The Galaxy Unpacked event, to be held in London on July 22 (Wednesday), will introduce the new generation of Samsung foldables and new smartwatches as well. It’s an open secret that Samsung will introduce a new foldable form factor to the Galaxy Z family, a wide foldable that was recently seen in the hands of BTS’ Jung Ho-seok.
However, Samsung is traditionally tight-lipped about actual specs for upcoming devices. Here we will do a quick overview of all the leaks that we’ve seen so far, so that you know what to expect during Wednesday’s livestream.
The naming
It’s important to clear this up as it will inevitably lead to confusion – Samsung is reshuffling the naming scheme of the Galaxy Z series. The new wide form factor model will be called just the Galaxy Z Fold8, not Z Fold Wide as some early reports indicated.
The successor to the Galaxy Z Fold7 will be called the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra instead. The Galaxy Z Flip8 will see no shake-up in its naming scheme.
Only three new models
Last year, Samsung had a go at making an affordable foldable with the Galaxy Z Flip7 FE, which was a slightly reworked Galaxy Z Flip6. We never saw sales figures for the FE, but it’s clear that it wasn’t very successful. If you were hoping for a Galaxy Z Flip8 FE, you will be disappointed – we’ve been seeing Z leaks for months and there wasn’t even a peep about a new FE.
A new favorite
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, the new wide form factor foldable, is Samsung’s next big hope for a breakout hit. Insiders are claiming that the company plans to produce more Z Fold8 units than Z Fold8 Ultra and Z Flip8.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 (image source)
An early production order reportedly aims for 2.8 million Z Fold8s, 2.0 million Z Fold8 Ultras and 1.5 million Z Flip8s. Last year was a turning point – the Z Fold7 outsold its Flip sibling for the first time. Now the big Fold itself is likely to be topped by the newcomer – at least if Samsung read the market right.
Samsung Galaxy Fold8
The Galaxy Z Fold8 will be a book-style foldable. However, its cover display will be noticeably shorter than that of the Z Fold8 Ultra, making for a more compact device – something between the Ultra and the Z Flip8. The cover display is said to have a 5.5” diagonal (1,248 x 1,972px resolution).
Another important aspect of this design is that opening the phone will reveal a 4:3 display – a 7.6” panel (2,448 x 1,848px). This is a departure from typical book-style foldables, which usually have inner screens that are closer to a 1:1 aspect ratio.
Samsung Galaxy Fold8
This will be better for widescreen videos (but still not perfect) and you can always turn it 90° to scroll through TikTok.
The phone will measure 4.5mm when unfolded and will weigh 201g. For comparison, the Z Flip7 was 188g and the Z Fold7 was 215g. It will be rated IP48.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 leaked renders
More Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 leaked renders
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 will be equipped with two cameras as can be seen in renders. This will be a 50MP wide camera (with 2x in-sensor zoom) and a 50MP ultra-wide. That’s right, no telephoto camera for this model. There will be two 10MP selfie cameras, though.
Samsung pretty much officially confirmed that the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. We expect this to be the case for all units sold globally. Anyway, it will have 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM as standard on the 256GB and 512GB models and 16GB on the 1TB model.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra will use a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
The phone will also have a decently sized battery, but more on that in a bit.
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra will be the sequel to the Z Fold7. As mentioned above, it will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy globally.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra (image source)
The phone will get a camera upgrade, but probably not the one you were hoping for – it will keep the 200MP main camera of its predecessor (f/1.7 lens, 2x in-sensor zoom) and it will keep the 10MP 3x telephoto camera, that became outdated a few years ago. We might say the same for the two 10MP selfie cameras too. The camera that will be upgraded is the ultra-wide module – it’s getting a 50MP sensor.
Samsung Galaxy Fold8 Ultra
The Ultra model will keep the cover screen at 6.5” and essentially the same resolution of 1,080 x 2,505px (this is just under 21:9). The inner display will have 2,256 x 2,504px resolution, which is an upgrade over the 1,968 x 2,184px of the Z Fold7.
Samsung Galaxy Fold8 Ultra
The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is expected to be slimmer but a bit heavier – it will measure 4.1mm when unfolded (down from 4.2mm) and will weigh 218g (up from 215g). This is with a larger battery, so let’s talk about that.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra leaked renders
More Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra leaked renders
First Si/C batteries for Samsung
An official EU rating for the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra revealed a battery upgrade – the phone will have a 5,000mAh battery, up from 4,400mAh on its predecessor. The EPREL numbers claim better 51:00h endurance, up from 40:28h for last year’s model. However, the charge cycle rating has gone down from 2,000 cycles to 1,200 cycles (this is how long it takes before the battery capacity drops below 80% of the original value).
