Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 Review: Thinner, Lighter, and Almost Flawless

Rating: 4.5/5

The journey of foldable smartphones has been a saga of innovation, ambition and refinement. From their early clunky offerings that felt more like experiments than consumer products, these devices promised a major shift in how the future of foldable smartphones will be. One smartphone lineup that has led this space from the start is Samsung’s Galaxy Fold series and the company’s latest offering, the

Galaxy Z Fold7

isn't just another iteration; it’s essentially an evolution that redefines what a foldable phone can be.With the Galaxy Z Fold7, Samsung appears to have gone on a radical diet, transforming its flagship into one of the thinnest and lightest devices on the market. And let us just give you a heads up, the Galaxy Z Fold7 isn't just about numbers on a spec sheet; it fundamentally changes the day-to-day experience of using a foldable, making it feel almost ordinary—in the best possible way. Priced at Rs 1,74,999, does this redesign, coupled with a suite of advanced AI features and software experience justify the investment and deliver on the promise of the ultimate two-in-one device? Let's delve into the real-world performance of Samsung's latest folding flagship.

Design and display: Most refined ever in a Galaxy Foldable

The most striking aspect of the Galaxy Z Fold7, and arguably its biggest selling point, is its dramatically slimmed-down design. Until this year, each iteration of their Galaxy Z Fold series brought incremental improvements, slowly chipping away at the inherent challenges of the foldable form factor. However, with the arrival of the

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7

, it feels as though the entire landscape has fundamentally shifted. The phone has shed weight and thickness -- a change that profoundly impacts its practical usability.

When closed, the Galaxy Z Fold7 measures 8.9mm thick -- which is just a few millimeters thicker than the Galaxy S25 Ultra (8.2mm). To put that further into perspective, it's well within the thickness range of many standard, non-folding smartphones, excluding the camera bump. The Galaxy Z Fold6 clocked in at a chunkier 12.1mm when shut. But the real magic happens when you unfold it. The Z Fold7 transforms into a full-fledged tablet measuring just 4.2mm thin. This makes it only slightly thicker than the USB-C port itself. At 215g, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is also lightweight for a foldable -- even a few grams lighter than premium slab phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra (218g).

The three cameras on the back protrude and cause the phone to wobble when placed on a table. The phone is available in four colour options -- Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow and Jetblack. There’s also a Mint colour that’s exclusive to online purchases. The fingerprint sensor is located inside the power button. The phone looks refined with an edge-to-edge screen that offers more real estate. The Galaxy Z Fold7 has a noticeably taller stance. The display, along with the slim design, has been a conversation starter and head-turner. The 6.5-inch cover screen on the front is a crucial component – bright, colourful, crisp and wonderfully smooth with its 120Hz refresh rate. We used the cover display for about 75-80% of the time because it gets most of the work done, including social media scrolling, checking mails and other day-to-day tasks.

While you no longer need to open the main display to get things done, it is a desirable feature that comes in handy when watching content. The stunning 8-inch flexible OLED screen is equally impressive: smooth, crisp, and super bright with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, making it easy to view outdoors. The most critical improvement here is the crease down the middle, which is very nearly gone. It's only visible under specific glare conditions. We used the phone to watch a lot of content, including the India vs. England test matches during our commute and the entire season of Special Ops 2. The display's excellent color reproduction made both bright outdoor scenes and darker, indoor shots look fantastic. This viewing experience was enhanced by the high-quality speakers and the phone's comfortable feel; it was light enough to hold for long periods without fatigue, even while lying in bed.However, there’s a slight drawback: when the phone is unfolded, both speakers are on the left side, which can result in imbalanced audio. For the best sound experience, we found it necessary to use the phone in Flex Mode, which orientates the speakers to create a more immersive surround sound effect.

The inner screen is almost-square-shaped, perfectly suited for multitasking, a core strength of the foldable form factor. Samsung’s software -- OneUI 8 on Android 16 -- excels at leveraging this dual-screen setup. Switching from the cover display to the main screen is easy and smooth, and apps transfer over without any hiccups. All this delicate design is strengthened by Samsung’s inclusion of Armour-level durability. Despite its thinness, the Z Fold7 feels incredibly sturdy -- thanks to a Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 cover and a Victus 2 backing. The company says that the redesigned hinge is also thinner and lighter, and has a stronger aluminium design. However, the sturdy design comes with a small hiccup. At times, unfolding the device can be slightly challenging, occasionally requiring extra force.

