Why Samsung Gave Its Next Folding Phone a New Shape

Think “folding phone,” and Samsung astir apt comes to mind. The institution has led the complaint successful the class since it debuted the archetypal Galaxy Fold successful 2019. It has refined the hardware of its Fold and Flip devices ever since, making them thinner, lighter, and stronger.

So what's next? A caller shape, apparently. On Wednesday, astatine its 2nd Galaxy Unpacked lawsuit of the year, Samsung revealed a brand-new plan for the Galaxy Fold8—a passport-shaped, book-like fold—which sits successful betwixt the now-rebranded Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and the compact Galaxy Z Flip8.

Drew Blackard, Samsung's elder vice president of Mobile Product Management, says it's each astir expanding the portfolio. The larger, heavier, big-screen Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra caters to productivity-oriented folks, and the Flip8 satisfies anyone prioritizing portability, but the caller Fold8 is each astir consuming content.

“One of the things we're seeing, successful the past fewer years, is an explosive maturation successful mobile video watching,” Blackard tells WIRED. “Consumers ticker 80 percent of their video connected mobile devices now, not successful beforehand of a TV surface oregon tablet. The existent signifier of the contented has changed—you've gone from scenery presumption format for things similar Netflix to vertical predisposition for a batch of societal media.”

The caller Fold8 has a 10:16 facet ratio for the beforehand screen screen, and erstwhile opened, reveals a 4:3 interior display, some of which play good with each kinds of videos, whether that's clips connected YouTube oregon Instagram Reels. Also, the unfolded 7.6-inch interior surface is perfect for speechmaking websites oregon ebooks erstwhile the telephone is held successful vertical orientation. That makes it much acquainted and comfy for consuming content, which is the lion's stock of what radical usage smartphones for these days, than the taller, narrower Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra.

It looks a batch similar what Apple's archetypal folding instrumentality is rumored to look like, with a wider surface that's overmuch shorter than the accepted book-like fold we've travel to know. It resembles the archetypal Google Pixel Fold oregon adjacent the poorly received Microsoft Surface Duo.

Blackard says that with its seventh-generation folding phones past year, the institution felt it reached an inflection constituent of a mainstream design, wherever the telephone was airy enough, the hardware slim enough, with fewer spec trade-offs compared to candybar smartphones. Last year's Galaxy Z Fold7, for example, shipped with the aforesaid 200-megapixel camera arsenic the flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra. Blackard says helium believes this hardware parity volition lone usher successful a diverseness of folding telephone designs that conscionable ”consumers' antithetic needs.”

The clip for experimenting with caller shapes is ripe. Earlier this year, Samsung released the Galaxy Z TriFold—an adjacent bigger folding telephone that expanded to a tablet size, with an eye-watering price. The institution has since stopped selling it, with Blackard saying it was ever expected to beryllium a limited-run product; Samsung did astir 4 drops successful the US, and with each of them, the $2,899 TriFold sold retired successful minutes.

Now there's the caller shape, astatine a still-expensive but much palatable $1,900. Francisco Jeronimo, vice president for information and analytics astatine IDC, says whether it's reacting to Apple's upcoming iPhone oregon conscionable expanding the portfolio, the Fold8 is simply a bully determination for Samsung.

“When Apple launches the device, and it becomes popular, past they tin besides connection the aforesaid benignant of format to their customers," Jeronimo says. “They person thing to suffer successful launching a caller format due to the fact that it's conscionable different offering. If idiosyncratic says, ‘I don’t similar the publication style,' past they person the passport style. We volition astir apt spot much signifier factors and devices coming adjacent year."

A portion of what mightiness besides assistance marque these devices much mainstream is the much-talked-about crease. Folding phones person an unavoidable crease successful the mediate wherever the hinge sits, and galore person remarked their disdain for it. Now, acknowledgment to a caller titanium show furniture that Samsung calls Flex Titanium successful the Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra, the crease isn't arsenic noticeable and surely feels “flatter” than the much evident ridge successful anterior models. Apple has reportedly spent important effort trying to destruct the crease. The lesser the crease, possibly the much appealing the phone.

Samsung says this titanium sheet and the titanium-alloy movie besides assistance amended durability. And overall, the telephone is easier to unfastened and close, though the Fold8 isn't designed to beryllium half-open. Blackard expects astir users to instrumentality with the screen surface oregon interior display, and that “Flex Mode” behavior—with the surface unfastened astatine a 90-degree angle—is thing folks utilizing the Fold8 Ultra oregon Flip8 are much apt to utilize.

Crucially, Samsung besides claims the Fold8 is the lightest book-like folding telephone connected the marketplace astatine a specified 201 grams (32 grams less than the iPhone 17 Pro Max). Weight plays a large relation successful adoption, arsenic galore aboriginal folding phones were bulky, heavy, and cumbersome to use. Slimming them down and reducing value makes them importantly much usable, and the worth of having overmuch much surface existent property is easier to appreciate.

Blackard isn't disquieted astir Apple's foray into its territory. He says much contention brings visibility to the category—people whitethorn cognize what a folding telephone is today, but galore haven't seen oregon utilized 1 successful person.

“The much determination is retired there, the much radical volition beryllium acquainted with the signifier factor,” helium says. “When it comes to their decision, we tin trust connected the information that this is our eighth generation. Obviously, archetypal generations thin to spell done hiccups.” He besides points retired that Samsung has a portfolio of devices for consumers to take from alternatively than conscionable 1 device.

While others—like Motorola and Huawei—have chipped distant astatine Samsung's foldable dominance, peculiarly successful the US and China, Samsung's biggest situation volition beryllium the folding iPhone rumored to get arsenic soon arsenic this September. The instrumentality could swoop successful and instrumentality astir 30 percent of planetary foldable shipments successful 2026, according to IDC forecasts, perchance catapulting Apple arsenic the largest subordinate successful the class connected the spot of that 1 device.

All of these folding phones, however, are moving further into the “premium” marketplace category. The Flip8 and Fold8 Ultra are seeing $100 terms increases implicit past year, which Blackard attributes to the representation situation and rising constituent costs. Motorola besides precocious jacked up the prices of its folding Razrs. (Apple's iPhone Fold is besides expected to outgo northbound of $2,000.)

It's improbable that Samsung volition connection a folding telephone nether $1,000 successful the adjacent term, adjacent if the representation shortage were to resolve. Blackard says the $899 Galaxy Z Flip7 FE it introduced past twelvemonth didn't present “the acquisition consumers wanted.”

Jeronimo says Apple and Samsung are unsocial successful that they tin rise prices successful this economical clime due to the fact that astir of their customers bargain their devices connected installment plans oregon connected declaration done carriers. “If it costs $200 more, but it means $3 to $5 much per month, of people nary 1 volition beryllium happy, but it's not thing consumers volition beryllium saying, ‘No, I won’t bargain it due to the fact that it's $200 much expensive,'" helium says. "The interaction of the terms summation connected premium devices is little important than connected midrange.”

Blackard did not code rumors that the institution whitethorn axe the Flip8 series, which is little fashionable than the book-like fold among its consumers, but says that erstwhile radical bargain a folding phone, astir don't spell backmost to accepted candybar smartphones.

“That's the breathtaking portion of the signifier origin innovation of foldables," helium says. "We're inactive exploring what each of this tin be, but astatine the aforesaid constituent successful clip we've learned a batch and person a batch of assurance successful what we're doing with this portfolio.”