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Oh my god. This is my first official exposure to these things and these are not rumors anymore. These exist. Oh my god. All right guys, so we've got the latest from Samsung. All the flipping and folding devices. It's very exciting, especially because there's a whole new form factor. Of course, we've seen the flip and we've seen the ultra models of folding devices, but now let's look at this. Wow, that's very thin and light. Holy crap. I've got every single one actually and I've got every single color and we're going to talk about them, but first I thought it might be interesting to actually look at the history of
folding phones. What a museum I've got here. Look at this collection. Samsung has been at it for a while. Really pushing this part of the market, being one of the originators, if not the originator. And in my own personal experience with these devices, having used pretty much each one exclusively dating back to the original, like look at that thing. Wow, I remember how tall and slender it was. What a throwback. Fold number one. Yeah, this really set things up. People didn't even know what they were doing. They're like, is that a screen protector? Do you remember all that stuff with this phone? But I used it and it really felt innovative.
Obviously, to have any kind of folding screen, the hinge had a little grind to it. Yes, it popped into place, but the most confidence-inspiring. You were willing to put up with it because it was so innovative and you knew the technology was new and you knew that it was going to get better. That was originally what it was. And this one had that pebbly shape to it with the curvature around the edges. However, you could hold it comfortably where the fingerprint scanner went because of how slender it was. But then like reaching the top part of this screen was always a little awkward and this was a downgrade like in terms of comparing this folding phone to a standard slab smartphone. By
having such a slender front screen, it really meant you had to open it up all the time. is probably the biggest thing that changed about these is that the front screens got so good that you were able to use them with single-handed functionality and not feel like you were missing your standard slab style phone. So that was the one. Here is the two. What did the two do? Well, it changed that form factor. It gave you something more comparable to a standard slab phone on the front without even opening it up. The hinge changed a ton, more tension-based. I mean, it pops into place, but not with such a clunk. You still had this kind of wedge shape to it. Particles could get inside there. We get to generation three here, more
refinement. Hinge is feeling better, overall construction is feeling better, bezels are shrinking, external display is beginning to be almost exactly like a slab phone, although the aspect ratio is still very tall. We move over here, and now this is a big jump. We get to the boxier design, new design language, sealed up, the wedge is much less visible now, exterior display, shrunken bezels. We open it up, and the hinge is now extremely satisfying, stopping at any point along the bend into the completely open position, smooth. That's the fold five. Wait, where was the four? There's the four. No wonder this one felt like such a jump, holy. In between we had the four, yeah, but the four and five are quite similar,
actually. Four, five. Got slimmer. Every single generation got slimmer and lighter, which is such a key for folding devices, cuz you're carrying more hardware. Four hinge, a little mush. Mush is extreme. I just can't think of another word to describe it. I just mean relative to the five. This goes to show you why it's important to recognize where you're at in a product cycle or a product life or the current engineering of a particular form factor. If you buy something new, you got to understand what you're buying from a manufacturer that hasn't done it before. You're buying innovation, you're buying the next generation, but at the same time
you're probably not buying perfection, because it's an ambitious product from an engineering team. We move to generation five, and you can see how everything that's been learned along the way starts to make its way into a more refined product. Here we have six. Six now, totally embracing the boxier design aesthetic, standing up on its own, exterior part of the phone completely usable stand-alone without even opening this thing up, comfortable, hinge refinement, thin, it gets even thinner. This is the latest device and now we're getting into the realm of not even noticing the thickness compared to a standard slab phone, where they're able to make each sliver, each side of the
sandwich about half the width of a traditional smartphone. When it's opened up, you've got something just so impossibly thin and light. So, this here is your Fold 7. Constant improvements, constant learning from a company that, as you can tell, has been doing this for a very long time, at least playing a massive role in the pioneering of this entire segment, starting right here. So, I've been using this new app instead of my keyboard, and it's from the sponsor of this video, WhisperFlow. And this saves you from having to type everything out. Instead, you can just use your voice, and it just feels a lot more natural. And no, this is not Google's built-in keyboard or Apple's built-in
keyboard. Of course, we know that those make a bunch of mistakes, and they don't really understand our lingo. So, WhisperFlow doesn't care which app you're using. All you do is tap on it, or long press, and start talking normally and quickly, and it'll write out what you say in perfect grammar. So, I can even go ahead and mess up, say words like uh and hum, it'll understand what I'm trying to say and delete the words that I'm not trying to say. Here's a quick comparison between iOS voice-to-text and WhisperFlow. So, here's what I need to grab: eggs, milk, wait, not milk, bread, crackers, and raisins. I'll be back in around 30 minutes. Wait, actually, I'll be back in an hour. So, check that out.