Performance: Flagship powerhouse in a folding form

Under the hood, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is an absolute beast, packing the same flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip and 12GB of RAM as Samsung's top-tier S25 Ultra. This means you’re getting uncompromising, cutting-edge performance in a folding device, which has not always been the case with earlier foldables.

In practical use, the Z Fold7 simply flies. Everyday tasks like navigating the UI, switching between apps, browsing complex websites and managing notifications are handled with effortless speed. There’s no perceptible lag or stutter, even when you have multiple apps running on the large internal display. High-end games like Genshin Impact, PUBG Mobile, and Call of Duty: Mobile are a joy to play — both on the cover and main screens. The phone easily handles heating during extended gaming sessions, ensuring the phone stays cool and maintains peak performance.

Camera: No Longer a Compromise

One of the historical trade-offs with foldable phones has been the camera system, often a step down from their slab flagship counterparts. The Galaxy Z Fold7, however, largely changes this trend. It houses an impressive triple camera setup that delivers flagship-level photography.While the overall camera output doesn’t quite match the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the gap is narrowing.

The system is headlined by a 200MP main camera -- the same sensor found in the S25 Edge, and it delivers. It is paired with a 12MP ultra-wide camera and 10MP Telephoto sensor. There are 10MP cameras each on the cover and foldable displays.It's a top-drawer camera system capable of capturing fantastic images across a wide range of lighting conditions, from bright daylight to challenging low-light scenarios. Details are crisp, colours are vibrant and dynamic range is excellent. Overall, the photos are slightly oversaturated to give a punch, which sometimes eats up the original color accuracy.

Portrait shots are crisp, mostly with natural-looking background blur. The ultra-wide lens, which is the same as on the standard Galaxy S25, handles group and scenic shots well. The 12MP ultrawide camera is solid and performs well, capable of capturing expansive scenes. A pleasant surprise is its ability to take some very good close-up, macro photos, which can be quite fun for capturing intricate details.

The 10MP 3x telephoto camera is equally good, producing portraits with pleasing background blur. However, it does show some softness and graininess when used indoors or in lower light. The Galaxy Z Fold7’s two 10MP selfie cameras offer great detail in good lighting conditions. However, similar to the telephoto lens, they can become a bit grainy indoors or in less-than-ideal lighting.

AI Features and Software

A lot of ‘seamless experience’ about the Galaxy Z Fold7 is due to the One UI 8, based on Android 16, straight out of the box. For those familiar with Samsung's ecosystem, this is excellent news because One UI 7 was already a highly refined and user-friendly experience, and One UI 8 continues that trend without radical, jarring changes. It includes all the features from Samsung’s S25 line, such as the excellent Now bar at the bottom of the lock screen, which provides live sports scores, music controls, timers, and other relevant information at a glance. Where Samsung truly shines is in its software optimization for the folding form factor.

Beyond the core Android and One UI experience, the Z Fold7 comes loaded with all the Galaxy AI tools from the S25 series. This includes integrations with Google Gemini, Circle to Search, advanced writing and drawing tools, transcription services and audio editing capabilities.

Battery: Solid, but not class-leading

Battery life is always a critical concern, especially with a device that powers two high-refresh-rate displays. The Galaxy Z Fold7 maintains the 4,400mAh capacity of last year's Z Fold6. Despite having a lower capacity than some other slim foldables, its optimization makes a crucial difference. The phone did take a week to get used to our usage patterns and gradually we saw an increase in the backup. In practical use, we found the Z Fold7's battery life to be solid. With our usual routine of scrolling social media, checking emails, watching YouTube videos, texting, using Google Maps and taking photos – a healthy dose of daily screen time – the phone easily lasted more than a day.

When it comes to charging, the Z Fold7 supports 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. We used wired charging often and the phone went from 0% to 4% in about 30 minutes.

Verdict: A new gold standard for foldables

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 is, without a doubt, an incredible piece of technology that comes at a price tag of Rs 1,74,999. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 feels like a giant leap over previous models, effectively removing many of the niggles and compromises that had become synonymous with earlier foldables.By being so much thinner, lighter and more normally proportioned when shut, the Z Fold7 feels just like a regular high-end handset in your pocket with a perk of having a large foldable screen. The crease is virtually gone, the display is bright and crisp, and the software makes the most of its multitasking potential. The powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chip ensures that performance is never an issue.If you are intrigued by the concept of a sleek device that offers the versatility of a larger screen, prioritises a solid camera system, and offers practical software experiences, the Galaxy Z Fold7 could be the perfect fit. The Z Fold7 is, quite simply, the best folding phone available right now.