I was lucky enough to go to Brooklyn last summer for Samsung’s second Galaxy Unpacked event of the year. At that event, the Korean tech giant launched its latest foldable smartphones and a brand-new smartwatch. It was a big deal, not least because Samsung decided to finally update the Z Fold form factor.

For the uninitiated, Samsung is arguably the grandad of the foldable smartphone market. The first Galaxy Fold arrived in September 2019. While it wasn’t the first foldable to hit the shelves (the Royole FlexPai apparently holds that crown, according to Gemini - and, nope, I have no idea, either), the Galaxy Fold was, arguably, the first commercially successful bendy smartphone.

We’re now on the eighth generation of Samsung’s Fold series and, until recently, Samsung has certainly been the most conservative when it comes to annual iterations of that form factor. In fact, it was last year’s Z Fold 7 that represented the biggest visual and dimensional change to the lineup since its inception. I’m a huge fan of that device; it’s ridiculously thin, perfectly wide when closed, and offers the best big-screen OS experience when opened.

Now, we have two phones in the Fold lineup: the Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Z Fold 8. The former is actually the update to the Z Fold 7, and while it might look very similar, in the hand, it feels rather different thanks to a completely revised design that includes a ‘Flex Titanium’ hinge and a simpler opening mechanism (borrowed from the bonkers TriFold).

But it’s the Z Fold 8 that’s going to grab the headlines, and rightly so. It’s a brand-new device; short, squat, and rather passport-like. If you’ve seen the fake renders of the rumoured ‘iPhone Ultra’, that’s basically what the Z Fold 8 is.

A few weeks ago, I published a video on my YouTube channel about Apple’s supposedly forthcoming foldable. I mused that, if true, it could be the perfect form factor - not just for foldables, but for phones in general. Samsung has got there first, and having already spent a fair bit of time with the Z Fold 8, my confidence in that belief is growing.

I’m yet to use it in anger, though. That’ll come soon, along with my full review. In a world of brilliant-but-bland smartphones, we need devices like the Z Fold 8.

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. If you’ve made it this far and would like to learn more about the Z Fold 8, watch today’s video!

See you here next time!

~ Mark