Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 review: has Samsung flipped it right?

• By Ashish Kumar
Published On: 26 August 2026 | 12:00 IST

Even though the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 is the newest member of the lineup, it is the Galaxy Z Flip8 that exudes the youngest and most energetic vibe. I had the opportunity to hold all three smartphones, and the first thing I noticed was how different the Flip8 feels from the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra in terms of design language. While the latter two have a more professional and understated appeal, the Flip8 comes across as more playful and expressive. That distinction also seems to be reflected in Samsung’s positioning of the smartphone, and you can tell from the colour option it has chosen for its marketing material.

Design: thinner, lighter, smoother flip

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is being promoted in Pink, which looks surprisingly subtle and subdued in person. And I say that as a male user; the colour certainly doesn’t make the phone look overly feminine. Samsung has also done a good job with the edges, giving them a soft lavender shade that complements the overall look. It is only on the back panel that you get a more pronounced shade of pink, but even that doesn’t look tacky, thanks to the matte finish.

This year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is also marginally thinner and lighter than ever before. The handset features a refined Armour FlexHinge, which not only makes the hinge mechanism smoother but also appears to have helped reduce the phone’s overall weight and thickness. As a result, the Flip8 weighs 180 grams and measures just 6.1mm in thickness when unfolded. This despite Samsung sticking to the same form factor, design, and material as last year’s Galaxy Z Flip7, which measures 186 grams and 6.8mm in thickness.

This slight improvement makes the device even more compact and pocketable, making it easier to carry around for prolonged periods – something that should appeal to younger users. The Flip8 also feels incredibly premium in hand, thanks to its aluminium frame. Both the front and back of the phone, when folded, are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The smartphone is also IP48-rated, making it suitable for casual use in the rain or by the swimming pool. However, I’d still be cautious about taking it to the beach.

As for the new hinge, it definitely feels more fluid than ever before. No, you still can’t flip the phone open as effortlessly as Shah Rukh Khan does in one of the sequences in Don 2. There is still some resistance, and attempting it would require a firm grip and plenty of caution to prevent the phone from flying out of your hand.

Beyond that, you can still use the phone with the inner display folded at a 90-degree angle, allowing you to use FlexCam to check your appearance on the cover screen while taking selfies or shooting content, among other things. It doesn’t seem a cause for concern, but I did feel a slight feedback from the hinge when unfolding the phone around the 45-degree mark, which is missing from its elder siblings.

Display: smarter cover screen

Moving on to the most interactive part of the Galaxy Z Flip8—the displays. The handset sports a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X main display and a 4.1-inch cover screen, both of which have received some quality-of-life improvements. The crease on the main display is now shallower, if not negligible. This will be particularly noticeable to those coming from an older-generation foldable, as scrolling across the display feels considerably smoother. The thinner bezels also make multimedia consumption feel more immersive than on its predecessor.

The bezels have also been trimmed on the Galaxy Z Flip8’s cover screen. More importantly, it now supports a wider range of apps, along with usual notifications, music controls, widgets, and camera preview. Samsung is calling it FlexWindow, and the small, squarish display now supports as many as 16 apps out of the box. You can add more apps to the list by scrolling to the bottom of the cover screen, tapping the option to ‘Add apps’, and downloading the MultiStar app.

The cover screen supported nearly every app I tried, and most of them appeared to be well optimised for its aspect ratio, except for vertical videos such as Reels. Nevertheless, it makes the outer display much more approachable. The FlexWindow seems to be a software feature, which could be rolled out to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 via an OTA update.

Software and performance: polished & effortless

The Galaxy Z Flip8 runs One UI 9, based on Android 17, out of the box, and is promised to receive seven years of software and security updates. You get all the latest Android features (check out our roundup), along with Galaxy AI tools and various improvements and optimisations to Samsung’s custom skin, which you can read more about in our Galaxy Z Fold8 review. The Galaxy Z Flip8 specifics include FlexWindow and FlexCam, as discussed above.

The smartphone also supports Flex Mode, which adapts compatible apps when the phone is partially folded. Depending on the app, this can enable a split-screen layout, turn the lower half of the display into a trackpad, or support other layouts. You can also use the phone in Tent Mode, which lets it stand on its own while folded.

Everything works as advertised, and pretty smoothly too. This can be attributed to the latest 2nm Exynos 2600 SoC, paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8. Ultimately, this isn’t a device designed primarily for gaming or other demanding workloads, but if pushed, it can handle all of that and more without breaking a sweat. Animations are smooth, multitasking is effortless, and on-device AI tasks feel seamless. That said, thermals could have been managed better. The advanced graphite sheet cooling structure inside fails to dissipate heat as effectively as one would expect.

Battery: good backup

To keep things running, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 packs a 4,300mAh battery with support for 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. This is identical to its predecessor and, in my experience, delivers similar endurance. The smartphone can comfortably last a day on regular usage between charges, while extended camera use, multitasking, and demanding workloads may require a quick top-up by the end of the day. For a flip, that’s a respectable backup. Charging the smartphone from 0 to 100 percent can take around one and a half hours.

Cameras: punchy colours, strong dynamic range

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 sports a dual rear camera setup comprising a 50MP f/1.8 OIS main sensor and a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens with a 123-degree field of view. Up front, there is a 10MP camera for selfies and video calls. Of course, you can also use the superior rear cameras to capture selfies, with the cover display serving as a viewfinder. All three cameras support HDR video recording at up to UHD (4K) resolution and 60fps. The resulting footage appears stable and well-balanced, with decent detail, if not on par with the regular slab-based flagships. Still, for a flip phone, the cameras are commendable.

As for colours, both stills and videos appear punchy and vibrant, with a very Samsung-like look characterised by brighter tones and saturated greens, while still keeping the overall scene close to reality. The dynamic range is equally impressive, with good exposure and plenty of detail retained in shadowy areas. While there is no dedicated telephoto lens for portraits, the software does a good job of separating the subject from the background, resulting in natural-looking portraits. The skin tones and colours may not always be the most accurate, but they are punchy and easy on the eyes.

Users can switch to a more natural profile for more realistic tones. Samsung has also included several filters, beauty modes, and exposure controls to further enhance the camera experience. However, I wish the Galaxy Z Flip8 did a better job of controlling light flare and graininess after sunset. Despite this, the images do a good job of preserving finer details and textures in low-light conditions.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is priced in India at Rs 1,24,999 for the base 256GB variant, while the 512GB storage option costs Rs 1,44,999. That’s a significant jump over its predecessor, although the higher pricing is understandable given the ongoing rise in RAM and storage costs.

The upgrades may feel modest, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 comes across as a polished refinement of a compelling flip-phone formula. Its slimmer design, smoother hinge, improved displays and genuinely useful FlexWindow make it a more complete foldable experience. Performance is smooth, and the cameras are impressive for a flip phone, while battery life is respectable for casual usage.

Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip8 is a strong choice for anyone looking for a stylish, compact foldable without compromising on everyday usability, especially if you are coming from a generation or two older flip phones.

Editor’s rating: 8.3/10

Pros

• Thinner and lighter design, smoother hinge
• More useful FlexWindow
• Excellent everyday performance
• Good cameras with punchy colours

Cons

• Power users may want more