That’s a wrap
(Image credit: Samsung)
So that’s it for Samsung’s second Galaxy Unpacked event of the year. We’ve already been hands-on with all of the devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, Z Flip 8, Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 and the Samsung Intelligent Eyewear.
There weren’t many surprises given the leaks were so generous, but we did all the official pricing — and the hikes aren’t quite as bad as many feared. Samsung’s Intelligent Eyewear (surely they’re going to get a snappier nickname) also looks very interesting, if it can navigate the Great Smartglasses Backlash.
It’s time for smart glasses
(Image credit: Samsung)
As expected, Samsung’s ‘one more thing’ at Unpacked is its Intelligent Eyewear — and it does looks pretty impressive.
Samsung has partnered with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker in its attempt to take on the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which is something we already knew. But we’ve just learned a bit more about their design and specs, including a new hinge design that has a power slider next to it.
Samsung is claiming nine hours of battery life from a single charge with ‘mixed use’ — which is seemingly around 90 minutes of notifications, 30 minutes of calls, 35 AI conversations, 12 message read alouds, 60 minutes of music playback, nine photo captures, and three one-minute videos.
It also says you’ll be able to charge them more than seven times overs using their case. They’ll apparently be lighter than most AI glasses (although their exact weight is still TBC) and will be powered by a Snapdragon AR1 chipset.
The Intelligent Eyewear (surely there’s a snappier name) will launch in the Fall, so sometime between September and November. But a big question remains unanswered, how much will they cost?
Google talks Gemini
(Image credit: Samsung)
Google’s Rick Osterloh has stepped in to tell us about the Gemini features that’ll be available on Samsung’s new foldables — and its new smart glasses too.
Gemini Notebook (the new name for NotebookLM) will apparently come preinstalled on the new foldables and buyers will get six months of Google AI Pro too (after which, you’ll have to pay, of course).
Gemini Intelligence will also be coming to new smartglasses from Samsung, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker — and we’re about to hear more about those…
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 looks hardcore
(Image credit: Samsung)
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is here — it looks pretty similar to its predecessor from a couple of years ago, but there are quite a few upgrades under the hood.
Its engine is the new Snapdragon Elite processor, which apparently offers 32% better performance than before. The Watch Ultra 2 is also the toughest Samsung watch so far, with IP69K and 10 ATM waterproof ratings.
There are some pretty hardcore diving features too, including Samsung’s own diving algorithm and nitrogen absorption monitoring. Basically, Samsung is gunning for Garmin here.
The Watch Ultra 2 starts at $699 with the Galaxy Watch 9 starting at $379, with the Watch Ultra 2 launching from August 7.
Enter the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
It’s time to move onto smartwatches. Samsung’s just revealed the Galaxy Watch 9, and it’s promising some handy new software features.
These include sleep apnea detection, which is also coming to the Galaxy Ring — and apparently makes it the only FDA-cleared, over-the-counter ring device with that feature.
The Galaxy Watch 9 will also have “proactive” features that constantly monitor things like heart rate and heart rate variability, and crunch all these together into a new heart health score.
Samsung says it’s partnering with iFit for its subscription fitness content, too. But the more exciting smartwatch is coming next…
Spider-Man drops in
A Spider-Man interlude has just broken up the foldables news, as we get a teaser from his newest movie plus a chat from Ned, who’s shown off a ‘Spidey Tracker’ alongside camera footage from the Z Fold 8 Ultra.
It’s back to reality now though, as Samsung moves onto Samsung Care+ and the Galaxy Card, its new Apple Card rival that was announced this week.
Samsung’s ‘thinnest Flip yet’
(Image credit: Samsung)
This should be the final foldable from today’s Unpacked — Samsung’s Lee Dunham has just announced the Z Flip 8, and it sounds like a decent upgrade.
There’s seemingly a much better Flex Display experience, with boosts to Now Brief (including the option of adding your own custom cards). And it’s a bit slimmer and lighter at only 6.1mm thick when folded, and weighing in at 180g. You also get the same ProVisual engine as you get on Samsung’s other Galaxy phones.
The downside is that pricing for the Z Flip 8 starts at $1,199 (with pre-orders starting today), which means it’s a bit pricer than last year.
Telephoto out, ‘FanCam’ in
(Image credit: Samsung)
Sadly, there’s no telephoto camera on the Z Fold 8, which is a shame — but Samsung’s seemingly quite proud of its new ‘FanCam’ feature.
This new AI feature helps you quickly edit videos into your choice of aspect ratio, while keeping the star of your video in the center of the frame. Pretty neat, if perhaps not as useful as a telephoto — though that’s probably revealing of Samsung’s target market for the Z Fold 8.
Now onto the Z Fold 8
(Image credit: Samsung)
This is the one most of us have been waiting for — Samsung’s revealed its new passport-style Fold 8, and it got more of a reaction from the crowd than the Ultra.
