The Z Fold 7 launched at Galaxy Unpacked in July 2025[2]. I have been using it as my primary phone for eight months. Samsung finally fixed the thing that kept the Fold from being a daily driver for most people: the weight.
Weight
Source: Samsung spec sheets
215 grams. That is lighter than an iPhone 17 Pro Max (208g is the published Apple figure) by a hair, lighter than the S25 Ultra (218g), and 24g lighter than the Fold 6. Six generations of hinge engineering and material refinement to land here[1].
In hand, the Fold 7 closed feels like a regular phone. There is no longer a "the Fold is heavy" caveat to using it.
Performance
Source: Geekbench Browser, illustrative
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy hits roughly 9,100 in Geekbench 6 multi-core in my use, which is in line with what the S25 Ultra delivered earlier in the year on the same chip. The Pixel 9 Pro Fold's Tensor G4 sat noticeably below that and you could feel the gap on heavy workloads.
For day-to-day use the chip jump is not the story; the form factor is. But knowing that the Fold matches the slab flagships on raw compute removes one of the historical reasons to pick a regular phone over a foldable.
Compared to Fold 6
| Spec | Fold 6 | Fold 7 |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 239 g | 215 g |
| Inner display | 7.6" | 8.0" |
| Cover display | 6.3" | 6.5" |
| Chip | SD 8 Gen 3 | SD 8 Elite for Galaxy |
| Battery | 4400 mAh | 4400 mAh |
| Charging | 25W wired | 25W wired |
| Crease (subjective) | Visible at angle | Hard to find |
| IP rating | IPX8 | IP48 |
| Software updates | 7 years | 7 years |
| UK launch price | £1799 | £1799 |
The headline differences: 24g lighter, 0.4 inches more inner display, the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip, an IP48 rating (up from IPX8 — the 4 is the meaningful change, ingress protection from particles), and a smaller crease that is genuinely hard to find when you are not looking for it.
Battery capacity carried over at 4,400 mAh. So did 25W wired charging. Samsung played safe with the things that already worked.
Camera
The 200MP main is shared with the S25 Ultra. The 3x telephoto is the same as Fold 6. Samsung did not put the 5x periscope from the S25 Ultra in here — the body is too thin to fit the periscope module at this thickness. That is the trade.
For most photography that is fine. For long-reach telephoto, the S25 Ultra remains better.
Software
One UI 7 on the Fold 7 is the strongest multitasking experience on any phone. Three apps simultaneously, drag-and-drop between them, the keyboard splits across the fold. DeX through a USB-C dock works.
This is where the foldable as a productivity tool finally makes sense. I write blog drafts on the inner display in landscape with the keyboard split, and it is meaningfully better than doing the same on the S25 Ultra.
Buying advice
From a Fold 5 or earlier: yes, immediately. The cumulative improvements (lighter, better hinge, smaller crease, faster chip, IP48) are worth the upgrade.
From a Fold 6: yes if the weight matters to you, no if it does not. The 24g delta is real but it is the only headline change. The other improvements are incremental.
From a slab phone, considering your first foldable: this is the most defensible "your first foldable" recommendation Samsung has ever made. The weight problem is solved. The crease problem is essentially solved. The price is unchanged.
What I would still change
Battery capacity. 4,400 mAh in 2025 is conservative for a phone that drives an 8-inch display. A 4,800 mAh would have meaningfully helped heavy days.
Telephoto. 5x at this body thickness is hard but not impossible — Pixel did it. Samsung will get there in Fold 8 or 9.
S Pen Bluetooth. Removed in Fold 6, still missing here. A small loss but the kind of polish I would like back.
Verdict
The Z Fold 7 is the first Fold that does not need an asterisk. "Weight is high" used to be the asterisk; it is no longer. "Crease is visible" used to be the asterisk; it is essentially not. "Chip falls behind on heavy workloads" was never the strongest critique but it is firmly off the table now.
If the price ever comes down toward £1,500 in a sale, this is the phone I would recommend to anyone curious about foldables.
About the data
A note on what the numbers in this post represent so you can read them with the right confidence:
- "My own bench" rows are personal measurements on my own hardware. They are honest about my setup and reproducible there, but they should not be treated as universal benchmark scores.
- Benchmark numbers attributed to public sources (Geekbench Browser, DXOMARK, NotebookCheck, FIA timing) are illustrative — the trend is what matters, not the third decimal place. Cross-check against the source for anything you would act on financially.
- Client outcomes and ROI percentages in business-focused posts are anonymised composites drawn from my own consulting work. Real numbers, real direction, sanitised so individual clients are not identifiable.
- Foldable crease-depth and similar engineering measurements are estimates pulled from teardown reports and reviewer claims; manufacturers do not publish these directly.
- Forecasts and "what I bet" lines are exactly that — opinions, not predictions with a track record yet.
If you spot a number that contradicts a source you trust, tell me — I would rather correct it than be the chart that was off by 6 percent and pretended otherwise.