Samsung is now also slimming down its foldables.

BarcelonaThe 2019 Galaxy Z Fold, Samsung's first foldable phone, measured 17.1 millimeters thick and weighed 276 grams. The Z Fold 7 that the brand unveiled this week measures just 8.9 mm (less than half the original) and weighs 215 grams (22% less), despite having a more powerful chip, larger screens, and AI features. A technological milestone that, of course, comes at a price: starting at €2,109.

As usual, Samsung has unveiled a Z Fold 7 that opens horizontally and a Z Flip 7 that opens vertically. It also adds a Z Flip 7 SE, which is essentially the Z Flip 6, at a more affordable price, and new smartwatches. Within this framework, the Z Fold 7 is even smaller than its predecessor: 8.9 mm folded and 4.2 mm unfolded, a reduction of approximately 20%. It seems impossible to make it any thinner: the USB connector marks the minimum thickness. To compare it with a conventional mobile phone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra measures 8.2 mm thick. It weighs 215 grams, less than the 218 grams of the S25 Ultra despite incorporating two screens and a redesigned hinge that reduces the visibility of the fold. The inner screen reaches 8 inches, 11% more surface area than the Z Fold 6.

The main camera of the Z Fold 7 is 200 megapixels with optical stabilization. It also includes a 12 mpx ultra-wide angle lens (56% brighter) and a 10 mpx telephoto lens with 3X optical zoom. It incorporates improvements in image processing in low-light conditions and 10-bit HDR. The battery has a capacity of 4400 mAh. The phone is powered by the 3-nanometer (nm) Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, which Samsung claims offers increases of 41% in NPU, 38% in CPU, and 26% in GPU over the previous generation.

Moving on to the Z Flip 7, the exterior display is now 4.1 inches, up from 3.4 inches on the previous model. The interior size has increased from 6.7 inches to 6.9 inches. The folded phone measures 13.7 mm thick and weighs 188 grams. The battery has been increased from 3,700 to 4,300 mAh. The camera system consists of a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle shooter and a 50-megapixel wide-angle shooter with 2X zoom. Unlike the Qualcomm-powered Fold 7, the Flip 7 uses Samsung's Exynos 2500 processor, also built on 3-nanometer chips, as a strategy to diversify suppliers.

And finally, the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE is Samsung's first foldable model in the FE (Fan Edition). It follows the same marketing strategy as Apple: offering the most popular model from the previous generation at a lower price. In this case, it's essentially a Z Flip 6 with the most up-to-date software.

Software and AI Features

The models come with the Android 16 operating system; it's the first time phones have been released with this version. Samsung adds the One UI 8 interface layer, adapted for foldable screens. The Z Flip 7 includes Samsung DeX, which allows the phone to be connected to an external monitor to work with a desktop-like interface. The brand continues to expand Galaxy AI, its artificial intelligence platform based on Google's Gemini models. New features include Gemini Live with multimodal capabilities and screen context; Circle to Search in video games to search the internet for tricks for specific characters; and improvements to the photo assistant.

In this sense, Gemini is optimized for large screens on the Z Fold: it now displays AI results in separate or floating windows, keeping the original content visible. The user can drag the AI-generated content directly into other applications such as Samsung Notes. The image editor now automatically suggests objects to erase, while the audio noise eraser is available in more applications. The Z Flip 7 has added basic photo editing directly to the external display, with real-time filter application.

As usual, several AI features, such as call transcription and some language processing capabilities, are not available to Catalan-speaking users.

Rising prices

The new models feature significant price increases. The most complete configuration of the Fold 7, with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage, costs over 2,500 euros, 160 more than the equivalent Fold 6. It is the first smartphone from Samsung that reaches that figure. The Flip 7 starts at 969 euros for the 256 GB version, 200 euros more than the previous equivalent model. The 512 GB version costs 1,069 euros. The Flip 7 FE, henceforth Samsung's most affordable foldable, has a starting price of 699 euros.

In the case of the Z Fold 7, the pricing policy follows the line of Galaxy S25 Edge, where Samsung uses the reduced thickness to justify 20% increases compared to equivalent models. The brand believes consumers will accept higher prices for thinner designs, a hypothesis the market will have to validate.

New watches

The new Galaxy Watch 8 adopts the Watch Ultra's design: a round dial framed by a square case. The standard model comes in 44mm and 40mm variants, while the Classic with a rotating bezel measures 46mm. The new watch is also slimmer: it's 11% thinner than the Watch 7 and promises 8% more battery life and 50% more brightness with a maximum of 3,000 nights of battery life.

Samsung has added health-related features to the watch, such as the Skin Antioxidant Index, which measures carotenoid levels in five seconds. Bedtime prompts analyze circadian rhythm over three days to suggest optimal sleep schedules. The running assistant analyzes the user's vital signs during a 12-minute run, estimates their fitness level, and suggests a personalized training plan.

All of this is part of Samsung's strategy to expand into the health space. Just this week, it acquired Xealth, a US company that integrates personal device data into hospital information systems.

Challenges to face

Thinner is becoming one of Samsung's key drivers for differentiating itself in a saturated market. The company is confident that consumers will accept price increases for these engineering advances. It's worth noting that this strategy coincides with a period of maturity in the smartphone market. smartphones, where users keep them for longer and the improvements between generations are less noticeable.

To put the Z Fold 7's price into perspective, the ability to unfold the phone into a tablet costs around 1,000 euros more compared to the S25 Ultra's current price. Personally, I would never spend more than 2,000 euros on a phone – not even a phone and tablet – but if you have the money, need two devices in one, and want to be on the cutting edge, the Z Fold 7 is undoubtedly one of the best devices of the year.