Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Review: The Foldable Benchmark, If You Can Pay the Price

For seven generations, the Galaxy Z Fold has been one of Samsung's most consistently improving smartphones. Each year, the company has chipped away at the compromises: making it thinner, lighter, more usable and more refined, while pushing the foldable form factor closer to something you could genuinely live with every day. And last year's Galaxy Z Fold 7 felt like the culmination of that journey. It was slimmer, lighter and more polished than everything that came before it, and was widely regarded as one of the best foldables, and indeed one of the best smartphones, of the year.


That made the Z Fold 8 Ultra particularly interesting. If Samsung had already got the fundamental Fold experience so right with the Fold 7, what exactly could it do better this time?


The answer is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and it is the first Fold where that original compromise argument doesn't really hold.

We were at Samsung Unpacked in London on July 22, where Samsung split the Fold lineup into two distinct devices. The standard Z Fold 8 is now the more approachable, wide, media-first foldable at Rs 1,79,999. The Z Fold 8 Ultra, meanwhile, is being positioned as Samsung's ultimate top-tier foldable, with the hardware to back that up: the 200MP sensor from the S26 Ultra, a 5,000mAh battery, 45W charging and a display that comes remarkably close to being crease-free.

The split is important because the Z Fold 8 is arguably the more welcoming Fold yet, while the Ultra is about pushing the limits of what Samsung can put into a foldable.

And that was exactly what I wanted to understand going into this review: what makes the Ultra worth the extra Rs 20,000?

The answer, as I found out, is more compelling than I expected. The Ultra still has the inherent shortcomings of a foldable, which we'll get into in this review. But when it comes to displays and flagship hardware, this is very clearly Samsung putting its best foot forward.

Price and Availability

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at Rs 1,99,999 for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The 12GB and 512GB variant is Rs 2,19,999, and the 16GB and 1TB configuration is Rs 2,59,999. It comes in Graphite, Cream, and Violet Shadow at retail, with Green Shadow exclusive to Samsung's online store.

Design and durability

The Z Fold 8 Ultra immediately comes across as the more premium device compared with the standard Z Fold 8. The colours, fit and finish all contribute to that impression, but what stands out most is how slim it feels. At 8.9mm folded, it is slimmer than the Z Fold 7, while the 4.1mm unfolded profile and slimmer Armor FlexHinge make it noticeably easier to handle. At 215 grams, it isn't Samsung's lightest Fold, with the standard Fold 8 coming in at 201 grams, but the Ultra feels like the more refined piece of hardware.

The titanium frame, Gorilla Glass Victus and new Flex Titanium layer under the display also contribute to that sense of refinement. Samsung says the structure spreads stress across the fold, and the result is the least visible crease we've seen on a Samsung Fold. It isn't completely gone, but in everyday use, it is far less noticeable.

There are two omissions worth talking about. The first is the IP48 rating. It provides water resistance but no dust-ingress protection, which is a notable miss on a nearly Rs 2 lakh device. That said, in my experience with the Z Fold 7, including the reviewed unit going through a few sudden drops, durability was never a major concern. So while the rating could certainly be better, the real-world experience has been reassuring so far.

The second is S Pen support. Samsung has left it out again, and there is a practical reason: making the S Pen compatible with a device this thin would likely require adding thickness or making another structural compromise.

But from the feedback we've received, and from my own experience with the Fold, I still believe an S Pen is essential for a device positioned as a productivity machine. It could make the Fold significantly more useful for note-taking, annotations, document management and multitasking.

Samsung may eventually have to find some middle ground here: retain this incredibly slim form factor while bringing back the S Pen. For a device marketed as the ultimate productivity Fold, that would complete the proposition.

Displays

The Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra take two distinctly different approaches to their displays, and that gives each one its own strengths. The Ultra largely builds on what worked with the Fold 7, while the standard Fold 8's wider 4:3 inner display makes it more naturally suited to watching content.

The Ultra's 8-inch LTPO AMOLED 2X inner display runs at up to 120Hz and peaks at 3,000 nits. In direct Delhi sunlight, that extra brightness is noticeable, making the large screen much easier to use outdoors. More importantly, the familiar form factor means Samsung's software and multitasking experience feel extremely well optimised. You can comfortably run three or even four apps, use multiple windows and treat the display much more like a productivity workspace.

The 6.5-inch cover display is also a big improvement in everyday usability. Its 21:9 aspect ratio feels much closer to a regular smartphone, so reading, gaming and even watching content on the outer screen are comfortable. The 120Hz refresh rate makes it particularly good for gaming.

Where the Ultra gives up some ground is video on the inner display. The nearly square 8-inch panel leaves noticeable black bars around content. The standard Fold 8's 4:3 display handles this better, making it the more appealing choice if content consumption is your priority. Short-form video also benefits from the wider format, although the Fold 8's cover display has its own compromises.

So neither device quite gives you the best of both worlds. The Fold 8 is the better choice if watching content is your priority, while the Fold 8 Ultra has the edge for productivity and multitasking. But overall, the Ultra strikes a better balance between the two, particularly if you want a foldable that can genuinely double as a compact productivity machine.

Software and AI

The Z Fold 8 Ultra runs One UI 9 on Android 17 and comes with seven years of OS and security updates. On a device that costs close to Rs 2 lakh, that commitment matters. It gives buyers some reassurance that this isn't simply an expensive phone for today, but a device Samsung expects to remain usable for a long time.

