32%

The fork lands as Samsung’s foldable dominance is projected to narrow. Counterpoint Research forecasts global foldable shipments growing 21% year over year in 2026, with the competitive map shifting sharply beneath that growth.

• Samsung: projected at 32% share in 2026, down from 40% in 2025
• Apple: forecast to capture 25% share in its first year in the category, despite having confirmed no foldable product
• Huawei: expected to hold 24%, down from 30% a year earlier
• Motorola and Honor: projected at 8% and 3%, respectively

Liz Lee, an associate director at Counterpoint Research, said Apple’s expected arrival would reshape the field even though Samsung keeps its top spot. “2026 will mark a new phase for the foldable smartphone market,” she said, adding that Samsung “still has a clear advantage in product maturity, channel reach and foldable user experience.” Counterpoint also argued a wider cover screen suits a phone increasingly asked to run AI-assisted multitasking, the same use case Samsung is pitching for the Fold 8’s new shape.

A Pricing Line That Finally Forked

Until this year, Samsung’s Fold pricing moved in one direction, sometimes flat, sometimes up $100, never both. The new split breaks that pattern for the first time in the line’s history.

The Z Fold 7’s $1,999.99 launch listing sat as the single highest starting price the Fold line had reached. Samsung effectively split that number down the middle this year, pushing one phone below it and one above it rather than raising it again outright.

Samsung Insists the Shape Has Nothing to Do With Apple

Samsung has pushed back on the idea that the wide Fold 8 is a defensive move. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Joanna Stern reported from the London event that company representatives told her the new shape has nothing to do with Apple’s rumored foldable plans, framing it instead around video and screen space. She wrote that Samsung’s messaging held “the new shape of the Samsung Z Fold 8 has nothing to do with the Apple foldable reports.”

The timing makes that denial a hard sell. Samsung has never held a major Unpacked event in London before, and it did so weeks before Apple’s rumored first foldable iPhone, expected later this year at a price point above $2,000 by some estimates. Counterpoint itself is careful to note Apple has confirmed no name, design or launch date for any foldable device, meaning its 25% share forecast is a market bet, not a product announcement.

Color choice is where the wide Fold 8’s personality actually shows up. Samsung is selling it in four finishes:

• Lavender, the standout eye-catching option
• Cream, a white-leaning neutral
• Graphite, a blackish silver
• Pistachio, a light green sold as an online exclusive

The Ultra ships in a different set, Graphite, Cream, Violet Shadow and an online-exclusive Green Shadow, keeping the two phones visually distinct on top of everything else separating them.

Whether the fork works depends on habits sticking past the novelty phase. Al-Heeti has flagged that possibility herself, wondering whether her renewed interest in unfolding the phone is a genuine shift or just the thrill of a new gadget wearing off. Her full verdict is still coming, but for now both phones sit on shelves starting Aug. 7, letting shoppers settle Samsung’s bet in person.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Samsung’s first Ultra-branded foldable?

Yes. Samsung’s own Newsroom describes it as the first Ultra model in the Galaxy Z series, extending a naming tier that previously denoted only the top phone in the Galaxy S lineup.

Does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra share camera hardware with the Galaxy S26 Ultra?

Mostly. The Ultra’s 200-megapixel main sensor and 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera match the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s specs closely, though the S26 Ultra keeps a fourth periscope telephoto lens that the Fold 8 Ultra does not include.

What colors does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra come in, compared to the standard model?

The Ultra ships in Graphite, Cream, Violet Shadow and an online-exclusive Green Shadow. The standard Fold 8 instead offers Lavender, Cream, Graphite and an online-exclusive Pistachio.

How much does the top-tier 1TB Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra cost?

The 1TB Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is priced at $2,699 in the US, compared with $2,499.99 for the standard Fold 8’s top 1TB configuration.