I tested out Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 8 – here's how it differs to the Flip 7

Samsung has announced a trio of new phones at its Unpacked 2026 event. And everyone's attention is on one device – the new Galaxy Z Fold 8, the phone that's effectively going to rival the first folding iPhone.

While the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has the advantage of novelty bias, the spectre of the Z Fold 8 Ultra hangs over it – higher-specced, more expensive, and looking just like the previous Z Fold 7 model.

But somewhat under the radar is the Galaxy Z Flip, now in its eighth generation. With wide retro appeal, the Flip has always been popular with a non-tech audience, those who want a style phone that slips more easily into a pocket or bag.

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But there's been a rumour that the Z Flip's days could be numbered, as Samsung faces a deficit in its mobile division and focus shifts to larger folding phones. So that's seen everything thrown into the new Z Flip 8, right? Well, not quite.

How do the prices compare?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 starts at £1149 in the UK, with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. Currently, we don't have prices for other regions or configurations.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is £1049 in the UK with a 12/256GB configuration. The price has been as low as £849 on Amazon over Black Friday and has been down to £899 regularly since, while it's $1099.99 in the US.

Pre-orders for the Flip 8 are expected to open immediately, while the on-sale date is expected to be 4 August 2026. As per previous years, there will be exclusive colours on Samsung.com, as detailed below. While the core colours change, Mint remains the exclusive:

The Z Flip 8 design is incredibly close to the Galaxy Z Flip 7

Samsung's Z Flip has evolved over the generations, with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 introducing the current industrial design with flattened sides, refined in the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to be a notably slimmer device, while the Z Flip 8 makes it thinner again.

Not much else has changed, but it's now 6.1mm thick when open, compared to 6.5mm, and dropping some 8g of weight – which you'll barely notice, of course.

None of those things are likely to convince you to part with the extra cash, but in evolutionary terms, it's all movement in the right direction.

There's a tiny detail, however, which you might have overlooked – and that's a slight change to the edges of the frame. They are bevelled on the Galaxy Z Flip 8, designed to make it a little easier to open.

The Z Flip 7 was notable for how flush the two halves of the phone were when closed – now there's a couple of additional millimetres in the frame to give you grip when opening. That's the same across all the new Galaxy Z devices for 2026.

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is more powerful, but that might not matter

Turning to the actual hardware, what the Galaxy Z Flip 8 runs on depends on which region you buy the device in.

For the USA, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite 'for Galaxy' is what's inside. In the UK, it's Exynos 2600 instead.

While Samsung's latest Exynos launch was exciting for its move to 2-nanometre process, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is more powerful.

There are a couple of things particular to flip phones that mean power isn't as important as it might be elsewhere. Firstly, it's more difficult to cool the hardware in a folding phone where the priority is on remaining slim, so that can limit absolute performance, as it’s more likely to get hot.

Secondly, the display doesn't lend itself to gaming, which is what a lot of people want that power for. The folding display is softer than one topped with a big slab of glass, and intense gaming can damage the display. I know, because I've done it.

So while the newer phone has more power, those choosing the older phone will probably find they don't miss out on much.

The rest of the hardware is mostly the same

The battery stays at 4300mAh, so although it's the same capacity as before, Samsung tells me it's moved to a silicon-carbon cell instead of lithium-polymer. There's also an increase to 45W charging, over the 25W previously. This is a respectable step forward for Samsung and very welcome.

The camera, unfortunately, appears to be much the same, with a 50-megapixel main camera supported by a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 10-megapixel front camera.

Then you have the 6.9-inch folding display and the 4.1-inch cover display. Samsung didn't have anything to say about the display when introducing the new phones and, while there might be marginal changes, I didn’t spot anything during my time comparing the two devices. They might be brighter, but that's not officially confirmed.

Unlike the Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra, there's no use of Flex Titanium technology here either, which is what enables the bigger foldables to negate the much-maligned 'crease'.

A big software change – which both are likely to get

So that leaves us with a big software change that looks to be ushered in with One UI 9 on Android 17 that the Galaxy Z Flip 8 launches with. Samsung's cover display now offers access to apps, rather than it being a widget-based experience, which makes it a lot more usable.

I opened up YouTube and tested it out with Google Maps – and it seemed to work as I'd expect. It's definitely the missing piece of the software puzzle for this device. However, as Samsung offers a 7-year software update policy on its devices, it's highly likely that the update will come to the older phone too – although Samsung has yet to confirm that.

Elsewhere, I expect the software experience to be the same: it's One UI sprinkled with Galaxy AI. But as Samsung continues to drive home the artificial intelligence message, it's worth remembering that if you choose not to use Samsung's keyboard and switch to Gboard, for example, then most of the AI simply won't function.

Which should you buy: Galaxy Z Flip 8 or Galaxy Z Flip 7?

If you're approaching the Galaxy Z Flip 8 as a style-based purchase, then I'd say it's safe to buy the colour that you want without worrying about the specs. These two devices are so closely related in their hardware, that you really don't lose out on much either way.

It's safe to save yourself the cash and hunt out the cheaper Galaxy Z Flip 7, knowing that you'll still have 6 years of software support. As long as the software update includes the new cover screen app access, then it's the more obvious approach.

There are incremental improvements – a new battery type with faster charging; it's slightly thinner; and it's a little more powerful – that just about cover that increase in price, but much of the experience will be exactly the same as before.

Which, by the way, isn't to denounce the Galaxy Z Flip's accolades. In the world of flip phones, this is a highly accomplished handset, only really rivalled by Motorola, it just happens to be largely familiar rather than revolutionary.