Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Galaxy Z Flip7 Review: A Promising Update

Open it up and you’re treated to a massive 8-inch screen, a decent size bump from the 7.6-inch Fold6—that makes it better for multitasking, as apps can make better use of the space. I still don’t think multitasking is as great as it was on the OnePlus Open, but I do like some of the new improvements, like the stashed window. This lets you have two apps in split-screen, but you can push one off to the side so that it’s mostly hidden yet still quickly accessible.

Thankfully, the cameras have a little more parity with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, with the 200-MP main camera delivering sharp results no matter the time of day. (You can enable 200-MP mode for super detailed shots, too, though you need good lighting for the best results.)

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

The more I used the Fold7, the more I couldn’t stop thinking about its price. At $2,000, you can buy a nice smartphone and a powerful, big-screen tablet. I prefer having the 5X optical zoom camera on the Galaxy S25 Ultra versus the limited 3X zoom on the Fold7. And yes, even if I don’t use the S Pen much, I like having the stylus for signing documents and the occasional doodling. (This Fold7 no longer supports the S Pen.) Battery life remains lackluster on the Fold7, barely lasting a full day, and that’s without significant use of the larger internal screen; on the S25 Ultra, you can easily go for a day and a half on a single charge.

When I’m on a tablet, I like using it for the big screen real estate, and some apps make better use of the extra space than even the Fold7. By default, the Fold7 doesn’t show apps like Gmail with the two-pane view. You need to head to display settings and make the screen zoom smaller to enable this functionality, but then everything looks a little smaller, which might defeat the purpose for folks who prefer the bigger screen for legibility (at least you can increase the font size). I’m just not sure why this can’t be enabled as the default layout for apps like Gmail.

I’ve enjoyed my time with these phones, and I do think the updates are a big step in the right direction. But I prefer what Motorola’s been doing with its Razr flip phones, and the price of the Fold7 is so high, yet you still don’t get top-end features like 5X optical zoom or reliable battery life. Annoyingly, there’s still a lot of unnecessary tinkering you need to do with these phones to maximize their capabilities, but that’s a problem that has long plagued Samsung phones.