WhisperFlow is obviously a lot better than the built-in apps at determining what I want to say, making those corrections in real time without ever needing to go back into the keyboard or highlight text. You can actually pick the style. Casual might be perfect for interacting with your friends, but there's also the formal option if you're using this mostly for work. So, anyone who ever tries to type my name, and I see this happen all the time, they either get Lou L O U or they get Lee L E. This even happens to me when I'm just typing out my own name, particularly on iOS. iOS does not want Lou L E W to exist. This is frustrating.
Whisperflow, on the other hand, creates your own personalized dictionary. Simply tap the word that's being misspelled, add to dictionary, that's it, you're done. You never need to worry about it ever again. If you ever make that noise with your mouth while dictating ever again, it gets it right. But, it could be a little troublesome if you have more than one Lou in your life and they each have their own unique spelling. Let's not go there, okay? There's only room for one Lou in your life. First, I think it makes the most sense for me to look at the new form factor. Holy crap, this thing is slim. Woah.
This is the new form factor that's all the rage. And look at that. So, when it's unfolded, it's a lot more like a traditional landscape display, like a computer monitor, sort of, or a tablet. We get this wider view and we get this passport styling. They have done such a great job at minimizing the appearance of the crease over the years. This is with the display not even on and also having it fold all the way open flat. So, impossibly thin, 200 g. Kind of reminds me of some of those BlackBerry devices when it's folded up, like those passport devices. So, still going to have enough width here for double thumb interaction with the on-screen keyboard.
So, here it is next to the seven. It actually is a little fatter than the seven, like the thickness of it, but the overall form factor, quite different, moving towards this passport style, which I don't know if people are going to like it or not. It does kind of change your one-handed usage, but it also makes it a lot less top heavy. I can probably reach the whole keyboard here cuz my index finger lands up here. It's a secure fit. On the taller devices, you still end up with a lot of the body up over your grip point. It's going to be different for each person, obviously, and the way that you grip it, but that's not going to happen here with
the shorter, stubbier variant. Interesting. Now, they're not done there. That's not the only product they're going to do, right? That is the Z Fold 8. They're still going to have the Ultra version. And that's going to maintain the existing form factor, giving you something, oh my god, impossibly thin in unfolded configuration. Kind of fits like this. This hinge has a real pop to it. Whoa. Listen. That pop there is under tension, and it's pulled taut. And I presume the purpose there is to get as flat of an edge as possible, but also to kind of pull tension on that crease to minimize the appearance of it. And this is me
kind of looking for it without the screen even being on, but it is a massive improvement. And how does this one compare to the 7? Actually, maybe a little bit thicker. Potential for battery improvements, durability improvements maybe. The cameras protrude slightly less. Unless you had them right beside each other, I don't think you would actually notice that difference. Fingerprint scanner, power switch, volume rocker. The half side of it is as slim as the USB port. That is how slim you are talking. Now, the Flip still exists, and this being the most portable, arguably the most stylish of the folding devices from Samsung, and we've still got our external display.