While it has no predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold8 will also carry an upgraded battery – with 4,800mAh capacity (and a rated 49:10 hour endurance), this phone will outlast the larger Z Fold7. From what we’ve heard, these will be the first Samsung phones to adopt Si/C battery technology.
Both phones will support 45W fast charging – no surprises here, the vanilla Galaxy S and the Z Flip are the only premium Samsung phones still stuck on 25W. They will support wireless charging too – the exact power rating didn’t leak, but we’re guessing it will be 15W. Without magnets.
Galaxy Z Flip8 – the last of its kind?
We’ve heard rumors suggesting that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 will be the last flip foldable from Samsung. As noted above, the large Z Fold outsold the Flip for the first time last year and this year Samsung is betting big on the wide foldable. So maybe the Flip has outlived its usefulness.
We still don’t know whether this is true or not, but let’s look at what we’re going to get as the possibly last-ever Flip.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 leaked renders
The new model will slim down to 180g compared to 188g for its predecessor. It will measure 6.1mm when unfolded compared to 6.5mm for the Z Flip7. However, this phone won’t be getting a new Si/C battery – it should have the same 4,300mAh capacity as last year.
There will be no changes to the cover display and no changes to the cameras either – the phone will once again come with a 50MP main and a 12MP ultra-wide.
Unlike the Z Folds, the Galaxy Z Flip8 will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy only in some regions – South Korea and Europe are reportedly getting Exynos 2600-powered Flips.
More Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 leaked renders
If there was a Galaxy Z Flip8 FE based on the Z Flip7, it would have been too close to the Z Flip8 – we can see why Samsung isn’t making a new FE. As for dropping the Flip series entirely, we hope it won’t happen, but we’ll see.
Higher prices
Leaked prices for Europe suggest that the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra will start at €2,200, €100 more than its predecessor. The 512GB upgrade will be €2,400 and if you want the 16GB/1TB version, that will be a whopping €2,800 – a €280 increase over the 1TB Z Fold7! The US leak reported a $2,100 starting price for the Ultra.
The wide Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 will start at €2,000 and will cost €2,200 and €2,500 for the 512GB and 1TB models, respectively. In the US, Z Fold8 will be $1,900.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 will start at €1,300 – €100 more than the Z Flip7 – and the 512GB upgrade will be €1,500 (+€180 over the old one). We’ve also seen leaked prices for South Korea.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 with LTE is said to cost €750 (+€50 over the original Ultra). The Galaxy Watch9 40mm will be €410 (+€40) and the 44mm version will be €460. If you want LTE, it will be €30 extra. Speaking of the new watches, let’s have a closer look.
New Galaxy watches
The Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 will reportedly feature a massive battery upgrade from 590mAh on the original to 800mAh. It will also use the Snapdragon Wear Elite paired with 2GB of RAM and 32GB or 64GB of internal storage.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy Watch9
The Samsung Galaxy Watch9 should also use a Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, though with only a minimal battery increase – 445mAh (+10mAh) for the 44mm model and no change to the 325mAh battery for the 40mm model.
Galaxy Watch9
There will be no Classic this year – Samsung usually skips a generation with the Classics. However, Samsung might introduce something called Galaxy Able, which was previously rumored as the “Galaxy Buds Able”. These are reportedly bone-conducting headphones. Anyway, Samsung is already teasing a “new AI-powered Health Companion”.
The 2026 Galaxy Watches will retain the love-it-or-hate-it squircle design. Here are multiple leaked renders for both models. We haven’t seen the Able yet, though.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra2 leaked renders
Samsung Galaxy Watch9 leaked renders
Pre-registrations open
Samsung opened pre-registrations for the upcoming Galaxy foldables a couple of weeks ago. You can get a $30 credit if you register now. Samsung is advertising up to $1,230 in total savings, though that includes trade-in deals.
In previous years, Samsung has offered a bigger $50 credit for buyers who pre-registered, now it’s only $30. But it’s worse than that – it sounds like Samsung will skip the traditional free storage upgrade and will only cover 50% of the cost of upgrading from 256GB to 512GB. This hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, we’ll find out for sure on Wednesday.
Check back with us – we will have a detailed report on all the new (and old) features, the pricing, launch promos and more.
