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This is the Galaxy Zfold 8 Ultra. And like the S26 Ultra, it aims to provide the most premium experience in this lineup. But since there's also a regular ZFold 8, you might be wondering which of these foldables to get. So, what makes this phone Ultra and is it worth the extra cash? Let's find out in our Galaxy ZFold 8 Ultra review. Unlike the regular ZFold 8, which brings a new, wider form factor, the ZFold 8 Ultra has a familiar narrow design. After all, the Ultra is the true successor to last year's Galaxy ZFold 7. This means that if you're after the conventional shape and usability, the Ultra would be the way to go. The Ultra also packs a 200 megapixel main cam and a three time zoom camera, both missing
from the non-Utra model. There are a handful of upgrades to be found compared to last year, like a new ultrawide cam, improved display tech, faster charging, and even a larger battery. And even despite that, thanks to silicon carbon tech, the phone is very slightly thinner this time around. The hinge has gotten refined. When opening the phone, it's now easier to get it started the first few millm. Thanks to additional titanium reinforcement within the folding display, it should now be more resilient. Though with use, the crease seems to be becoming as visible as on the previous model. And as before, the ZFold 8 Ultra is IP48 rated
against water submersion and some dust. As for the screens, let's start with the inner one. It's again an 8 in panel, but Samsung has bumped up the resolution a bit this time around. Not to say that you would really notice this change with the naked eye, but we won't say no to it. Another change is that they've added an anti-reflective coating to this screen to reduce glare. very welcome, though we've seen better. As far as brightness goes, the phone does a great job. Inside, we measured over 1,400 nits in auto brightness mode and nearly 3,000 nits when measuring a smaller portion of the screen. On the cover display, we saw similar results.
Again, 1400 nits in auto mode and 3,000 when measuring a small circle. So, the displays are well matched. The cover display itself is the same as last year, a 6.5 in panel with a 1080p resolution and again a 120 Hz refresh rate. Since both this and the inner screen use LTPO tech, their high refresh rates can dial down as low as 1 Hz when idling to save power. But how about the usability of these two displays compared to the new form factor of the regular ZFold 8? You're in luck. We have a comparison video of these two phones displays if you'd like to check that out. The ZFold 8 Ultra has stereo speakers, but the setup isn't that loud, earning a loudness score of just average. And the
sound quality could be better, too. You can listen for yourself through a comparison tool linked below. And you can wake up and unlock the ZFold 8 Ultra with a sidemounted fingerprint reader, which is fast and snappy. The ZFold 8 Ultra runs on Samsung's newest 1 UI 9 interface based on Android 17. Compared to the previous version, it brings some touched up cosmetics and a few extra AI functions. We'll be going more in depth into what's new in 1 UI 9, and we'll add a link to that video when it's ready. Under the hood of the ZFold 8 Ultra is a flagship chipset, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. It's the same chipset
as you find in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The performance here is fully flagship grade. This is one of the most powerful phones out there. However, in benchmarks, the scores fall a bit behind the top performers. The Z48 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery, up from 4,400 last year. As a result, the battery life has improved. The phone earned an active use score of about 13 hours while the phone is open. And when closed, the score bumps up to over 15 1/2 hours. Still, while these scores are decent, they fall behind the foldable competitors. Samsung has bumped up the charging from 25 watts to 45 this time around. The resulting charging speed is pretty solid. We were able to charge
from 0 to 71% in half an hour and a full charge took an hour. The wireless charging has also been increased from 15 watts to 20 watts. And now we have the cameras which include a 200 megapixel main cam and 10 megap 3x zoom and a new 50 megap ultrawide cam. As a foldable phone, the ZFold 8 Ultra has plenty of options for selfies, too. The easiest way to snap one is with the cover screen selfie cam. The photos are very good too with excellent detail and great colors. Selfies taken with the inner screen selfie camera are again good and have a wider field of view. Then you can take selfies with the rear cameras using the cover screen as a viewfinder. It requires a couple of extra steps. Predictably, the main cam
selfies are the best you can get out of the ZFold8 Ultra with excellent sharpness and plenty of background blur. Then there's the ultra wide. You can use that to get more of your background in the frame or just spice things up with a more interesting angle. Overall, the main cam is excellent at its native focal length in daylight. But its low light performance is not quite as impressive. The three times telephoto cam has a tiny sensor. While it is nice to have the zoom, the quality is more what you'd expect from a mid-ranger.
The new ultrawide, however, does a great job both in daylight and at night, at least by the standards of this sort of camera. As far as video recording goes, you still get the full suite of prolevel features you'd get on the regular Samsung flagships. Both its main camera and the ultrawide are great during the day. The telephoto is a bit less exciting, but still decent. In the dark, the main and ultra wide continue with solid performance. While the quality of the telephoto zoom goes downhill. So, there you have it. The ZFold 8 Ultra. Unlike the regular ZFold 8 with this new form factor, the Ultra provides about the same experience as last year's model that includes more powerful cameras than the ZFold 8.
Still, we do appreciate the refinements over the ZFold 7, like better battery life and faster charging and anti-reflective coating on the display and the new ultrawide cam. However, if those are not dealreakers for you, you'd probably be fine getting the previous model and saving a bit of cash. Thanks for watching, guys. Here are links to our reviews of the Galaxy ZFold 7 and Galaxy Zfold 8. Let us know what you think down below, and I'll see you on the next one.
