I’ve used every Samsung flagship, here’s why the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the best

It’s hard to overestimate just how incredible the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is in the glass and metal. It’s not your average folding phone, and the in-hand wow factor far outweighs that of most flagship phones over the past few years, including many of the best folding phones.

Over the past week, I’ve shown Samsung’s new folding phone to several people, and the response has been nearly uniform: ‘wow, that’s light’. Then I ask them to unfold it, and the response is even more surprising.

As I discovered while speaking with Blake Geiser, the SVP of Product Management at Samsung North America, the company set out with a core primary goal: to create a folding phone that felt like the Galaxy S25 Ultra when folded.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 nails this on the head, and most people are incredibly surprised when they first unfold it. I’ve used every major Samsung Galaxy flagship launched since the first Galaxy S-series handset in 2010, and this is why the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of Samsung’s best phones.

Three design changes make all the difference

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 HANDS ON — (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

Samsung is widely credited with launching the foldable phone market, at least in most global markets; however, sales of folding phones have somewhat stagnated as they faced a series of challenges that needed to be overcome.

The biggest of these was the size, and despite Samsung making its folding phones thinner and lighter each year, even the Galaxy Z Fold 6 was considerably thicker, bulkier, and heavier than Samsung’s non-folding phones.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 immediately rectifies this: it’s 4.2mm thick when unfolded, which allows it to be 8.9mm thick when folded. That’s 0.7mm thicker than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, yet the Galaxy Z Fold 7 feels better, as it’s 3.8mm narrower and three grams lighter. It’s the sleekest Samsung phone ever made, and the nicest folding phone I’ve ever felt in the hand.

One of the biggest challenges for previous Samsung folding phones was the narrow front screen, but the Galaxy Z Fold 7 cover display feels very similar to the regular Galaxy S25. It’s significantly better than the Fold 6, and it makes the Fold 7 feel just like a normal phone that unfolds into a tablet.

And create a genuine wow factor

All of this combines to create something that feels magical. I’ve long wondered what it would take to persuade smartphone users to upgrade to a folding phone, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could be the device that finally prompts people to make the switch. It packs a ton of wow factor, and unlike its chief rivals, it’ll be widely available globally.

Rivals like the Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 have a limited release, and although the latter is expected to launch globally in the coming months, it will still have fewer carrier and retail partnerships than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. This is a crucial fact, as it adds even more credence to the significant differences between the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Galaxy Z Fold 6; thankfully, Samsung has this covered.

Smartphones don’t change that often, and most years, we suggest that it’s not worth upgrading from the most recent previous generation. This year, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 feels like a completely new phone that I think every phone user — folding or otherwise — should consider switching to. I don’t think we’ve seen Samsung achieve this level of wow factor in years.

All the right big numbers

During the early part of my career, I spent almost a decade working for carriers in the UK, and one thing is clear: big numbers sell, or specifically, the right big numbers.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn’t have the absolute best specs on a folding phone, but it has enough large numbers to persuade customers to buy it. Between advertising, Samsung’s other marketing efforts, and word of mouth, it’s arguably inevitable that many non-folding phone users will want to experience the Galaxy Z Fold 7 at least once.

When they do, they’ll likely ask about the key numbers involved, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 hits most of these, even though it lags behind the competition in many areas. A triple camera with a headline 200-megapixel sensor — that’s ostensibly the same as the one found in the lauded Galaxy S25 Ultra — will get any customer’s attention. The camera is better than I expected, and should prove to be good enough for most people, as long as they don’t want to capture photos at long focal lengths.

The 4,400mAh battery and 25W charging aren’t world-beating — in fact, they’re lower than all the key rivals — but sound big enough for someone switching from a Galaxy S25 Plus or iPhone 16 Pro. In actual practice, it’s a full day of usage with very little to spare, but considering most people sit at a desk, or plug in to charge while in the car, I think it’ll be passable, but barely.

Even the chip hits the right note, albeit with one big caveat. It’s the same Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset used in Samsung’s other flagship phones this year, at least on paper. In actual practice, the silicon feels throttled compared to Samsung’s other flagships, and performs similarly to the also ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge.

There will undoubtedly be doubts about the longevity of the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s battery, which is understandable, but I suspect that the design and wow factor are special enough for customers to accept certain shortcomings. It doesn’t have the best battery life, but I’ve found that it’s sufficient for most people, even if it falls short of rival folding phones.

The ultra-thin foldable we’ve been waiting for

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an engineering marvel simply for how fantastic it feels. When I first held it at a Galaxy Unpacked preview event, I was blown away by how thin, light, and sleek it felt. I had my reservations, but I’ve wondered if my initial reaction was reflective of an average user or someone who has a passion for folding phones.

To answer this, I’ve shown the Galaxy Z Fold 7 to many different people, and it’s reaffirmed what I thought at first: this is one of the most special folding phones ever made — a case in point is my mother. She won’t consider the Galaxy S25 Ultra because it’s too big, but she wants a great camera. She uses a Galaxy S22 Plus and refuses to switch to an iPhone.

I showed my mother the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and she was floored by its design. She’s so impressed that she’s heavily considering buying it. This was the biggest surprise, as I had shown her other folding phones — like the Find N5 and the Magic V3 — and this was the first folding phone she was willing to consider.

If it can appeal to someone resistant to technology change, like my mother, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will surely appeal to the masses more than any other folding phone before it. Could this finally be the folding phone industry’s iPhone moment, or will that need to wait for next year’s rumored iPhone Fold or this year’s rumored Samsung tri-fold? Either way, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is shaping up to be the best foldable yet.

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I’ve used every Samsung flagship, here’s why the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the best