Rating: 4/5Seven generations in, Samsung did something that most people did not expect from a company that had refined the same basic foldable blueprint since 2019. Rather than simply making the Z Fold 8 thinner, faster, or slightly better in every expected dimension, Samsung introduced an entirely new form factor. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is wider, shorter, and shaped nothing like the tall narrow books that preceded it. It is the most genuinely different Fold Samsung has ever made, and whether that difference is a good thing depends almost entirely on what you want to do with it. Identical to the shape of a passport, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with a starting price tag of Rs 1,79,999 and is powered by the flagship Snapdragon Elite 8 Gen 5 chipset. Running Android 17, the foldable smartphone features a 50MP dual camera and a 4,800 mAh battery. We used this lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet from Samsung for sometime and here’s our complete review of the same. DesignSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 looks nothing like the last year launched Galaxy Z Fold 7. The compact Galaxy Z Fold 8 is Samsung’s first wide-screen foldable smartphone which is light in weight and is identical to the shape of a passport. The smartphone features a super wide front and main displays. Holding the smartphone folded for the first time produces a unique moment of surprise and makes you think that this does not look or feel like a Fold. This latest foldable smartphone from Samsung comes across like a well-built notebook that happens to open into a tablet. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with an armor aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus protection offers a premium, yet durable feel throughout. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 undoubtedly offers a solid build quality which easily communicates the flagship intent in every detail. The company has also redesigned the hinge to both reduce the visibility of the crease by 20% and also to achieve a slimmer profile when folded. The action of folding and unfolding the device is also smooth and precise in a way that reflects seven generations of hinge refinement. Weighing just 201 grams, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is lighter as compared to the previous generation Fold and its wider and shorter footprint makes it noticeably easier to carry than the tall narrow form factor of other foldable smartphones available in the market. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 sits more naturally in a shirt and jeans pocket and it also takes up less space in a bag. Also, the folded device has a compactness that makes it feel considerably less conspicuous in daily life than earlier Fold generations.The button placement is also done well keeping in mind the user experience. The power button and volume rockers are placed on the right side and are easily accessible. The SIM card tray sits on the top and the USB Type C charging port is located at the bottom. The rear of the smartphone houses the dual camera placed vertically in the top left corner. The foldable smartphone comes with IP48 rating which makes it resistant to dust and water. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes in three colour options and the overall aesthetic is clean and considered — a device that looks like it belongs in the premium tier rather than one that is trying to announce itself. For a phone whose form factor is already a conversation starter, the restrained design language is the right call.DisplayThe front display on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 measures 5.5-inch, which seems small, but its wide 10:16 aspect ratio makes it easy on the eyes, whether you're scrolling through short-form content or typing with two hands. That aspect ratio is the key shift from every previous Fold. Instead of the narrow, slightly awkward candy-bar cover that made quick tasks on previous models feel like using a phone designed for someone with unusually narrow thumbs, the Z Fold 8's cover display feels like a proper phone screen.In practice, this changes the daily rhythm of using the device more than any specification improvement could. Replying to messages, checking notifications, scrolling through a news feed, taking a quick photo — all of these feel natural on the folded cover display in a way that previous Fold covers did not quite manage. The wide proportions mean two-thumb typing works without the cramped feeling that narrow cover displays impose, which removes one of the most consistent irritations of the Fold ownership experience.The main 7.6-inch display has a 4:3 aspect ratio that is better suited for watching video than the square panel on the Ultra. Flip the Fold 8 around and you get a 3:4 aspect ratio that is great for browsing the web or reading ebooks. That orientation flexibility is the inner display's most distinctive quality, and it is what makes the wider form factor argument most convincing in extended use. Content consumption on the inner display is genuinely better than on previous Fold generations. Films play with less of the awkward letterboxing that taller, narrower inner displays produce. Split-screen multitasking feels balanced rather than squeezed. Web browsing in portrait orientation reads like a tablet, and rotating to landscape produces something closer to a widescreen laptop than any phone display has previously managed.The inner display is one of the brightest and smoothest foldable OLED panels available, and the redesigned hinge has reduced crease visibility to the point where it takes deliberate effort to notice it rather than being the first thing your eye goes to. In bright lighting conditions the crease is still visible on close inspection, but it has crossed a threshold where it stops being a daily irritation. The 10MP camera punchout on the main display continues to be a bit of an eyesore, and those hoping for an under-display camera will be disappointed. It is the one element of the inner display that has not yet been resolved to a satisfying conclusion. Other than this, both the screens offer 3000 nits of peak brightness level and the antireflective coating makes the displays highly legible under direct sunlight and also under artificial lighting.PerformanceSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite 8 Gen 5 chipset. The foldable smartphone comes in three variants – 16GB+1TB, 12GB+512GB and 12GB+512GB. In day-to-day use, the performance is exactly what you would expect from Qualcomm's current flagship silicon — instantaneous, effortless, and never the thing you are thinking about. App switching, multitasking across the larger inner canvas, gaming at high settings, and running Galaxy AI features simultaneously all produce no friction whatsoever. The main display of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 creates a genuinely better multitasking environment than any previous Fold and also the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 