A new Galaxy ‘Ultra’ is here: Samsung Z Fold 7 is the foldable upgrade we’ve been waiting for

There have been endless rumours about Samsung dropping an all-new ‘Z Fold Ultra’ foldable. However, now that Samsung has shown its hand at its summer 2025 Galaxy Unpacked event – which took place in Brooklyn, New York, with T3 in attendance – we can reveal everything about the new device.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is, for all intents and purposes, the latest and best folding phone in the Korean giant’s line-up. It might not be Ultra by name, as was widely expected, but it’s very much Ultra by specification – bringing a much thinner and more spectacular foldable to market compared to its Z Fold 6 predecessor.

Samsung’s position on book-like foldables has been adjacent to many other makers – such as Google, Honor, Oppo and more – in offering a narrower front display, with the onus being on its interior and larger screen. The Z Fold 7 shows progress, however, with a cinematic-ratio 21:9 aspect for its now 6.5-inch exterior (up from 6.3-inch in its predecessor).

But the real sell of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is clearly its new, far slimmer design, at just 4.2mm unfolded. Aside from cost, this has otherwise been one of the bugbears for folding phones among potential users, so Samsung is showing its research and development muscle in this latest foldable.

It can’t claim to be the thinnest-ever – Honor keenly jumped ahead of the Unpacked launch to obtain that timely accolade – but it’s a mighty impressive advancement that totally changes the Z Fold 7’s game.

Z Fold 7: Thin but almighty

For context: the 4.2mm measurement of the unfolded Z Fold 7 is a mere 0.1mm less than the Honor Magic V5, so we’re talking a mere whisker of difference, if that, and certainly not enough to notice in the hand. The big comparison, really, is versus the previous Z Fold 6, which was a much chunkier 5.6mm.

Nonetheless, despite this considerable shrinkage, the Z Fold 7, much like its tandem Z Flip 7 launch partner, is every bit the flagship. Once again it deploys the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, in its ‘For Galaxy’ version, meaning it’s overclocked and extra powerful. There’s no dumbing down of processor cores, like the Oppo Find N5, meaning this is the full-fat and real deal. It’s got 12GB RAM as standard, although there 16GB RAM variant is restricted to the 1TB storage version – so here’s hoping that Samsung brings back the ‘double storage promotion’ this year (meaning a 512GB purchase will net you a 1TB model for free).

So how has Samsung managed to transform its Z Fold 7 design so much? The upgraded water droplet hinge design, called Armor FlexHinge, has been re-engineered. The display it contains is thinner yet more robust, supported by a grade 4 titanium lattice for rigidity. The only thing that’s thicker is the ultra-thin glass (UTG), which is 50% greater for enhanced scratch protection.

Is the Z Fold 7 the upgrade we’ve been waiting for?

There will no doubt be ongoing debates surrounding the Z Fold 7’s exterior display, which, at 21:9 aspect ratio is akin to Sony’s cinematic Xperia handset stylings, versus the norm of other offerings on the market.

But having that marginally narrower front display does make sense as, when you need, the interior display is there for you, ready and waiting. This time around it’s 8-inches across the diagonal, akin to Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold, so not the rumoured 8.2-inch megalith that was expected (all part of the Ultra rumours, ultimately).

As part of the new design, the updated Z Fold 7 cameras bring some welcome tweaks too. The main camera is a 200-megapixel offering, much like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but the unit has been redesigned to enable the handset’s overall slimmer build.

There are two other cameras on the rear: a 12MP ultra-wide, and 10MP 3x optical zoom, giving this foldable more range than many of its competitors. It’s not quite up to S25 Ultra standings as rumoured, though, while interior cameras are 10MP under-display offerings.

Launching on Google’s Android 16 with Samsung’s latest One UI 8 – and there are 7 years of software and security upgrades – this latest software setup brings Samsung Galaxy AI to the fore, with its usual suite of search, photo-editing and other enhancements.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will launch in Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Jet Black, and exclusive Samsung.com Mint versions, starting at £1799 ($1999/€2099). Here’s hoping for a pre-order promotion deals ahead of the on-sale date later this month to deliver more storage ‘for free’.

Galaxy Z Fold 7: Thin is the win

So while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 might not be the ‘Ultra’ we expected, at least by name, its redesigned form and many of its upgraded specifications go to show why it’s the ‘Ultra foldable’ in Samsung’s line-up – and, quite possibly, of any folding phone on or coming to market this year.

There’s another point to be made here too: unlike the S25 Ultra, which supports the S Pen stylus, the Z Fold 7 offers no S Pen support. That’s because the digitiser has been removed for this generation, for the sake of space, so to call this foldable an Ultra might seem conflicting. Instead, thin is the win here.