The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the foldable phone I've been waiting for. Finally, we've got a phone that opens up to a larger screen, without making compromises on weight, thickness, performance, or the camera. It's less than a millimeter thicker than a Galaxy S25 Ultra or iPhone 16 Pro Max, and it's lighter than either of them.

The camera packs a mean main sensor, although you won't get the lossless zoom you'll find on the S25 Ultra, which is fine. This is still a proper premium camera experience.

Most of all, when I use the Fold 7, I feel like I can use the external display as comfortably as I would on a traditional smartphone, which to me, is critical on a device like this. If I'm only getting a better experience when I open it, then I don't want it.

It's expensive at $2,000, but I think the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the first foldable that's worth buying in the US.

Samsung sent XDA the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for review. It had no content on the input of this article.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 pricing and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is available now, as of July 25, in fact. It starts at $1,999.99, which is the most the company has ever charged for a foldable, and it's no surprise given the massive improvements. That price, of course, is before trade-in values. It gets boosted to $2,119.99 and $2,419.99 for 512GB and 1TB storage, respectively.

Color options include Jetblack, Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, and Mint, with Mint being exclusive to Samsung.com. It's available on all major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile), and from all major retailers, such as Samsung.com, Best Buy, Amazon, and so on.

On a side note, it's cool that there's a Mint color now, since that was exclusive to the Flip last year. If anyone from Samsung is reading this, people that buy expensive phones want the fun colors too!

You don't have to compromise to use a foldable anymore

It's as thin and light as a standard premium phone

When foldables were first introduced over a half-decade ago, they were extremely immature, but they were exciting. Remember when reviewers' Galaxy Fold screens were breaking? Pepperidge Farm remembers. At the time, people simply didn't know that you can't take the film off the screen. How could they? It was new to us, and it was new to Samsung, Motorola, and anyone else that was willing to take the risk of being first to market with new technology.

Samsung has invested tons of effort into foldables, not only using more durable materials, but also perfecting the form factor. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 isn't just thin and light, it's thin and light without being fragile.

It's not just thin and light. It's thin, light, and durable.

I don't use foldables. I did when they were new exciting, and I tried to like them. I really, really did. But if I was opening the display only 10% of the time (probably even less), then I was making a compromise the other 90% of the time. Using a Pixel Fold, OnePlus Open, or Samsung Galaxy Z Fold pre-7 on the external screen was simply not as good as using a traditional form factor device. Was that compromise worth it for the other 10-ish% of the time? It wasn't to me.

With a 6.5-inch 21:9 external display, the screen is where I need it to be, and to be fair, I felt that way about the Galaxy Z Fold 6 as well. But now, it's 8.9mm thin and weighs 215g. For comparison, an iPhone 16 Pro Max weighs 227g and a Galaxy S25 Ultra weighs 218g.

In short, it no longer feels like I'm carrying a brick in my pocket. It just feels like carrying a phone.

The one downside to this form factor is that it has a massive camera bump, which you can expect if you want a good camera. Remember, even though the product is 8.9mm thick, it's 4.2mm unfolded, which means that the camera is going to stick out more than it would on a traditional phone.

However, I'm not sure what Samsung was thinking with the actual design. It seems like the company went for brand recognition over functionality. Putting the phone on a table, folded or unfolded, is extremely wobbly. It seems like this could have been avoided if the cameras were just in the middle, like many other companies are doing. And rather than vertical alignment, they could have been put in a triangular formation or a circular housing.

Still, this is the first great foldable smartphone design in the US, so it's a win. I'd bet that Samsung will change how the cameras are laid out next year though.

The camera is great, but it's not Ultra

Don't expect extreme zoom

Samsung tossed around some 'Ultra' talk ahead of the Fold 7 launch, which frankly, it shouldn't have done. If you want a Galaxy S25 Ultra camera, you still have to get a Galaxy S25 Ultra. It has the 200MP main sensor that's found on the S25 Ultra and even the new S25 Edge, and it has the 10MP 3x zoom lens. What it doesn't have is the 50MP 5x zoom lens that the Ultra has.

The camera is great, better than any foldable that Samsung has ever made and for most shots, as good as anything Samsung has ever made. What you're missing out on is the extreme lossless zoom that Samsung flagships are known for.

But the main sensor is a massive upgrade from last year's Galaxy Z Fold 6, which was 50MP f/1.8. With the new main sensor, this is a premium, uncompromising, camera experience.

The Z Fold 7 offers a premium, uncompromising camera experience.