Very familiar form factor here. But when folded down, just tiny in your pocket or purse, whoever you are. Now, this is three color variants that you're looking at. There are others, and I have some of the others. So, here we have white and silver, and we've also got the double black, but it's a black frame with a matte black back plate. Will says I should call it graphite. He is probably correct. The same thing goes for the other variants. There probably will be other colors. Some might be available exclusively on Samsung's website, but this is the variety of options that we have here today. And you let me know which is the most appealing to you of the bunch. This is my first official
exposure to these things. These are not rumors anymore. These exist, and these are going to be the specs. So, the Z Flip 8 available in pink, graphite, or cream featuring the octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is actually going to be the same across the board whether you get the Flip Fold 8 or Fold 8 Ultra. Storage capacity 256 or 512 on the Flip 8, 256 512 1 TB on the Z Fold 8, and the same options are available for the Ultra variant. 25 W fast charging, 15 W wireless charging for the Flip, 45 W super fast charging and 20 W wireless charging. These also feature wireless power share if you want to do some reverse wireless charging from the device. 4300 mA hour on the Flip, the Ultra has a 5000 mA hour battery, and
the Fold 8 is 4800. 5000 mA hour battery in that slender guy is pretty cool. And yeah, 4800 over here is also pretty good. You got to remember battery life matters with these because you are powering quite a display. So, they're all Dynamic AMOLED 2X. The resolution increases as you get up to the Ultra, where the interior display is 8 in 2504 by 2256. And actually, the Z Fold 8 not that much smaller, 7.6 in inside. Also QXGA Plus, but a smaller display. So, same pixel density, but that comes out to 1848 by 2448. The cover display on the Ultra model is a huge 6.5 in bigger than some smartphones. You guys understand the external display on the Flip. The reason it exists is for
notifications and possibly some monitor when you're filming yourself using those external cameras. But anyway, the cover display is 5.5 in here, 6.5 in on the Ultra. Cameras are also going to be a little bit different. The Ultra is going to give you the 200 MP F1.7 wide, whereas the Z Fold 8 is a dual camera setup. You have a 50 MP F1.8 wide and a 50 MP F1.9 ultrawide. So, you don't get any telephoto. There's no zoom on the new model. If you want that reach, you're going to have to reach for the Ultra. IP48 is across the board. You can either unlock them with your fingerprint on the side or you can use the face unlock. They're actually surprisingly close in weight. So, 180 g, 201 g, and
215 g. These are going to be at the bleeding edge of new devices. Not just from a technology standpoint and engineering standpoint, but also from a price standpoint. I have the Canadian retail prices here. Maybe we can put some conversions on screen. The cheapest Z Fold Ultra 2700 up to 30 539. And the Flip starting at 1550. This guy, the new form factor, starts at 2399 Canadian up to 3239. So, not a huge cost difference between the Fold 8 and the Fold 8 Ultra. It's a jump from the Flip, but these ones kind of comparable. So, it makes me curious about what people will reach for. The new form factor is exciting and interesting and probably big enough for most people. But when you start putting
an Ultra tag on something, you start giving people a zoom lens and telling them it's the flagship and they don't have to spend that much more. I don't know. I'll be curious to see consumer behavior. And you tell me, if you had that kind of money to spend on a new smartphone in 2026 and you wanted a folding device, which one of these would you gravitate towards? Would you want the new and fun form factor and save a couple of bucks? Or would you go to the Ultra, get a slightly bigger battery? I mean, it's not that much bigger, but a slightly bigger battery and a zoom lens. I don't know. Before I go any further, I also want to mention I have brand new leather case product for these new
devices. Super slender. Why would you want something so slender on your super fragile device? You must be crazy. Well, the reason why is because you respect the device and you want the device to remain as slim as possible while still getting some degree of protection. Look at how slim it stays and you get a little bit of that wonderful texture. That is the texture I'm talking about. Ooh, lovely and smooth. So, you don't want to ruin the slenderness of the thing. They put so much effort into engineering it that way. And besides, it's a folding phone. You're going to have to be careful with it anyways. So,
