I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is awesome.
Whether I’m gaming, taking selfies, watching a show, or reading a digital comic book the foldable is a much better overall experience than non-foldables such as the Google Pixel 9.
But it isn’t perfect.
There are definitely ways in which it struggles – not least in the value-for-money department – but with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 expected to land next month there are plenty of rumors swirling that suggest my favorite phone will get a few serious upgrades.
Here are the four rumored Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 upgrades I’m most excited to see.
1. A better camera
I remember going to dinner with friends a short time after getting the Z Fold 6 and they had plenty of questions about it. The iPhone user was curious, but didn’t care for Android, and one of the Android users felt it was out of their budget.
The third, however, was keen to get one for themselves – until I mentioned the camera.
I had to be honest and admit to them that Galaxy Z Fold 6 would be a downgrade on their Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, and this was a deal breaker for them. And having tested the Fold against other devices such as the Google Pixel 9 Pro, it’s a downgrade against most flagship phones, ignoring its ability to take rear-camera selfies, at least.
But the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is (hopefully) going to change things for the better, with the foldable finally inheriting the 200MP main camera from its non-foldable cousin the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. This would represent a serious jump from the Fold 6’s 50MP main.
The only catch is that it seemingly won’t gain the rest of the S25 Ultra’s cameras; the Z Fold 7 is rumored to keep the 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto from the Fold 6, rather than getting the 50MP versions the S25 Ultra has. What’s more, the smart money says it will also miss out on the Ultra’s additional 10MP telephoto.
Even so, if it does get the 200MP main, it will represent a major upgrade – so fingers crossed on that.
2. A bigger screen
Another fault I (and others) have with the Z Fold 6 is that its screen is an odd aspect ratio. It’s slightly slimmer than a normal phone, meaning some apps can feel cramped or cut-off at the sides when using the outer display.
Obviously the larger, fold-out display is just fine size-wise – but you don’t always want to unfold your foldable.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 looks set to finally make Samsung’s outer screen a more standard aspect ratio while also making it larger overall at 6.5-inch versus 6.3 on the current model.
Plus, the foldable screen is also rumored to be getting an upgrade: it’s said to be going up to 8 inches from the current 7.6 inches.
Elsewhere on the design, it’s also in line to be slimmed down to just 4.5mm when unfolded (instead of 5.6mm). That’s perhaps why rumors also suggest that the battery won’t be getting an upgrade – which could be slightly bad news given the bigger screen.
3. A more durable build
Here’s the rumor we feel least confident of here at TechRadar, but it’s an upgrade I would greatly appreciate from the Z Fold 7 if it’s true: improved water and dust resistance.
It comes from a source who was also teasing the bigger display size, so it could be correct, but foldables have historically struggled to handle dust – or if they can repel dust, they lose out on water resistance.
The Z Fold 6 has an IP48 rating; this means it’s as waterproof as most other phones on the market, but can only repel dust that’s bigger than 1mm.
A few phones, including the OnePlus 13, have it beat with IP69 ratings. This means that a phone can keep out all dust and not only survive a dip underwater, but even withstand high-pressure water jets (in case that’s important to you). For day-to-day usage, IP69 is more dust and waterproof than you’d realistically need.
Given foldables inherently have weak points that dust could enter I’m not expecting an IP69 score, but an IP59 might be possible; this would keep the waterproofing seen in the OnePlus 13, but with the ability to keep out smaller dust particles than IP48 offers.
This would mean you’d still want to be careful with your foldable at the beach, but a trip to soak in the sun by the shore might not spell doom in quite the same way it would for the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
4. One UI 8 out the box
This last one is a doozy.
It was very frustrating that many of us Samsung users had to wait almost a year from its announcement to get Android 15 – more accurately Samsung’s One UI 7, which is Samsung’s Android 15 adaptation.
That won’t be the case for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, as it’s said to come with One UI 8 (Android 16) out of the box.
And who gave us this leaked info? Well none other than Samsung itself, so it’s literally already confirmed.
There’s unfortunately no guarantee that Samsung won’t ultimately botch its One UI 8 rollout to older devices, mimicking the slow and slightly chaotic rollout of One UI 7, but it’s a huge leap in the right direction for improved Samsung software support – and I’m all for it.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
