Samsung Galaxy Z Fold SE official and a true flagship, but not everything is rosy

If you're a fan of emerging technology, you'll love the best foldable phones. These devices represent the absolute cutting edge of the market, with hinged chassis' giving way to substantial inner displays.

While Samsung phones are unquestionably the most well-known brand name with skin in the game, they don't always win out overall. Lesser known manufacturers have taken this market by storm, with handsets like the Honor Magic V3 and the OnePlus Open winning favour across the board.

Now, Samsung is fighting back with what looks like its best foldable yet. It's called the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold SE, and its likely to shake up the brand's range significantly.

For starters, this is the thinnest and lightest device in Samsung's foldable phone range. Sitting just 10.6mm thick and 236g heavy, it's both slimmer and lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

You may suspect that those improvements have come at the downfall of the spec sheet. That doesn't appear to be the case, though.

The device packs in an impressive 200MP main camera, which offers four times the resolution of the Z Fold 6. Inside, 16GB of RAM is noted as delivering a Galaxy AI experience which is optimised for foldable handsets.

That's paired with a still-flagship-at-the-time-of-writing Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor inside. It's worth bearing in mind, though, that the Snapdragon Summit is taking place this week, with new goodness in that arena expected.

The dimensions of this device have also been played with, somewhat. The unfolded eight-inch inner display sports a slightly unusual 20:18 ratio. However, the outer 6.5-inch cover display is a much more familiar 21:9. That should make the Z Fold SE much more comfortable for those used to traditional Android phones.

It only comes in one colour – Black Shadow – and features a striped patter on the rear. It's priced at 2,789,600 won, which converts to approximately £1,555 / $2,025 / AU$3,027. That doesn't feel especially cheap – in fact, it's more costly than the closest equivalent Z Fold 6 model in the same market.

One other thing to note is that the device is currently only available for users in South Korea. There's no official word on it going any further right now, which could be a shame for users in markets like Europe and North America.