The new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has landed in our office, and it’s time to open the box. Inside, you’ll find nothing fancy — just a plain box and a 3A USB-C cable. The phone comes in Graphite, Cream, and Violet Shadow, with a fourth color, Green Shadow, reserved exclusively for Samsung.com.
There are two storage configurations — 12/256GB and 12/512GB — priced at €2,200 and €2,400 respectively. In other words, whichever way you choose, this is not a phone meant for casual spending.
Numbers on a Page Don’t Tell the Whole Story
Here’s something worth saying upfront — you shouldn’t judge the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra purely by its spec sheet or how it looks in photos. Half the appeal of a folding phone lies in something a webpage simply cannot capture — how different it feels in your hand compared to an ordinary phone. The Galaxy Z Fold7 was the first Samsung foldable to genuinely feel like the future — impossibly thin, almost special to hold. The Fold8 Ultra hasn’t lost that feeling.
It sits comfortably in the hand, squared off on every side, put together with a precision that’s hard to miss. And this isn’t just about the hardware — Samsung’s One UI software matches that same sense of polish on the outside.
“Ultra” in Name, Not Quite in Substance
Still, the hardware deserves a closer look — and here’s where a fair question arises. Despite carrying the “Ultra” label, this is, at its core, simply a successor to the Galaxy Z Fold7. There’s no standout “Ultra-level” feature added this year that truly justifies the name.
What has changed is the battery — now 5,000mAh, a real jump from last year’s 4,400mAh. And remarkably, the phone still weighs the same 215 grams. Some credit for that goes to Samsung’s first Silicon Carbon battery, which appears to be doing some of the heavy lifting here.
Fold8 Ultra vs. the Square Fold8: A Real Choice
If you’re already convinced foldables are for you, and Samsung is your brand of choice, the real decision becomes which one to pick.
The Fold8 Ultra, on the other hand, is the safer pick — a completely normal phone when closed, and a multitasking machine the moment you need it to be. There’s no compromise here, no new form factor to get used to.
The square foldable, meanwhile, has sparked its own debate in our office — whether it might actually be the smarter overall shape for many people. Typing on its virtual keyboard feels more natural on a square screen, and once unfolded, this shape fits both your photos and standard 16:9 videos better.We’ll return to this comparison in more detail soon.