put a later case on it. We've got it for the Z Fold 8 as well. We give you the front component if you want to match it up. If you just decide to use the back portion on the folding device, you get the lip to grip. The other thing to mention with these devices, because they are so expensive and slim, they can be a little bit slippery and slip out of your pocket. The later case also helps with that. I'm not making any guarantees. It is meant to be as slim as possible. It is not meant to be an OtterBox. But, it just gives it a little bit more bite so it's not as slippery in and out of your clothing. And we've got the external tempered glass for the external displays to keep them safe and scratchless. It's
a lot easier to replace one of those than to replace this screen. And it might as well be a screen protector uh rather than the device itself, which I showed you the prices already. You understand. Right. Is that a color? Huh? What is this? It's like a dark purple, and I kind of like it. I'm not going to lie. Violet Shadow. So, you have to get the Ultra Still because they've decided to put it in Violet Shadow, which is this super dark purple just barely a tinge. I should also mention most of you that are here have also seen my video on some of the mock-ups for the upcoming iPhone. And I've got this variant here, which some
of you saw in video. And I just want to show you how similar that is to the new Samsung device. So, if you were curious about what Apple might be up to, and you can go watch this video, but the form factor and formula looking like we're getting a major preview on what that device might be by looking at the new Z Fold 8, which is going to be your option right away from a company that has made quite a few folding phones. Just going to put that out there. Okay, so let's boot this up. It's funny, like you make a folding phone, and you perceive them as large, but this is the first folding phone I've held that I don't perceive as large at all. Like this feels extremely comfortable to hold. And I might be
converted to this form factor. Wow, that is so comfortable to hold. I need to open a keyboard here. The quick brown fox. The quick It's amazing. It's incredible. What if I flip it this way? It gives you a split keyboard here. Still fine, but nowhere near as fun as this is. Okay, so we have that, but what about this? Oh, so good. Blackberry days are back. The distances are identical. I don't have a physical keyboard, but who cares? The distances are identical. This form factor, it feels like you're home. If you've ever used a Blackberry in the past, it feels like you're home. I don't
know what age you need to be to have used a Blackberry in the past. I mean, you probably got to be at least Did you have a Blackberry? My dad was in My dad. 30-year-olds are post-Blackberry. If you're between 30 and 50, you know that kind of experience, and it really does feel like you're home. The quick brown fox. It probably also has something to do with the balance because I'm sitting here typing, and most of the phone is being held by my remaining fingers without with that sort of top portion extending so much higher. So maybe that's what makes me feel so much more comfortable as well. It's hard to say. Wow. Okay, I
think people are going to like it. I don't think that the typing experience on the standard form factor is going to be as satisfying. You know, you just look at it like this, and you can imagine like this thing is I'm using my pinky to stabilize it, but to get your thumbs to that comfortable location, I mean, it just is what it is. Now, if I open it, that changes a bit, distributes the weight a little bit. Still good. Still good, but they got to split the keyboard on this. I'm converted. This is a beautiful display. Don't get me wrong. So we go like this, and we've got, you know, other videos to choose from, or we look at our comments. So we
have this kind of like dual thing going on. It's time to test some sound. Real distributed stereo. I can also I'll this one like this, have some comments over here. It is a ton of screen real estate. I mean, you can't deny it, but you just get more of the device. Like, see what I mean about balance? This is extremely nitpicky what we're talking about here, but it's interesting from a hardware engineering standpoint and a human anatomy standpoint how these different things feel when you are interacting with them. So, that's just what ends up happening, but very big maximum screen. Biggest option is here.
You pull it in even closer. You can have a real immersive experience. Extremely immersive. Those look delicious, but let me type on the outside here. This is okay. It's okay. It's like normal, but it is a little cramped. I don't know why I'm yelling either, by the way. I think I'm kind of pumped up about this. I mean, even this one I prefer typing on it unfolded or folded. Now, let's see what happens on YouTube with this form factor. Stereo this way. That's weird. Stereo when you're holding it this way. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's a bit weird.
