Samsung's latest foldable phone has been out for over six months now, and with the imminent arrival of the Galaxy S25 series (presumably) on January 22nd, many Samsung fans are wondering about the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Although the Galaxy Z Fold line was once considered the best in foldable phone technology, that's no longer the case as competition from the mines of OnePlus, Google, and beyond has raised the bar quite a bit in recent years.
Part of this is evidenced by the Galaxy Z Fold 6, which saw very little in the way of any meaningful upgrades. Even still, one could argue that Samsung stands above the rest in terms of the software experience you'll find on the Fold.
With that being said, here's everything we know about Samsung's next book-style foldable, so far.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Price and expected release date
If we're going by when Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold 6, then we'll likely have to wait until July 2025 before the Galaxy Z Fold 7 gets shown off. Currently, there's nothing to indicate anything different will happen, as it gives Samsung a bit of breathing room before the "fall rush" of new phone announcements takes place.
Seeing as we're still a little ways off from any official announcement, pricing details have been rather scarce. Perhaps that's a relatively good thing, as it could mean we wouldn't have to worry about a price hike.
However, some rumors have suggested that the Z Fold 7 could end up being a bit more expensive. The primary reason would be due to increased costs for the Snapdragon 8 Elite. This isn't something limited to Samsung's foldable phones, as price increases have also been rumored for the Galaxy S25 series for the same reason.
Samsung is already having a tough enough time selling the Fold 6 at its $1,799 retail price. And with the company already lowering its sales projections for both the Flip 7 and Fold 7, it's tough to imagine that anything good would come from a price increase.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design and displays
One of the biggest sticking points over the past few iterations of Galaxy Z Fold devices has been the design. Especially when the likes of the OnePlus Open arrive, offering a comfortable and satisfying hardware experience. Then, Google unveiled the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, looking nothing like the original Pixel Fold with its passport-style design.
And that's just looking at the foldable market in North America. If you start looking abroad, the gap between Samsung and practically every other OEM is even more staggering with options like the Honor Magic V3, Vivo X Fold 3 Pro, and even Huawei's Mate X6.
After Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z Fold SE in late October 2024, it provided a glimpse at what the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could offer. As it turns out, rumors suggest this is essentially what we'll see later in the year. With that in mind, the Z Fold 7 is expected to feature a larger 6.5-inch cover screen, along with an 8-inch main display.
If Samsung keeps everything else the same, the Fold 7 could also end up being both thinner and lighter. Compared to the Fold 6, the Z Fold SE is 1.5mm thinner and 3 grams lighter. However, sacrifices seemingly had to be made in order to achieve these results, with the Z Fold SE dropping the specialized digitizer required for S Pen support. While we hope to see a more modern design introduced with the Fold 7, we also hope that S Pen support is not removed.
In January 2025, an interview with Fastprint by The Elec revealed that Samsung was not planning to introduce any meaningful changes made to the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Instead, stating "that there will be some changes starting with the Z8 series that will be released in 2026."
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Specs and cameras
Moving past the design, we already have a pretty good idea of what the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will bring in terms of specs. As will be the case with most 2025 flagship Android phones, Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite is expected to be at the helm. It provides a 45% boost in both single-core and multi-core performance, along with being about 40% more efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
As of January 2025, only a handful of Snapdragon 8 Elite phones have been released, but the results already prove to be incredibly impressive. For reference, the ASUS ROG Phone 9 Pro achieved a single-core score of 3137 and a multi-core score of 9936 in Geekbench 6. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 manages a 2039 single-core score and a 6367 multi-core score.
Other specifics are still scarce, but we suspect the Z Fold 7 will continue the trend of following in the footsteps of the Galaxy S25, in some regards. As a result, we could see the Snapdragon 8 Elite paired with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. However, it's also likely that the base model will include 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, while upgrading the storage likely providing a bump in the amount of available RAM.
All of that sounds pretty great, but besides the design the other big question surrounding the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is whether Samsung will include upgraded cameras. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has largely stuck to the same 50MP/10MP/12MP combination for the past few years.
Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition sports a 200MP main wide-angle lens, along with a 10MP telephoto camera, and a 12MP ultrawide sensor. Even if Samsung only upgrades the main camera, it would go a long way in enticing potential buyers.
As for battery life, we've yet to really see anything that would suggest Samsung is going to do anything different. Even if the Z Fold 7 adopts the design of the Fold Special Edition, there's a good chance we'll still have a rather pedestrian 4,400mAh battery. In the same vein, Samsung isn't expected to make any changes to charging speeds, resulting in 25W wired charging and 15W Qi wireless.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: What we expect
On the one hand, we want to believe that 2025 is the year that Samsung will finally listen to its fan base and release a foldable that's both innovative and performant. Logic, on the other hand, leads us to believe this won't actually be the case, especially given the reports that Samsung has lowered its shipment projections and targets for foldable phones.
The most likely scenario is that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 essentially adopts the design of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition while seeing the performance upgrades we expect to see in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. There's a lot of time between now and the expected launch, so it won't be long before more details are leaked or rumored.
It's also not outside the realm of possibility that Samsung throws a wrench into things by releasing the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and a Fold 7 Special Edition. But it may not matter in the grand scheme of things if the Special Edition is only released in Samsung's home country of South Korea.
