Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review: making up for lost time

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is, in my opinion, the best-looking foldable of them all. Its confident corners, skinny frame, subdued camera bump, and stylish finish, especially in the blue version I reviewed, look exquisite. On paper, it drops very few balls with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite power, a huge 200MP primary camera sensor and the best cover screen of any Samsung Fold-Series phone to date.

On closer inspection, it becomes clear the Z Fold 7's battery isn't huge, its secondary cameras miss a few tricks – most notably a periscope telephoto – and, as I'll come onto, the phone isn't as powerful or good at dealing with heat as I wish it was. It's also the first Galaxy Z Fold in generations to ditch the S Pen, making it one of the few current-gen foldables with no pen input options available.

Costing $1,999 or £1,799, you'd be forgiven for expecting no compromises, but with so few alternatives available in the US, Samsung still has a clear edge for any wannabe foldable owners, for now. But with Honor's Magic V Fold 5 hot on its heels in Europe, and both Oppo and Vivo launching ultra-slim alternatives in Asia, is the Z Fold 7 really the new foldable to beat?

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design & Screen

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 gets closer to foldable design perfection than any of the competition, as far as I’m concerned right now. Its confident, angular lines create an almost architectural stature, it’s both slim and robust-feeling, and after a month of using it as my work and personal phone, it feels no more cumbersome in a palm or pocket than a flagship phone when closed.

Closed, the Z Fold 7 feels like a regular phone with its large cover screen and comfortable width. A huge improvement over last year’s Z Fold 6, it feels like Samsung has finally arrived to the party Honor, Oppo and Vivo have been enjoying for a couple of years. When open, Samsung’s new unfolded screen is a large, square tablet panel that adds true two-in-one function to the Fold 7’s form.

As good as it looks, there are some considerations that the angular styling adds to the mix: the right-angle corners are less soft in the hand than all the competition, the totally flat back and sides make it grippy, but less curved and comfortable for long bouts of use, but on the flip side, it’s great for holding sideways and watching content, delivering a secure hold.

Image 1 of 3

What also sets the Galaxy Z Fold 7 apart from much of the Chinese competition is the camera bump. Rather than a centered circle, the Fold 7 has an S25 Ultra-style triple camera nuzzled into the top left corner around the back. More understated in both position and size, it’s another way Samsung wins out the foldable design wars in 2025.

While historically, Samsung’s screens have always been major sticking points on its Z Fold series, this year, the extra size and reduced crease make both the cover and inner display two of the best around.

Before dishing out more praise onto the screens, fans of Samsung’s S Pen should take note – the Z Fold 7 ditches S Pen support – making it the first in generations not to offer stylus input. By contrast, the Honor Magic V5 does offer pen input, with foldable pens available to buy separately.

Image 1 of 3

Anyone looking for pure screen quality, the Z Fold 7 is sharp, bright, and brilliant with vibrant, saturated visuals and HDR10 support inside and out. Movies look fantastic on it, whether closed or open; there are plenty of screen settings to adjust. With a low minimum brightness, it’s also comfortable to use in dark environments. However, Honor still wins out when it comes to PWM dimming, so anyone sensitive to screen flicker may be better served by the Magic V5.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Camera Performance

Main camera

200MP, f/1.7, 24mm, 1/1.3" PDAF, OIS

Telephoto camera

10MP, f/2.4, 67mm, 1/4", PDAF, OIS

Ultrawide camera

12MP, f/2.2, 120º, 1/2.7", PDAF

Main camera

Samsung’s photo processing is notoriously blunt, with unapologetic sharpening, visibly boosted saturation and contrast, as well as a visible HDR look in highlights and some shadows. But – and this is a very big but – clumsy processing is always much more noticeable on weak hardware, and the fact that the Z Fold 7 has a flagship-grade primary camera sensor makes up for a lot of the processing shortcomings. In fact, it has one of, if not the best, primary cameras of any foldable.

The 1/1.3-inch size means it can capture low-noise shots, creating a solid foundation for enthusiasts. Samsung’s Pro mode unlocks manual controls and RAW capture, and matched with the 200MP resolution, photos are packed with detail and easy to crop into when shot in bright environments. This also means 2x and 3x shots taken using the primary camera are very usable, compensating slightly for the weak telephoto camera.

Auto mode photos from the primary camera are crisp with pleasing depth when capturing close-up subjects. Open up the phone, take selfies or vlog with the main camera, and enjoy flattering, warm skin tones and impressive stabilisation. Pairing the large sensor with the Fold 7’s unfolded form makes it a superb vlogging phone.

When the lights drop, the Fold 7’s main camera saves the day, doing a good job of holding a scene together and managing highlights.

