Samsung’s Z Fold 7 is wonderfully slim, but it’s not the only thin folding phone out there

Samsung’s new folding Galaxy Z Fold 7 is official, slimming itself down to just 8.9mm and dropping its weight to 215g. It’s now lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra as Samsung removes one of the biggest barriers to folding phones.

Bulk has always been a problem for folding phones. Whether it’s a book-style folding phone as seen here or a flip-style device, when folded, there was no escaping the heft. It made just a little too much of a bulge in your trousers. But Samsung’s new folding phones are pocketable in a way that they haven’t been before.

Slim is definitely in

When Samsung announced the Galaxy S25 Edge – its 5.8mm thick phone – it was clear that compromises were made. The S25 Edge doesn’t give you everything that you get on the Galaxy S25 Ultra or even Galaxy S25 Plus, sacrificing battery and camera to deliver its slim design.

But the Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn’t do that: there’s the jump to a new 200-megapixel main camera, the introduction of macro, there’s a larger internal display, increased durability and that new super-slim profile, while the battery remains the same as the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

To some, then, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will land as an uncompromised folding phone. It packs in everything that you had before, makes some choice upgrades and packs it all into a really slim frame.

Pick this phone up and you’ll be wowed by Samsung’s design, especially if you’ve used a Z Fold phone before. You only have to step back a couple of generations to find that the two halves of the phone didn’t fold flat together, leaving a gap at one end. That now seems prehistoric compared to the implementation in the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Unfold this new device and it’s only 4.2mm thick, but thanks to the new hinge, it feels really solid, a premium device – which you’d expect for the £1,799 asking price.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 hardware

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, with an 8-inch folding AMOLED display on the interior. It’s the largest screen we’ve seen in a Galaxy Z model so far, giving even more space to content.

That’s great for browsing, working – and bizarrely – spreadsheets, which actually fit on the display. Admittedly, it’s not great for movies because of the letterboxing, but if you need space to play, you’ll certainly find it here.

The external display measures 6.5 inches, so it’s basically like having a regular phone in your pocket, especially as it’s only 8.9mm when folded.  

There’s a triple camera on the back, now fronted by that 200-megapixel sensor, with Samsung claiming that this is about capturing more light and detail. While that sensor will offer 2x zoom via sensor cropping, there’s also a 10-megapixel 3x optical telephoto lens and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. It’s not quite the same loadout as you get on the S25 Ultra which has 50-megapixel sensors for both those additional cameras.

There are then a pair of 10-megapixel cameras in both displays. Note that this isn’t the hidden under-display camera that we’ve seen on previous folding phones, it’s just a conventional punch hole in the screen for that selfie camera.

I love the new design, but the rivals are circling

I got to spend a couple of hours with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and this really feels like a reinvention of Samsung’s folding phone. The slimmer Z Flip 7 is also equally impressive – and seeing how the Flip outsells the Fold by a big margin, this shift in design should be popular with buyers.

The reduction in weight is a huge factor, meaning that this phone won’t pull at your clothes like it did before and it’s definitely easier to slip into a pocket without feeling like you’re carrying around a paperback book.

The question is, why did it take Samsung so long to do this? Samsung pretty much invented this category of phone – and it has certainly dominated sales for the last 6 years. But the competition has been increasing, with rivals bringing their own innovation to this segment.

The OnePlus Open brought with it Open Canvas – a great way to multitask – the Pixel Fold moved us to an external display what was more useful, while Honor has given us really slim device, from the Honor Magic V3 to the new Honor Magic V5.

I’ve also spent time with the Honor Magic V5 and Samsung will perhaps be sad that Honor’s phone is 8.8mm thick when folded – although it does weigh 217g. Honor’s big advantage is that it has a battery rated at 5,820mAh – which is huge compared to the 4,400mAh cell in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

Honor then goes on to offer a brighter display and potentially more advanced cameras, making a good case for itself on the hardware front. Samsung will likely offer a better software experience – and offer longer software support – but unlike a few years ago, you now have more choices than just a Galaxy Z handset.

Putting brand loyalties aside, the advent of folding phones that are only fractionally thicker than a conventional candybar phone is a good thing. It has the potential to open up this market to those previously worried about bulk – meaning a larger display in your pocket and the full range of fancy software functions that come with it.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is available on pre-order now, with general availability from 25 July. The Honor Magic V5 is currently only available in China and will be launched globally later in 2025.