Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7 Hands-on

Samsung only announced its seventh generation folding phones, and eventually retired the long and narrow Z fold design, which was stuck for a very long time. The Z Flip is also getting an overdue upgrade on a full -sized cover screen instead of the file folder size of the last few generations. After years of year old upgradation and barely warm-over design, Samsung’s foldables are eventually taking a jump forward with some bold options-be ready to pay for them.

We knew that Guna 7 would be thin. Rumors told us. Samsung told us. But with the Galaxy S25 Edge, see, believe. Or, holding the phone in your hand is at least. Compared to fold 6, it is night and day. The fold 7 is very thin and light, and the fold 6 looks like a large OL ‘chunk next to it. It honestly looks like a different phone.

When it is twisted at 8.9 mm thick, it is there in which N5 is detected with Oppo’s choice as far as thinness goes. Oppo’s device is so thin that my colleague Dominic Preston called it “final development of foldables”. Open, Z fold 7 is just one hair thicker than the USB-C port on the bottom of the 7 device. But there was a remarkable casualties in search to make it thin: S Pen Support. Samsung claims that leaving the screen layer supporting stylus helped to drop the phone down in its current proportion. I will take a slimmer foldable on the stylus-compatible foldable, but let’s inspect a moment of silence S pen fold edition,

The new, broad format of the fold is a welcome change. The cover panel now remedies 6.3 inch of fold 6, 968 x 2376p screen with 2520 x 1080p resolution as compared to a 6.5 -inch. It finally looks like a normal phone when it stops. The internal screen is now 8 inches, and Samsung finally tried to hide the internal selfie camera under the performance and simply put a 10-megapixel sensor behind a little hole cutout. good riddance. Water and dust resistance remains the same, with an IP48 rating like the last two models.

Now, bad news: two thousand US dollars. Or $ 1,999To be accurate – this is the one which is the cost of Z fold 7. With the price of growing everything, the state of tariff, and the R&D cost that went into this new, thin fold, I think I should not be surprised. At $ 1,899, the fold 6 was not cheaper at all. But something about words Two thousand dollars smartphone Just feel wrong, you know?

But back on good news: Flip is getting a proper edge-to-edge cover screen for the first time. This is the direction when Motorola left when she resumed Razr a few years ago, and I think it’s right. Samsung uses additional screen real estate next to the camera cutout for time and date, as you swipe through the widget panel, or for the navigation button in the apps, which is cute. Certainly, it is a bit strange to work around them, but I behave with it and withdraw the benefits of a large screen than being hemed by the size of the file folder.

The Z Flip 7 is also slimmer than its predecessor, but about only one millimeter when the phone is closed. It felt like a single phone for me. There are some meaningful upgrades, which begin with a large battery of 4,300mAh. Flip 7 also supports DEX and allows you to use Gemini auxiliary on the cover screen – both characteristics that were eagerly missing from earlier versions. But better late than never. It has water and dust resistance (IP48) just like last year.

The file folder screen lives in a new member of the flip lineup: Z Flip 7 Fe. This is a low cost option on $ 1,099 z flip 7 … $ 899, which is definitely less money. But it does not seem CheapAnd with an alternative to $ 699 from Motorola, Fegs a bit forgotable.

Is I never forgetting here soon: for the first time by picking up Z Guna 7. This was the same feeling that I did with the second-jewelery pixel fold: “Oh, it How this phone is felt.

Photography by Elison Johnson / The Verge