It really does feel like the folding phone is having a moment right now. Samsung launched not one, but three different folding units at its most recent keynote. Here I’ll be taking a look at the Z Fold 8, which sits in the middle of the line-up and features an interesting new shape.

　　Also announced was the Z Fold 8 Ultra, Samsung’s flagship folding device, and the Z Flip 8, which folds up, rather than across and is aimed more squarely at a younger, less photographically minded audience.

　　The two folding phones are designed to be impressive for photographers and for photography-related uses, such as looking at your pictures while on the move. At first I was dubious about the new shape of the Z Fold 8, but as you’ll see over the course of this review, I’ve had my mind changed.

　　We’ll soon find out if the Z Fold 8 makes it on to our list of the best smartphones for photographers. As with most folding devices, it certainly isn’t cheap – starting at $1899/£1699, but it is at least cheaper than the Z Fold 8 Ultra, which starts at an eye-watering $2099/£1899.

　　At A Glance From $1899/£1699 1x lens 50MP, f/1.8, 23mm equivalent Ultrawide lens – 50MP, f/1.9, 13mm equivalent 10MP selfie camera (but you can use the main camera for selfies) Video: 8k/30fps, 4k/120fps 7.6-inch foldable inner Dynamic LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz, 3000 nits peak brightness 5.5-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED cover display, 120Hz, Android 17 4800mAh battery Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 IP48 dust and water resistance 161.4 x 123.9 x 4.5mm 201g How I test phones I review smartphones from the perspective of choosing one for its photography and camera performance . For the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, I look at what it offers in terms of picture and video capability. Other specifications such as the screen or battery life are also taken into consideration – in a review of a folding phone such as this, the screen may be even more heavily scrutinised than usual. What I won’t comment on is unrelated (albeit important) specifications such as gaming performance or call quality.

　　Features The Z Fold 8 introduces a new size and shape for Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold range. Last year, there was the Z Fold 7 only, which is more akin to this year’s Z Fold 8 Ultra.

　　With the Z Fold 8, Samsung appears to be appealing to that “middle ground” – the everyday owner that wants a folding phone, in a very usable and manageable size and isn’t necessarily too worried about the onboard camera specs.

　　As such, you only get two units here, rather than three – losing out on the telephoto optic and leaving behind a 1x and an ultrawide. Whether you’re bothered by that is down to personal preference.

　　The two that you get are both high-resolution sensors (50MP a piece), with a 23mm f/1.8 equivalent lens for the 1x, and a 13mm f/1.9 equivalent for the ultrawide. You also get up to 10x digital zoom powered by the 1x lens. There are two selfie cameras here, both 10MP f/2.2, but one is 18mm and the other 24mm. But, the beauty of folding phones is that you can use the main camera to take selfies – the other cameras are there for video calls and so on, rather than photography (though you can use them if you like).

　　For the inner display, you get a 7.6-inch folding screen, which is smaller than the 8.0-inch display on the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but also more friendly for your pocket. The outer display for the Z Fold 8 is 5.5-inches, again compared to the much larger 6.5-inch Z Fold 8 Ultra.

　　Other useful features of note include the latest generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 4800 mAh battery and the ability to record up to 8K video.

　　Handling and Design I received both the Z Fold 8 and the Z Fold 8 Ultra at the same time and initially I thought “who would want the squat Z Fold 8”, but the more time I spent with both of them, the more I realised that the new shape and design actually makes a lot more sense.

　　It’s quite a departure from the Z Fold 7 / Z Fold 8 Ultra and other folding smartphones. It’s not long and thin, it’s short and squat. What this means in practice is that you get a nicely small device to do your everyday tasks like texting and so on, which is hiding a much larger screen inside for looking at photos. It also more closely resembles the shape of a computer monitor or a television so it makes looking at webpages, Netflix and so on much better too, I found.

　　And just like many other folding phones currently on the market, the Z8 is still relatively thin when folded, too – it’s 9.7mm when folded – it’s a couple of mm thicker than something like a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it still feels pretty slight in usage. It’s also the lightest Z Fold series phone ever, at just 201g.

　　The exterior screen is pretty bright and detailed, and despite being smaller than most modern bar phones, it still feels like there’s plenty of space here – perhaps because although it’s not as tall, it’s wider, so you don’t feel like overall you’re missing out.

　　Open up the Z Fold 8 and you’ll see the interior screen is pretty impressive. Yes, there is a fold, and you can see it if you angle the phone in a certain way, but it’s impressive just how much this has improved over the years. Underneath the display is a layer of “Flex Titanium” which Samsung claims will absorb shocks and strengthen the screen – obviously this is only something that you can tell over many months or years, but it certainly seems pretty durable anyway.

　　One potential disappointment here is that the Z Fold 8 is only IP48 rated. It should be noted that the first number in these ratings – i.e. the “4” is relating to dust, while the second number, the “8” is relating to water. Most modern phones are IP68 rated. That means that the Samsung Z Fold 8 still has the same water resistance as most other phones, i.e. you can immerse it in shallow water for up to 30 minutes, but thanks to the folding design, it’s more likely to allow dust ingress. That said, other competitors out there, like the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold and the Honor Magic V6 have IP68/69 ratings, so it’s something to consider at least.