There are actually a total of five cameras throughout the device. There are three on the back, including the main sensor, and the same 3x zoom and ultra-wide lenses that are found on the Z Fold 6. Additionally, there are cameras on the external display and the internal display. For my selfies, I used the external screen camera. I feel like the internal screen is better for things like calls.

As expected, the camera competes with the best of them, but you can easily see the shortcomings when it comes to extreme zoom.

I don't always include video samples, but Samsung took us to a Yankees game as part of the Unpacked festivities. After being no-hit for the first seven innings and being down by five runs, the Yankees tied it in the 9th and won it in the 10th. Unfortunately, the folks at Samsung left after the 9th inning (I took the subway back to the hotel), but that just means that this footage of those absolutely electric post-game moments is an XDA exclusive, at least as shot on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

That video was shot at 4K 60fps, and I feel like the slight blur/lag when moving the camera around wouldn't have been as prominent as if it'd been recorded at 1080p 60fps. Obviously, it records with HDR on by default, which makes it tough for video editing software, but it's fine for most people that are editing on mobile, and it's supported by streaming platforms like YouTube (and apparently our CMS).

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has some neat AI image editing features too. With the larger screen, you can see a before and after so you can get a good look at if you like the results. Note that the actual editing features, such as removing objects and drawing things that will be created with AI are available on other Galaxy AI devices.

Honestly, the object removal tools are surprisingly solid. Check out this one I took at Unpacked.

On that one, it removed most of the images and did a great job filling it in. It has to be using context gained from other images of the venue. I did look for the guy that it created a whole outfit for, but I couldn't find him.

There's no pen support on the Z Fold 7

It's sacrificed in the interest of thinness

Samsung removed pen support on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 to get it to the thinness it wanted. I don't care. I really don't. I'm a big fan of pen input on a device like this because it makes it perfect for note-taking, but if getting rid of it allows for the form factor to be viable, I'm all-in.

It would be cool if Samsung made a separate, thicker device that has what pen enthusiasts need, but one thing you can be sure of is that the company knows how many people are buying the accessory (remember, it was sold separately, unlike on an S25 Ultra), and moreover, how many people are actually using it.

Performance is as good as it gets

As expected, the Snapdragon 8 Elite wins

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 comes with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, which will be a year old soon, so there are no surprises here. Performance is fantastic, and that's pretty much all you need to know.

First of all, flagship chipsets are almost never problematic, and when they are, you know it. The apps you use are designed for lower-end specs, and with the significant improvement found in Qualcomm's Oryon cores, general usage is as snappy as it can possibly be.

Mobile games run well, of course, although I enjoyed game streaming a bit more. The internal display is bigger; might as well use it.

Interestingly, benchmark scores such as AnTuTu showed a much higher overall score than the OnePlus 13, but that was due almost exclusively to the CPU portion of it, getting a much lower score on the GPU. This is also reflected in the 3DMark test that focuses more on the GPU.

• Geekbench 6: 3,037 / 9,140
• 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 4,560
• AnTuTu: 2,045,804 (CPU 468,444, GPU 820,844, Mem 418,950, UX 337,566)

Battery life was never problematic. With general usage throughout a full day, I'd go to bed with the device still at around 45%, and with heaviest usage, it was never below 30%. I've got nothing to complain about here, other than the fact that Samsung really needs to consider newer battery technologies for the sake of more capacity, but that's for another day.

The big screen lets you do more, when you want

It doesn't feel like you're forced to use it anymore

Like I've been saying, I use the external display the majority of the time. The benefit is that when you want the larger display, it's there. I don't need to carry an iPad with me anymore.

Those use cases range from dual-panel multitasking to reading, and I absolutely love it for reading in particular. For anything from books to comic books, the 8-inch screen is perfect. Even just for video calls with people, you get to see their big old face.

It's not quite perfect for watching movies though. The aspect ratio of the internal screen is nearly square, so you don't get too much extra real estate for wide-screen video.

If you're on the fence on buying a foldable phone, just consider what you'd use a larger screen for, or if you find yourself carrying an iPad around.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7?

You should buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 if:

• You've previously been put off from foldables by size and weight compromises
• You tend to carry a tablet with you
• You use a Samsung foldable and have been waiting for a meaningful camera upgrade

You should NOT buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 if:

• You use the S Pen, or are looking for a handwritten note-taking device
• The $2,000 price tag is too much

I personally think that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a nearly perfect device. The innovations that the company has made to make it thinner and lighter make it perfect for me, and of course, that comes at a price. It's a $2,000 smartphone. There are trade-in deals, as always, and you'll likely catch discounts along the way, but this thing is never going to be cheap. I think it's worth it though, especially if you carry a tablet. If it can replace two devices, it's really not that expensive anymore.