handles the demands of running multiple applications side by side without any visible strain. For users who approach the Fold as a productivity device, the combination of this chip and the 4:3 inner display is more compelling than any previous Fold generation. The latest foldable from Samsung also handles games effortlessly, but the wider 4:3 inner display adds a dimension that raw processing power alone cannot. Games that support widescreen or tablet layouts benefit visibly from the additional horizontal real estate, with UI elements and game environments spreading across the canvas in a way that feels more immersive than the same title running on a conventional phone screen. Titles like BGMI and Asphalt run at their highest graphical settings without frame drops or thermal throttling becoming an issue during extended sessions, and the vapour chamber cooling keeps the device comfortable to hold throughout.The stereo speakers on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 are a genuine upgrade over previous generations and benefit directly from the wider chassis, which creates more physical separation between the speaker grilles than the taller, narrower Fold bodies allowed. In landscape orientation for gaming and video content, the stereo separation is wide enough to produce a convincing soundstage that holds up well for a phone. Dialogue in films is clear and well-defined, and music playback has enough body and volume to fill a small room without distortion at higher levels.Coming to software, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 ships with Android 17 and One UI 9, and Samsung's software work specifically for the wider form factor is evident throughout. The taskbar adapts to the wider canvas intelligently, app layouts respond to the 4:3 and 3:4 orientations with purpose rather than simply stretching existing designs, and app continuity between cover and inner displays has become the kind of seamless experience that previously required patience and adjustment.Samsung continues to lead Android manufacturers in long-term software support, with seven major Android OS upgrades promised on the Z Fold 8. Buying a foldable at this price point and knowing it will receive updates through 2033 is a meaningful part of the value calculation, and it remains one of Samsung's clearest competitive advantages in the Android ecosystem. The deeper Gemini integration through Samsung's partnership with Google means AI assistance is available with genuine contextual awareness across native apps, and the large inner display creates space for AI-assisted workflows that simply could not exist on a smaller screen.Galaxy AI features are woven throughout One UI 9, and the wider 4:3 inner display makes them more practically useful than they were on previous Fold generations. The additional horizontal space allows AI assistance and active work to coexist in split-screen configurations that feel natural rather than cramped.Note Assist, Transcript Assist, and the Interpreter mode all benefit from the larger canvas, and the AI writing and summarisation tools feel genuinely integrated into the workflow rather than bolted on. My FanCam, which automatically crops and reframes video for social media, works well with the wider inner display proportions and is the kind of feature that the Fold's content creator audience will actually use.The agentic Galaxy AI capabilities which enable the assistant to take multi-step actions across the apps are more compelling on the Fold's larger screen than on any conventional phone, and the combination of One UI 9 and the 4:3 display creates a productivity environment that starts to make a credible argument for the foldable as a laptop complement rather than just a phone with a bigger screen.CameraThe Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a dual rear camera setup consisting of a 50MP primary camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a 50MP ultrawide camera with an F1.9 aperture, along with a 10MP front-facing camera on both the cover and inner displays. The 50MP ultrawide is the most meaningful camera upgrade over previous Fold generations, addressing the 12MP ultrawide that was consistently criticised as the system's weakest component. The consistency between primary and ultrawide output has improved substantially as a result, and the gap between the two lenses in real-world shooting is considerably narrower than it was on the Z Fold 7.The Z Fold 8 sports two outer cameras — a 50MP main and a 50MP ultrawide — while the Z Fold 8 Ultra features a 200MP main camera and a 10MP telephoto lens. The absence of a telephoto lens is the Z Fold 8's most significant camera compromise relative to the Ultra, and for buyers who use zoom regularly it is a genuine trade-off to factor into the choice between the two models. For those who do not, the dual 50MP system covers the vast majority of everyday shooting scenarios with competence and consistency. In daylight the primary sensor delivers detailed, accurately coloured images that hold up to scrutiny. Low-light performance is solid without being exceptional, and the Galaxy AI editing tools available on the inner display create a post-processing environment that is more comfortable to use than any conventional phone screen.BatterySamsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 will surely impress you with its battery performance. The foldable Samsung smartphone houses a 4,800 mAh battery which comes with 45W wired fast charging support which is a meaningful step up from the 4,400mAh cell and 25W charging of the Z Fold 6, and the practical benefit is felt. Full-day endurance under heavy use, including significant time on the inner display, is reliably achievable. The 45W wired charging returns the battery to a usable level quickly enough that a lunchtime top-up genuinely covers an evening of heavier use. Wireless charging is supported, and the overall battery package feels appropriately sized for what the Z Fold 8 asks of it. It is not the area where the device tries to make its argument, but it no longer needs to be managed carefully to get through a day, which is the right place for it to be.VerdictThe Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the most genuinely interesting design decision Samsung has made in the foldable space in seven years. The wider, passport-style form factor is not a minor iteration. It changes the fundamental logic of how a folded phone fits into daily life, makes the cover display genuinely usable for one-handed tasks, and creates an inner display experience for content consumption and multitasking that previous tall narrow Fold panels could not match. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with a starting price tag of Rs 1,79,999 and is an ideal choice for buyers who want to enter the Fold ecosystem for the first time, the Z Fold 8's new shape makes a more convincing case for why this form factor exists than any previous generation. That is perhaps the strongest endorsement it can receive.