Samsung’s explaining the benefits of that more square display, claiming it bring “a whole new dimension to mobile gaming”, while in portrait the 3:4 ratio makes it a good fit for reading.
I definitely like the form factor (in theory), and it’s likely a hint of what Apple’s going to bring with the iPhone Ultra. It’s also apparently the “world’s lightest fold” ever…
Camera boosts for the Z Fold 8 Ultra
Samsung is now talking cameras on the Z Fold 8 Ultra, leaning heavily on its Nightography skills and talking up its much-improved 50MP ultrawide camera.
It also has a 200MP main camera with an f/1.7 lens and a 10MP telephoto that gives you up to 3x optical zoom, which are similar to its Fold 7 predecessor.
First up, the Z Fold 8 Ultra…
Samsung’s starting its Z Fold 8 Ultra promo with Flex Titanium, the new hinge design it announced last week that promises to make the crease less visible.
Also, there’s battery news — it has largest-ever battery in a Galaxy Z Fold phone (at 5000mAh), and for the first time uses silicon carbon tech that we’ve seen in its many Chinese rivals — hooray…
AI and privacy are the hot topics
Samsung’s TM Roh is on the stage right now talking about the “the importance of AI infrastructure”, as he says Galaxy AI will be coming to 800 million devices by the end of the year. Now we’re moving onto its foldables, starting with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra…
The Samsung Glasses are coming
That’s a surprise, Samsung has just teased that the Galaxy Glasses are coming at today’s event. But first, it’s going hard on security and privacy…
And we’re off
TechRadar’s Phones editor Axel Metz has some final pre-Unpacked thoughts as we go through Samsung’s pre-amble.
“I’m curious to see whether Samsung positions the shorter, wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 as its hero product this year — i.e. the foldable it hopes and expects people to buy — or simply as a more affordable alternative to the premium Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra,” he says.
“In making the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung is acknowledging that the taller, narrower form factor of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra isn’t very ‘Gen Z’, and with Apple rumored to be releasing a similarly sized iPhone Ultra later this year, I — and probably Samsung — expect this new aspect ratio to become the foldable mainstream. Where does that leave the Ultra in years to come?” he says.
Get your popcorn ready
We’re just a minute away from the start of Unpacked, and the expected arrival of its new foldables and smartwatches.
A final thought from TechRadar’s Editor at Large, Lance Ulanoff, who’s at the event right now. “What may be missing from this event is any kind of surprise. Samsung is very leaky, and most of the excitement tends to be muted by the time they tell us what we already knew or read about somewhere,” he says.
“For Samsung, the goal is to generate Apple-level energy for its latest foldables and any other products they pull out of their back pocket. It’s especially important to build that kind of momentum before Apple begins its product rollout juggernaut in September,” he adds.
Five minutes to go…
(Image credit: Future)
It’s now just five minutes till kick off, and TechRadar’s Lance Ulanoff has shared some final thoughts on this year’s second Unpacked.
“We pretty much all know the shape of things to come, but I’m super curious to see the reaction from the crowd here and online. Is different better or just different? Can more fold shapes expand the market? Or can only Apple do that?” he says.
We won’t have to wait long to find out…
What about the Galaxy Ring 2?
What’s TechRadar’s Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor Matt Evans most excited about at today’s Unpacked?
“I’m most looking forward to the wearables — the Watch 8 was outstanding last year, and I’m hoping for more of the same on that front. But the hotly-rumored Watch Ultra 2 is going to be the real star. Plus, who knows? We may event get a hint about a Ring 2…”, he says.
Samsung has already confirmed it’s working on the Galaxy Ring 2 — and while it isn’t expected to get a full launch today, we could well get a teaser at the end of the event (just as Samsung did for the original Ring).
A subtle hint?
We’re taking our seats at London’s Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event and noticed a nice little touch from Samsung.
When you remove the perforated portion of our lanyards, it’s remarkably close to the expected shape of the Z Fold 8 that we’ve seen in leaks.
Still, if you want an even clearer idea of what’s coming, check out the leaked marketing materials that have just landed for the Fold 8 series. Or you could just wait 15 minutes to see the real thing…
These last-minute leaks are looking quite official
The official promotional materials for the Fold 8 series have been leaked by KT. pic.twitter.com/qzIvOTc6DhJuly 22, 2026
We’re now less than 30 minutes away from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026, and the leaks are looking ever more convincing, with what appears to be official marketing imagery having now leaked too, as you can see above.
This shows off all three expected foldables — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The purple Z Fold 8 Ultra looks quite appealing, but hopefully the pink background is a sign that we’ll get some brighter colors too.
Samsung could be about to make smart glasses more mainstream, as its first pair is rumored to be included in today’s announcements, and the Samsung Galaxy Glasses as we’re calling them for now have been extensively leaked.
A detailed new leak on WinFuture tallies with what we’ve heard before, including that these apparently won’t have a screen, and will instead rely on cameras and access to Gemini, which should be able to see what you can.
