Compare Z Fold8 Ultra and Z Fold7: Just enough upgrade, no need to rush to upgrade
(Dan Tri) - Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra improves many practical points such as battery, fast charging, anti-glare screen and folds. However, these changes are more about perfecting the experience than making a big jump.
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This year, Samsung has an interesting naming method when introducing the Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra at the same time. In particular, the new Fold8 Ultra is a product that has many similarities with last year's Fold7, from the overall design to the positioning.
Therefore, from the moment I started using the device, I always had a question: Is the Fold8 Ultra different enough for current Fold7 users to consider upgrading?
After more than two weeks of using Fold8 Ultra, I realized the answer does not lie entirely in configuration numbers. The changes Samsung brought this year mostly do not create a feeling of transformation but have a clear impact on the daily use experience.
This article will therefore focus on what I actually felt during use, instead of going too deep into the specs table.
The upgrades are small but easy to feel
If I had to choose a generation that creates a clearer transition in the Fold line, I personally still lean towards the Galaxy Z Fold7.
Therefore, when switching to Fold8 Ultra, my first feeling was not that it was a completely new device.
Fold8 Ultra is about 4.1mm thin when opened, continuing to be among the thinnest folding devices Samsung has ever produced. However, compared to Fold7, the difference in the hand is not large enough to create a completely different holding experience.
Fold7 is already quite thin and light, so there is not much room for Samsung to continue making a big difference in physical design. Instead, the company seems to devote more space to internal upgrades.
The battery and charging are my favorite changes
Fold8 Ultra has increased battery capacity to 5,000mAh, comes with 45W fast charging, compared to 4,400mAh battery and 25W charging on Fold7.
This is one of the changes I feel most clearly.
During use, the device can meet a working day with my needs such as texting, reading newspapers, taking photos, recording videos, using social networks and handling some quick tasks.
When you need to recharge the battery urgently, the 45W charging speed is also significantly more useful. Under my usage conditions, about 30 minutes of charging can bring the battery to approximately 70%.
If you only look at the 5,000mAh capacity, this number may not really impress when placed next to some of today's bar flagships. But it needs to be put in the context of a folding phone with a body of just over 4mm when opened.
In my opinion, keeping the size almost the same, even continuing to make the device a little thinner but still significantly increasing battery capacity and charging speed is a reasonable trade-off.
Anti-glare screens are more useful than the numbers suggest
Another improvement I appreciate is outdoor visibility.
Fold8 Ultra has a maximum brightness of about 3,000 nits, while Fold7 is at about 2,600 nits. The difference in numbers is not too big, but the actual experience is more noticeable.
I often work at coffee shops, sometimes sitting near glass doors or under bright light sources. With Fold7, the screen is still bright enough to use, but reflections can easily make dark background content or small text more difficult to see.
Fold8 Ultra handles this situation better.
Better anti-reflection helps the screen feel less like a mirror when there's a light source behind it. When reading the newspaper, quickly editing photos or viewing content outdoors, I have to change the camera's holding angle less often than before.
For people who mainly use their phone at home, this may not be a very important upgrade. But if I often work outdoors or in bright environments, I think this difference is worth more than just looking at an increase of a few hundred nits on the configuration panel.
The crease is still there but is less noticeable
Screen folds are always one of the most talked about issues with folding phones.
On Fold8 Ultra, Samsung continues to improve the hinge design to make the fold in the center of the screen less visible.
During regular use and folding, I can still see the fold. It hasn't disappeared completely.
However, the fold on the Fold8 Ultra is fainter and less noticeable under most normal usage conditions.
When you swipe your hand across the center of the screen, the concave feeling is less noticeable. Only when I deliberately pressed my finger down on this area with more force did I clearly feel the physical indentation.
In other words, Samsung hasn't eliminated the crease, but has made users pay less attention to it.
Upgraded super wide-angle camera
The ultra wide-angle camera on Fold8 Ultra has increased resolution from Fold7's 12MP to 50MP.
