Just a few weeks before the rollout of the truly excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, I ran into an old friend who inexplicably had a Galaxy Z Fold 4. In all my years covering Samsung‘s folding phone efforts, I’d rarely seen one in the wild (outside of South Korea, where they are everywhere), let alone someone I knew carrying one.
In the 43 years we’ve known each other, I’d never known my friend to be an early adopter, but there he was with a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, unfolding it, checking work email, looking at stocks, basically using it as his primary device. I looked at it and noted how the protective covering on the flexible screen was bubbled along the crease and in other areas.
This Z Fold 4 has been abused and loved in equal measure. I was just days away from the Samsung Unpacked event, where I expected to see the rumored Samsung Galaxy Z Fold Ultra. My friend and I chuckled about the sorry state of his folding phone, and he started asking me about what he should get next. I recommended he at least wait to see what this “Fold Ultra” is all about.
Fast forward a few weeks, and I could not wait to show him the Galaxy Z Fold 7 I’d been carrying. The tech introduction would have to wait, though, because we were all gathering on the beach. As you may recall, the Z Fold 7, like most of the other most recent Folds, is rated IP48 for fresh water resistance but essentially has zero dust and sand capabilities.
Beach fumble
My friend arrived on the beach, and I watched as he took out his Z Fold 4, and then gasped as it slipped from his hands and dropped onto the sand.
“Buddy, that’s not sand-resistant,” I told him.
Gingerly picking it up, he started frantically shaking and blowing it, “I know!” He added that he usually brings it in a Ziplock bag (I’ve done the same with the Z Fold 6), but he also never goes to the beach anyway – except for today, that is.
While he inspected the hinge and ports, I, in an extreme example of ‘things you do not need to hear in the moment,’ told him how sand could completely destroy the hinge mechanism.
Attempting a mop-up of my faux pas, I excitedly told him I had something to show him: the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
He looked at me quizzically and chided, “Hey, you told me to wait for the Ultra.”
“I know,” I shrugged,” This is basically that phone, they added ‘Ultra’ features like the 200MP sensor, but it’s not called that.”
I could tell that the nomenclature switch or misdirection threw him.
Cozying to the Fold 7
Later, when we were far from the beach, I collected the Z Fold 7 and showed it to him. His eyes widened. Then I handed the phone to him.
“Wow,” he said as he turned the two-in-one device over in his hands. He marveled at the thinness (4.2mm) and weight, and then struggled a bit to open it. I think the magnets in this Z Fold 7, which help hold the foldable phone closed, are considerably stronger than on his Z Fold 4.
He pulled out his Z Fold 4 and opened it, looking at its puckered screen. We talked a bit about the protective covering and how the Z Fold 7 has the same thing, though I would hope it does better in the long run.
“Are the screens the same size?” he asked me, and then he placed his Z Fold 4 on top of my Z Fold 7. The size difference was obvious to him, even as I said, “No, the Z Fold 7 is an 8-inch flexible display.”
I noticed that his rather thick case has an empty slot for a stylus (not sure if it was an S Pen), but I recalled that he said he initially had a case that didn’t even fit his pen. While I wasn’t sure of just how much my friend used a stylus (the two times I saw him with the Z Fold 4, he was without it), I shared the bad news that the Z Fold 7 lost the digitizing label and no longer supports the S Pen, though he could use a dumb capacitive stylus. He didn’t say anything but nodded knowingly.
We also talked a bit about the cameras as I took a photo with the 200MM camera and then zoomed in on the photo to show him how much information that sensor can collect.
Hefting the phone like his hand was a scale, my friend smiled as I told him the Z Fold 7 is, at 215 grams, lighter than a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Still holding the Z Fold 7, he said, “Yeah, but I have to pay $2,300, right?” I corrected him, “$2,000.” He considered this, but I could tell he was already convinced that the Z Fold 7 would be his next phone.
Throughout that evening, I let other old friends hold the phone. Every single one of them was surprised at the size and weight. I don’t know if they, like my friend, would give up their iPhones for it, but for a devoted Z Fold owner, there may be no better upgrade, even with the loss of S Pen support and that price.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