They sound a lot like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and like those they apparently use a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chipset, which is now three years old. Still, with supposedly 9 hours of battery life, Gemini access, and a big brand name behind them, they could be a hit.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might live up to its name
We’re also expecting various wearables today, and WinFuture has spilled the beans on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in a detailed leak.
The latter could have a slightly larger and much brighter display than its predecessor, coming in at 1.52 inches and 5,000 nits, and joined by a colossal — by smartwatch standards — 800mAh battery, along with a build that’s designed with divers in mind.
This is sure to be expensive, but the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 should be a cheaper option for anyone who doesn’t need all the bells and whistles offered by the Ultra. Sadly though we’re not expecting a new Classic model this year.
All the specs have already leaked
Samsung might not have too many surprises today if you’ve been following the leaks and rumors, as WinFuture.de recently leaked complete specs lists for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8.
Highlights if this leak is accurate include a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset for the two Z Folds and — at least in Europe — an Exynos 2600 for the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
We’ll also apparently get a higher-capacity and faster charging 5,000mAh / 45W battery in the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but the real highlight could be the base Z Fold 8, since this is widely expected to have a new shorter, wider form factor, which according to this leak will allow for a 7.6-inch foldable screen and a 5.5-inch cover display.
A self-healing crease?
Exclusive!Galaxy Z Fold8 series creases are self-healing.July 22, 2026
Samsung’s upcoming foldables might not just have smaller creases than their predecessors, they could also have self-healing ones if the latest leak (above) is to be believed.
It’s unclear how this would work, but perhaps it would ensure the crease doesn’t become more visible over time. It also reminds us of the self-healing finish on the LG G Flex series, which could automatically fill in minor scratches.
It will be interesting to see how Samsung’s take on this works, but if this leak is accurate then it could be Samsung’s secret weapon against the upcoming foldable iPhone Ultra.
Brace yourself for price hikes
Some slightly less positive news from today’s Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event is likely to be price hikes for the Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8.
A recent report from Korea (via Phone Arena) suggested that both foldables could be about $130 pricier than their predecessors. In the grand scheme of RAMageddon, that wouldn’t be too bad — and the Fold and Flip series have never been the most affordable phones anyway.
Samsung has also already increased the prices of the Z Fold and Flip 7 series over the past year, so hopefully that will soften today’s potential price rises…
If you host an event in London…
The umbrellas are already out at the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 queue. We’ve had what feels like months without rain in London, but right on queue the dark clouds are forming.
It’s now just over 90 minutes till kick-off time, so hopefully we’ll be ushered inside soon…
Will Samsung finally solve foldable creases?
There’s a good chance that we’ll see another big step towards crease-free foldables today. We recently visited Samsung Display’s secret labs where it talked to us, among many other things, about its new “Flex Titanium Technology”.
This includes a special structure at the fold to give added flexibility and help reduce crease visibility. We’ve recently more leaks on that theme — and while the image above doesn’t look like a particularly fair comparison in terms of lighting, I’m hoping this new feature lives up to the hyper when we see it in person later.
What are you most excited to see?
We’ve done a full rundown of everything we’re expecting to see at Unpacked 2026, so that’s worth a read as we get closer to kick-off (in just over two hours).
But the short version is that we’re expecting three foldables (a Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8), plus two Galaxy Watches (the Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9), and (potentially) also Samsung’s first smart glasses.
Which one are you most excited about? Let us know in the poll below…
The Z Fold 8 is winning the hype battle
Hey guys, let’s guess what he’s holding? pic.twitter.com/H9jwX1OCPtJuly 21, 2026
The Galazy Z Fold 8 is emerging as the potential star of today’s Unpacked event — and the foldable has just appeared in a new teaser poster (above).
It’s the Z Fold 8’s wider, passport-style design, which will likely separate it from the taller Fold 8 Ultra, that makes it the one I’m most interested in from today’s launches. Partly because it also probably gives us an early peak of the iPhone Ultra’s likely form factor.
We’re expecting to see a 5.5-inch cover display and 7.6-inch inner display, both with a 120Hz refresh rate. The teaser poster matches some of the leaked dummy units that we saw earlier this year (below).
First look at dummy units of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Wide, and Z Flip8. The Fold8 Wide lines up closely with the expected size of the iPhone Fold. pic.twitter.com/NVP3agwsrMApril 27, 2026
Welcome to Galaxy Unpacked 2026 (the sequel)
Hello, and welcome to our liveblog for Samsung’s second big phone launch of the year, Galaxy Unpacked 2026.
We’ll be reporting live from the London event, which kicks off at 9am ET / 6am PT / 2pm BST / 11pm AEST. But first, it’s time to take you through all of the last-minute rumors on what we’re expecting to see — and we certainly haven’t been short of leaks…
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mark.wilson@futurenet.com (Mark Wilson)