You would have thought you would have had stereo here, but I guess they couldn't because you needed to have your volume and power switch there. It's so hard to figure out what to prioritize, which moment in the experience. One thing I know I'm getting thirsty, that's for sure. So, there is like the aspect ratio of long-form video. And as you can see, yes, I can crop and take advantage of this whole real estate here, or I can put other elements on screen like comments or whatever, but if I'm just consuming a video, this thing in my pocket is giving me effectively the exact same screen size. Of course, I can still crop here and lose less because of that aspect ratio. I crop
here, like how much of the side is cut versus this guy. Maybe this aspect ratio makes a lot of sense in the end. But, it is a huge departure from where we started. Like, that is a huge departure. Look where we were. We were like, let's make it as tall and slender as possible. That's what we're going to do. It's going to be a skinny thing. Maybe we've reached the time in our society where short and stubby reign supreme. This is a first impression. Like, this is an unboxing video. I don't want to talk like I've been using these things for 3 weeks or 3 years. But, if you said to me right now, "Yo, Lou, leave with one of these guys." Holy cow, I'm going with
the short one. Crazy. I'm going to go with the short one. I'm going to try that out. I'm going to live that life. I am really I am properly into that thing. I'm going to lose the telephoto lens if I go this direction. I'm going to save a couple of dollars. Battery's probably going to be the same because you're powering a slightly smaller display anyway, and you're talking about 4,800 mA hour versus 5,000. You've got the same chip. You can pick the same storage options. I can't get this cool purple, unfortunately, at least in the paperwork I've got, as far as like the upcoming devices. The Flip, I've always had this
thought that this would be such a cool thing to carry, and some people love it. I mean, one-handed functionality here is unbelievable. When you start to look at that display, I would say the hinge portion of the screen is a little more visible here. Obviously, the form factor hasn't been innovated to the same extent as these other ones. So, you're looking at something that looks a lot like the previous generation, which is not such a bad thing. It's still a true feat of engineering here to build this thing. I'm just going to do a quick brown fox on this one. Not bad. Why is this not bad with it being so top-heavy? It's light. Maybe that's why. I can hold this hand up higher a little bit. I don't
know why. It's something about the weight and the thickness. Wow, I got the same cafe vlog everywhere. So, this is no good, obviously. Like, we got a tiny little display. Speakers are okay. But, we got a tiny little display up top. Good for scrolling the next stuff. And then, if I hit this, well, that's okay. It actually gives your thumbs places to go. And if you go like this, you don't really ruin the frame. Hmm. Maybe the Flip deserves more respect. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. With the fruit on the top? Great channel. I just discovered it. Tasty coffee. Let's go.
The Flip is disrespected. That's what I realized, by myself and by others. And it's not fair what I've done. It's not fair what I've said. It's totally cool and good, and I should really use it for more extended period to get a real feeling for it, but it's tough with these other guys here. The external display, what are we really going to do with the external display? What are we, you know, come on. You feel like a psychopath on that external. It's cool cuz it's edge-to-edge and it's people aren't really using, I don't think, other than the camera function. The camera function is cool. We're using it on a good camera, we're shooting, we got a tripod everywhere we go. That's got to be like
a core aspect of this device. Like what other phones can really do that on your good camera without any kind of external gear or wave standing something up. I mean, obviously some phones will stand up, but then I don't have a monitor. You're comfortable with the stability of it. I could just be here and be like, "Hey, hey, what's going on?" And that is a tiny little camera. So, that's a huge advantage to that. That's still good. It's a tough choice. I like having choices though, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm a sucker for like the new novel form factor. So, for me, it's going to be the Z Fold 8. Funny enough, the one that I'm least excited about is
the most capable, which is the Ultra. Arguably the best, it's the thinnest, it feels probably the most advanced from an engineering standpoint still, but it's just something that I have experience with. It is what it is, right? There it is. That is the new Z Fold 8. The start of a change, I guess, in the folding phone marketplace. I don't think it is going to be the only device in this form factor and category, obviously, considering the fact that Apple is going to move into the same space shortly after and who knows who else because then you've got the major players that have basically determined that this is a thing worth exploring. And we have to see what the end users gravitate towards. And if people enjoy
this thing as much as I have in this very limited exposure to it. It just feels very confidence inspiring in the hand, not top heavy. I feel a lot less like I'm going to drop it. And you get a better native aspect ratio for watching video without losing so much to black bars or cropping. Very interesting. You guys let me know in the comments which of these is the most interesting to you or you'd be the most likely to buy and why. I'm curious. I hope this gave you a little bit of insight, you know, just through my reaction and my sort of first impressions here. Maybe you reminisce about those old form factors. Maybe this is what you've been missing. Unfortunately, it remains an expensive area of the
marketplace. I kind of understand why these have to be high margin. They're low volume. You got to pay a little bit more to be on the fringe. If they become exceedingly popular, maybe those prices come down a bit. For the time being, these are they're the edge. But, if you're one of these people, I think this is an exciting time because we're seeing people experiment. We're seeing brands experiment and realize that maybe the form factors we played with maybe they're not the ones that are going to win in the long run. We'll see.