Image 1 of 5

Telephoto camera:

The excellent primary camera only serves to highlight how weak the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s secondary cameras are, especially in dark scenes. The telephoto lens feels like a false promise: you get some compression, but cropping into the main sensor often delivers a cleaner shot with more detail. Even when it fires up in bright conditions, lens artifacts are noticeable, especially when compared to higher-quality periscope alternatives.

Because the telephoto lens relies on a small sensor, image quality drops off quickly when the lights dim, with muddy textures and poor color accuracy creeping in. There’s no tele-macro capability, so it can’t double as a close-up camera either. Samsung’s choice of a simple stacked lens over the periscope structures used by rivals like Honor and Oppo leaves the Fold 7’s zoom hardware trailing the competition, and that gap shows in the results.

Image 1 of 7

Ultra-wide camera:

The ultra-wide angle fares better than the tele camera, capturing with an expansive view and benefiting from a higher 12MP sensor. The new, slightly larger sensor helps with detail, but just like the tele, things get muddy in darker scenes. Part-fold the phone, place it on a surface, and you can take a steadier shot. For handheld use, though, you’re usually better off switching to the already wide primary camera.

Video:

The Z Fold 7 is an excellent foldable camcorder thanks to that main sensor. Its 4K 60fps footage looks clean and well-stabilised, and as mentioned, it’s exceptional for vlogging. Video highlights the extent the secondary cameras are major downgrades, so it falls behind for ultrawide and far-reaching-zoom clips, but with up to 8K capture, manual controls, Log video, and unfolded vlogging supported, the primary camera carries the experience, edging it ahead of the competition at the wider end.

Image 1 of 3

Image 1 of 6

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Phone Performance

On paper, the Z Fold 7’s performance should be off the chart, but reality doesn’t always match up. It runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, a tuned-up version of Qualcomm’s flagship chipset, and with plenty of RAM, day-to-day performance is smooth, even when juggling multiple apps.

When gaming, however, frame rates are inconsistent, and the phone dims its screen aggressively on hot days. These measures keep the Z Fold 7 cool to the touch but impact the experience, making it a worse gaming phone than the Vivo’s X Fold 5, which uses a last-gen chipset, and the Oppo Find N5, which runs a lower-spec Snapdragon 8 Elite. In cooler conditions and when not 3D gaming, though, it keeps pace, even when editing 4K video in CapCut and LumaFusion.

Samsung’s One UI 8, running on Android 16, feels familiar. It’s packed with Samsung services like Galaxy Apps, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Calendar, which loyalists will welcome, and its multitasking tools with floating windows are robust. That said, Honor, OnePlus and Oppo, offer more elegant off-screen multitasking. Samsung also layers in a full suite of AI tools across language and imaging, adding value for anyone considering the Fold 7 as a work phone.

Samsung promises up to seven years of OS upgrades, which is excellent for future-proofing and matches Google and Honor. But the 4,400mAh battery may not last quite so long. It comfortably delivers a full day now, but with natural battery degradation likely within a couple of years, it misses out on the extra mAh of the key competition. Charging is also underwhelming: 25W wired and 15W wireless pale in comparison to Honor’s Magic V5, which packs a 5,820mAh cell with 66W wired and 50W wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Verdict

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is Samsung’s best foldable yet, and in design terms, the best-looking foldable on the market right now. Its slim build, excellent cover screen, and standout main camera sensor make it a joy to use day-to-day, and for vlogging, it’s better than anything else in the 2025 foldable space.

But it’s also a phone of compromises. The telephoto and ultrawide cameras feel weak next to the main sensor, battery life and charging are underwhelming, and heat management dents its gaming credentials and performance on hot days. Dropping S Pen support also makes it less of a productivity tool than earlier Folds, though we didn’t mind the omission.

At £1,799/$1,999, those shortcomings matter, especially when rivals like Honor, Oppo, and Vivo are pushing harder with lower prices, bigger batteries, and more versatile cameras. In the US, Samsung still has the foldable space on lock, but in Europe and Asia, the Z Fold 7 feels like it has earned a seat at the table, without managing to best the competition in every respect.

Alternatives

Honor Magic V Fold 5: With a bigger battery, Honor’s foldable is the closest rival in Europe. It also packs a periscope zoom, making it stronger for long-range photography, though it isn’t available in the US.

Read our full Honor Magic V5 review

Oppo Find N5: With cleaner software, Hasselblad image processing, and excellent multitasking plus faster charging, the Find N5 is a great foldable, even if its camera hardware fails to best the competition.

Read our full Oppo Find N5 review

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: If you want Samsung’s best cameras and S Pen support without the foldable design, the S25 Ultra is an excellent option.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review