In bright enough conditions, photos take better detail, especially in distant areas or small details in the frame. When enlarging photos, Fold8 Ultra also retains more information than the previous generation.
This is a welcome change because the camera system has long not been the most prominent strength of the Fold series.
However, I still think the camera is an area where Samsung can do more.
If placed next to some bar-shaped flagships in the same price segment, the overall camera system of the Fold8 Ultra has not created a big enough gap to immediately make me think of the camera experience of a device bearing the "Ultra" suffix.
That doesn't mean the device's camera is bad. Fold8 Ultra still meets most daily photography needs well. The problem mainly lies in the expectations that the price and naming create.
The Fold8 Ultra can still do better
After more than two weeks of use, I found the Fold8 Ultra to be a quite complete device. But at a price of over 50 million VND, users have the right to expect higher in some aspects.
The slim body creates temperature limits
Fold8 Ultra uses Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, so performance in most daily tasks is almost not an issue.
However, heat is something I noticed when pushing the machine into heavy tasks for long periods of time.
When continuously shooting some 4K videos at noon outdoors, after less than 10 minutes, the area near the camera cluster began to warm up. If I continue to use it, I can clearly feel the heat transferring to the back.
The same situation occurs when playing graphics-heavy games in hot environments or rooms without air conditioning.
This does not make Fold8 Ultra a weak device in terms of performance. With normal needs, I have almost no significant problems.
This is also partly an understandable limitation of the ultra-thin folding phone design. The internal space for the cooling system is always more limited than smartphones with thicker bodies.
Speaker placement does not create a balanced experience
Another small detail I noticed while watching the movie was the speaker arrangement.
When opening a large screen and holding the device in certain directions, the sound tends to create a feeling of being skewed to one side instead of being completely balanced.
In normal use, this is not too much of a problem. The volume and speaker quality of the device are still good.
However, with a Fold where the large screen is one of the important reasons for users to watch movies, YouTube or entertainment content, I still hope Samsung can optimize the sound experience better.
Z Fold8 Ultra has "Ultra"?
If you just read the upgrade list, Fold8 Ultra can easily give the impression that this is a generation with relatively few changes.
After using it, I don't deny it either.
From Fold7 to Fold8 Ultra, I don't feel like I'm entering a completely different generation of phones. The shape is almost familiar, the usage has not changed significantly and the performance of Fold7 is already strong enough.
But looking closer, the majority of the changes on the Fold8 Ultra are in the things that directly impact everyday experiences: longer battery, faster charging, screen that's easier to see outdoors, less noticeable folds, and a better ultra-wide-angle camera.
The name "Ultra" therefore also makes the problem of evaluating the machine more difficult.
If you only consider Fold8 Ultra as the successor to Fold7, this is a relatively comprehensive and reasonable upgrade.
But when Samsung adds the word "Ultra", users' natural expectations will be higher. I was waiting for a more obvious difference in camera, performance or a special enough feature to separate the device from the previous generation.
Do Fold7 users need to upgrade?
Back to the question I asked from the beginning: If you are using Fold7, should you upgrade to Fold8 Ultra or not?
After more than two weeks of experience, my answer is: not necessarily.
Fold7 is still a very good folding phone. If users are satisfied with the current battery life, charging speed and camera, the upgrades on Fold8 Ultra may not be big enough to create a reason to change devices immediately.
On the contrary, if the battery is what makes you unhappy with the Fold7, often work outdoors or want a screen with a less noticeable crease, the Fold8 Ultra offers real improvements.
For people entering the high-end folding phone segment for the first time, the story is different.
Fold8 Ultra currently fully meets what I expect in a Fold: thin and light body, large screen, battery enough to last the day, faster charging, strong performance and the typical limitations of folding phones are becoming less and less annoying.
Fold8 Ultra is not a revolution compared to Fold7. It's like a version that Samsung continues to develop from an already good foundation.