Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 review: amazingly normal, wonderfully unique

Crafting a foldable smartphone requires solid engineering prowess, and a screen that can fold in half midway is a huge innovation. Other than that, I’d say a foldable is mainly about the form factor — and this is valid for both flip and book-style foldables. And when I think of foldables, Samsung comes to mind first… the brand has been playing in this space the longest, at least in India. While the last few modes in its Galaxy Z series lineup came across as iterative, the latest ones seem to break the mould and rekindle the excitement, especially the Galaxy Z Fold7. Compared to its predecessor, it seems significantly better in terms of core aspects like photography, and most importantly, overall usability. By eliminating the biggest pain points associated with using a foldable, viz., thickness and weight, Samsung has made its latest offering a foldable that I can use as my daily driver. It’s pricey, sure, but it’s a regular phone that turns into a tablet as and when you want…

Verdict

It’s pricey, the battery life is so-so, and charging speeds aren’t great. But the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 hides a powerful tablet in the guise of a phone that’s quite conventional and usable like a normal phone when folded. Shaving off millimetres and grams, it’s a foldable that you can use day in and day out, delivering on most fronts such as performance, productivity, camera, AI, software and ecosystem.

The real innovation: Design

One of the main highlights of the Galaxy Z Fold7 is its design and construction. While it retains the same design ethos as its predecessors and other book-style foldables, the engineers at Samsung have been able to reduce thickness and weight significantly. At 215 grams, the new foldable is 19 grams lighter than its predecessor, and 3 grams lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. And when folded, the Z Fold7 is 8.9mm thick, significantly slimmer than the previous model, which was 12.1mm thick. The S25 Ultra is 8.2mm thick, so overall, the Fold7 is very similar in terms of both weight and thickness. And when you unfold it, the Z Fold7 is a mere 4.2mm thick, with its predecessor measuring 5.6mm. That’s amazingly slim, and thanks to the flat edges, remains comfortable to hold.

And while I’m talking numbers, worth also mentioning that the cover display on the Fold7 bears a 21:9 aspect ratio, which is wider than the previous-gen model. In real-life usage, these numbers translate into one big improvement — usability. The thing is, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is just like a regular phone when folded, thanks to its manageable weight and thickness. Its predecessor got some flak for the cover display which felt a bit cramped, but Samsung has addressed that niggle effectively with the wider cover screen on the Fold7.


One niggle that did become apparent with the Galaxy Z Fold7 during my usage was the wobble. While the rear panel sports a plain and minimalistic design, the slim chassis can’t accommodate the camera system, which means that the camera module and individual camera lenses protrude out from the rear panel quite a bit. And due to this, the phone wobbles when kept on a table, and that can be an issue, especially while typing out message replies in that position.


Another area of concern with foldables (apart from the bulk) is durability. And Samsung has consistently been improving that aspect across generations. The Z Fold7 ticks most boxes there as well. The hinge, for instance, labelled as the ‘3rd-gen Armor FlexHinge’ in Samsung speak, uses new alloy components that can withstand repeated folding. In fact, the Fold7 is rated to withstand 5,00,000 folds, which basically translates to 10 years of use if one folds the device a hundred times a day. The display is supposed to be stronger than before as well, despite being thinner. One downside to this is that the phone no longer supports the S Pen, a feature its predecessor boasted. Now I don’t consider that as a dealbreaker, especially considering that the Z Fold6 didn’t have any slot to house that S Pen, but I’d understand if you don’t agree.

Displays: one big, one small, both immensely useful

The 6.5-inch cover display and the 8-inch main screen are both extremely capable and vibrant, in signature Samsung style. With AMOLED goodness, up to 120Hz refresh rate and up to 2,600 nits of brightness, these screens do their jobs quite well. The cover screen is content with being the regular-use window into your usual smartphone stuff, while the main screen can be the star of the show, making an appearance when you need a larger screen real estate to watch videos, deal with documents, browse websites etc.

Shoot and smile, or smile and shoot

Another area where there’s noticeable improvement is the photography. Foldables aren’t known to be great shooters, but Samsung went ahead and crammed the S25 Ultra’s 200MP primary sensor into the Z Fold7. That’s accompanied by a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP ultrawide. 10MP sensors on the cover display and inner screen handle selfie duties and video calls. While the camera system isn’t as versatile or as capable as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, real-world results are excellent and noticeably better than the last generation model. Last year, the Vivo X Fold 3 and Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold eclipsed Samsung’s offering in terms of photography, but this time, the Galaxy Z Fold7 can match, and even trump the new Vivo X Fold 5 in many scenarios.



There’s a detailed comparison here if you want to get into the details, but suffice it to say that more often than not, you’ll be able to capture results that look good and don’t leave you wanting for more.

The software story: AI and ecosystem

Running the latest Android 16 out of the box, layered up with One UI 8, and promising 7 years of software updates, the software store begins on a great note. Samsung does go overboard with preloaded apps, but other than that, there isn’t much to complain,. There’s lots to love though, with extensive customisation options, useful Samsung signature features (like Secure Folder, Samsung Cloud, Samsung Pass, DeX etc), and taking advantage of the larger screen real estate, handy multitasking capabilities too.


On the AI front, things are quite strong too. Galaxy AI’s suite of features have evolved well over time and matured into a healthy mix of offerings, spanning areas like live translation, text summarisation, transcribing audio to text, and more. The Now Bar that came with the S25 series and aims to offer contextual and relevant information during the day does need some improvement I think, in terms of providing details that are really useful. But other than that, the features are quite handy to have, and you could find yourself having a lot of fun with generative edits, and making your content captures better by removing background noise etc. There’s lots to like.

Fast performance, okay battery

With Qualcomm’s top-end SoC at the helm (Snapdragon 8 Elite), along with 12 gigs of RAM, and UFS 4 storage, it’s be safe to say that the Z Fold7 is the most powerful foldable around. It might not top the charts in terms of benchmarks, but then its slim design might have something to do with that. In real-life usage, it can handle anything and everything, and that includes running intensive games. The 4,400mAh battery however, isn’t one of its strongest suits. While it lasts a day with medium usage, you might find yourself needing a top-up charge by evening if your usage is heavy, and if you tend to use it unfolded extensively. The 25W charging isn’t something to boast about either, but it is what it is. Nothing surprising here. You do get support for wireless charging, so that’s something.

Final verdict

At one level, the Galaxy Z Fold7 might not come across as a quantum leap over its predecessor and compared to others available. Speaking of, the only real competion at the moment comes from the Vivo X Fold 5, which is a very competent device that shines in terms of most aspects, and if battery is a priority, trumps the Samsung offering with its battery capacity and charging speeds. The software and ecosystem features don’t match up though, and that’s one of the pillars of most flagships from Samsung, not just the Z Fold7. The Galaxy Z Fold7’s strength lies in its simplicity and minimalism. When folded, it’s a regular phone that serves your everyday needs, as you’d expect from a premium flagship. Unfolding it opens a big window into entertainment and productivity becoming its real superpower.

At a starting price of Rs 1,74,999, that superpower comes at a cost. All the reassurances on durability do help add to the peace of mind, but one also needs to be extremely careful while carrying such a pricey device around. Let me just end by saying that if you’ve been sitting on the fence regarding getting a foldable just because you think it’s bulky or fragile, the Galaxy Z Fold7 will prove you wrong.

Editor’s rating: 8.5 / 10

Pros:

• Substantially slimmer & lighter
• Smooth performance
• Decent cameras
• AI & ecosystem features

Cons

• Pricey
• Battery life could be better
• Slow charging speed
• Wobbles on a flat surface