　　I’ve been using the White variant of the Z Fold 8, and it’s pretty understated and sleek. Other slightly more exciting colours are available, but I quite like the simplicity of white. There’s just two lenses on the camera bump, and just a power button and volume rocker on the side of the phone – again very similar to most other phones out there. You can use the volume rocker to take a picture, while a quick double tap of the power button launches the native camera app. Which brings us neatly on to…

　　Native camera app You can shoot via the native camera app with the camera folder, or unfolded – I found the former the most appealing way to shoot, but there are some situations where using the interior screen makes sense, which I’ll come on to soon.

　　The default shooting mode is “Photo”, where you can access the 0.6x (ultrawide) and standard (1x) lens as well as 2x digital crop, and 10x digital zoom. A range of other functions can be accessed via this mode, including changing the aspect ratio, the resolution, switching on the flash or adding digital filters.

　　If you shoot in lower light, a night mode should automatically activate, while similarly, if you bring the phone close to a subject, then macro shooting should start. Other available shooting modes include Portrait and Panorama.

　　Two advanced modes are available – Pro and EXPERT RAW, which gives you the opportunity to adjust things like white balance and shutter speed, and shoot in raw format if you so desire.

　　If you want to shoot selfies, you can activate the selfie camera whether using the interior or exterior screen, but for higher quality pictures, you can use the 1x lens. To do this and still be able to compose yourself, there’s a dedicated icon you can press – once you have, you open the phone and point the rear of it at yourself, the front screen will display what the camera is seeing – and as this is a better camera, you’ll usually get better selfies, too.

　　You can also use the folding aspect to create a “stand” – fold out the phone to the halfway mark and one side becomes the stand, and the other where the camera is. You can use the interior screen to compose – which could be useful for group shots or perhaps even from shooting from a low angle. Additionally, you can set up the screen so that one half shows you what you’re shooting, and the other half shows you photos you’ve just taken, too.

　　Image quality and performance There may only be two cameras to choose from here, but both of them do a great job overall. Images are bright and vibrant, with plenty of detail.

　　If you’ve previously been concerned that going for a folding phone leaves you not only with a massive unwieldy beast, but something which isn’t wholly suited to excellent photography, then this is where modern models such as this really show how far they’ve come.

　　As you’d expect, the best results come from the 1x lens, but the ultrawide is very decent too. Obviously there’s no zoom lens here, but the 2x digital zoom produces decent enough results – certainly enough for a phone screen. Even the 4x digital option produces fairly decent, usable results. The full 10x zoom is best avoided if at all possible though, as at this point images start to lose a lot of detail.

　　Portraits are pretty well rendered using the portrait mode, with natural-looking skin tones and a reasonable shallow depth-of-field effect. If your subject has fussy hair, you can see some strange detailing if you zoom in, but the overall effect is just fine.

　　Macro/close-up images, taken using the ultrawide lens, produce nice results, with plenty of detail and bold colours. It’s not as good as the telephoto macro options you see on some Androids, but it’s certainly very useable.

　　I wouldn’t say that low-light shooting is the camera’s forte, but it’s not terrible either. If you stick to using the 1x lens, you get the best results, though the ultrawide isn’t too bad. I’d avoid combining digital zoom and low-light though if at all possible. It seems to be slightly better than the Honor Magic V6 at low-light shooting, so that’s promising, especially for a folding phone.

　　If you take a lot of selfies, folding phones like the Z Fold 8 are great – simply because you can use the higher-performing rear camera instead of the selfie one. Here the results way outdo those from a conventional selfie camera, so if it’s your thing, I’d really quite highly recommend it.

　　Value for money Folding phones do not come cheap, that’s just a fact that you have to live with if you want one.

　　However, compared to many, the Z Fold 8 is lower in price. It’s currently available at a starting price of $1899/£1699 (for the 256GB option), which makes it a good chunk cheaper than the likes of the Honor Magic V6 and a little bit cheaper than the Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold. It’s also a lot more affordable than its sister phone, the Z Fold 8 Ultra.

　　At the time of writing there’s an offer on the 512GB variant which makes it only a touch more than the 256GB – I’d be inclined to go for that for futureproofing, but generally 256GB is more than fine these days, especially if you can use cloud storage as well.

　　If you like the idea of a folding phone and want one at a (slightly) lower price, this could be the one to go for – the smaller screen and only having dual cameras is where you’re making your sacrifice, but the former might actually be preferable and the latter isn’t a huge deal breaker.

　　Verdict Folding phones aren’t going anywhere any time soon and it’s interesting to see something different after a few years of mundanity.

　　I didn’t expect to like the new shape as I initially thought it would be too short and squat, however, after using it for a while I began to wonder why all folding phones weren’t like this. Essentially, you got a nicely pocketable device which opens up into something which has a much more sensible size and aspect ratio.

　　Having been using it at the same time as the Z Fold 8 Ultra, to my mind it’s the much more preferable option if your mainly concerned about usability, and fitting it into your life. Of course, you do have to compromise on not having a telephoto camera – so ask yourself how much do you want one of those.

　　The Z Fold 8 is also available at a slightly cheaper price than many of its competitors, including its own sister model. If you want a folding phone but want to save a bit of cash, this could be the way to go.

　　Overall the photographic performance is decent enough. The two lenses perform well and you can get some great pictures. It falls down a little in low light, but it picks it up again with the selfie camera – again, ask yourself what you shoot a lot before committing to buy.

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