Samsung's AI layer continues to expand, with features such as Now Brief, Now Nudge, Gemini Intelligence and Notebooks in Gemini. Of these, Now Nudge and Notebooks feel particularly well suited to the Fold's larger canvas. Now Nudge can suggest actions without taking over the screen, while Notebooks turns the 8-inch display into a genuinely useful workspace for notes, documents, images and recordings.

We also tested Samsung's Voice Recorder with its transcription feature, and this has been one of the more useful Galaxy AI additions in our day-to-day use. A significant part of our workload involves recording conversations and then transcribing them for stories, and the Z Fold 8 Ultra has been remarkably reliable at this. The transcription has worked exceptionally well in our usage and is the kind of AI feature that can genuinely save time rather than simply adding another feature to the spec sheet.

One UI 9 also adds an AI Assistant Activity dashboard, which keeps track of what AI features have actually done, alongside Enhanced Privacy Alerts. With so much of the AI experience running across Samsung and Google's infrastructure, having a clearer record of AI activity is a welcome addition.

With seven years of software and security support behind it, the Z Fold 8 Ultra has a long steady promise as well.

Performance and battery

The Z Fold 8 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, and in our usage, performance has never been a concern. We have run multiple coding agents alongside Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, while also using the phone for audio-to-text transcription and voice commands. Even with several of these workloads running simultaneously, RAM management has remained impressively solid.


Surprisingly, the more ordinary stuff has also turned out to be a pleasant experience. Emails, calls and video calls have all worked smoothly, and the phone has remained remarkably cool through regular day-to-day use. It only started getting warm when we really pushed it during longer gaming sessions.

And the Fold 8 Ultra is actually a very capable gaming device. We wouldn't recommend buying a nearly Rs 2 lakh foldable specifically for gaming, but open it up and that 8-inch canvas makes games considerably more immersive and easier to play. Sustained gaming is also where you will see the thermal limits, but for shorter sessions, performance remains excellent.

Samsung has increased the battery to 5,000mAh, the largest capacity on a Galaxy Z Fold, while charging now goes up to 45W, compared with 25W on the Fold 7. The faster charging is a welcome change, even if battery life itself hasn't dramatically improved.

In our Fold 7 review, we averaged around 5.5 to 6 hours of screen-on time, and we're seeing roughly the same range with the Fold 8 Ultra. The brighter, more capable displays could partly explain why the larger battery hasn't translated into significantly longer endurance.

But the 45W charging does make a meaningful difference. Samsung has finally brought the Fold's charging speeds closer to what you'd expect from a flagship at this price, rather than treating battery and charging as another area where Fold buyers have to compromise.

Cameras and video

This is the section that changes the argument. The 200MP f/1.7 main sensor is in the same class of hardware as the S26 Ultra, and for the first time, you aren't making the same camera compromise simply because you're buying a Fold. Detail retention in daylight is excellent, while the larger sensor also helps in low light, where previous Folds were more likely to struggle.

The 50MP f/1.9 ultrawide is perhaps the more practical upgrade, moving up significantly from the previous 12MP sensor. The improvement in brightness and detail means wide shots no longer feel like they were captured on a different, cheaper camera. Both the main and ultrawide cameras can also shoot 8K video, which makes switching between them far more seamless.

For our work, video is actually more important than still photography. We've shot six videos in the last week alone for our tech coverage using the Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the results have been consistently good. Colour reproduction is pleasing, the video output is strong, and if you're someone who shoots frequently, the Ultra won't disappoint.

The video workflow also gets a useful advantage with Quick Share to Mac, which makes moving footage into a different ecosystem considerably easier when you're editing. The microphone experience is equally convenient. The Fold 8 Ultra automatically picks up the connected microphone, something we've seen Samsung handle particularly well compared with other Android smartphones.

The image output is also a significant step up from the Fold 7. We wouldn't put it ahead of the S26 Ultra purely on camera performance, but the Ultra finally feels like a Fold that can hold its own as a serious camera and video device.

The weak link remains the 10MP 3x telephoto. It is carried over from previous generations, and on a phone carrying the Ultra badge, it feels like the one camera where Samsung could have done more.

Verdict

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra remains the top-tier foldable in the market, and Samsung has clearly delivered on the areas it chose to improve. The slimmer design, brighter and better-resolved displays, significantly improved cameras, larger battery, faster charging and stronger AI and productivity features all add up to a more complete Fold experience.

Samsung has also done a good job differentiating the Ultra from the standard Z Fold 8. The Z Fold 8 is the more approachable and content-friendly device, while the Ultra is clearly aimed at users who want the best possible productivity experience from a foldable.

But there is one problem that Samsung cannot entirely engineer its way around: the price. With the broader smartphone ecosystem becoming more expensive, particularly because of rising memory costs, the Rs 1,99,999 price tag makes the Ultra even more niche than its predecessor. The Fold has always been a premium proposition, but this one asks an even smaller group of buyers to make the jump.

That said, the Z Fold has built something of a cult following over the years. If you're currently using a Z Fold 5 or Z Fold 6 and have been waiting for a meaningful upgrade, the Z Fold 8 Ultra makes a very strong case. The improvements are tangible, rather than cosmetic.

If you have the budget and specifically want a productivity-centric foldable, this is the one to buy. If you're simply curious about foldables and want to understand what the form factor is like, we'd recommend the Z Fold 8 instead.