Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra lands with a sharper display, bigger battery, and a $100 price hike

Samsung has finally lifted the covers off the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the new top-tier book-style foldable in a lineup that has now grown to three models. The Ultra starts at $2,099.99, with pre-orders open today and general availability set to begin August 7. It’s available in Violet Shadow, Graphite, and Cream colorways, along with a Samsung.com exclusive Green Shadow option.

The Fold 8 Ultra is the direct successor to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7, and it inherits the taller, narrower shape that has defined Samsung’s Fold lineup since the start. The new standard Fold 8 moves in a different direction with a shorter, wider body. That split does more than give users an alternate form factor, as Samsung now reserves top-tier specs for the Ultra model, while the regular Fold 8 is a step down and geared towards a wider audience.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Specs

A sharper screen in a slimmer body

The Ultra’s main display holds at 8 inches, the same size as the Fold 7, but resolution jumps to 2,504 by 2,256 from 1,968 by 2,184, pushing pixel density up to 422ppi from 368ppi. It’s a QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a 1 to 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and Samsung’s Vision Booster tech for improved outdoor visibility. Brightness now tops out at 3,000 nits, a jump of 400 nits over the Fold 7, and the display has a low-reflection finish that minimizes glare.

Despite including a sharper display, Samsung says the Ultra is its slimmest Fold yet, measuring 4.1mm unfolded and 8.9mm folded. That’s a marginal gain over the Fold 7, which measures 4.2mm unfolded and has the same thickness when folded. Samsung credits a new Flex Titanium display structure, which combines a titanium-alloy film with an enhanced titanium plate, for the reduced thickness, lower crease visibility, and more balanced hinge mechanics.

The Ultra retains the same Advanced Armor Aluminum frame and IP48 rating as its predecessor, and even the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the back remains unchanged. The 6.5-inch cover screen also carries over from last year, with the same resolution, same 422ppi pixel density, and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, but it now features Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 for enhanced durability.

More power, bigger battery, faster charging

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, paired with 12GB of RAM on the 256GB and 512GB configurations and 16GB on the 1TB model. The 5,000mAh dual battery marks a sizeable jump from the Fold 7’s 4,400mAh cell, and it supports 45W charging through a new dual-path charging architecture that Samsung says distributes power more efficiently across the cells.

Wireless charging has also gone up from 15W to 20W, and the phone still offers Wireless PowerShare for topping off other devices. For better thermal management, Samsung has included an expanded graphite cooling structure that should keep the phone responsive during heavier workloads. As for connectivity, the phone supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0.

The camera setup that sets the Ultra apart

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra features a triple-camera setup on the back consisting of a 200MP main sensor at f/1.7, a 50MP ultrawide at f/1.9, and a 10MP telephoto offering 3x optical zoom and up to 30x Space Zoom. While the main camera matches the Fold 7 spec for spec, the ultrawide brings real improvements in both resolution and light gathering compared to the Fold 7’s 12MP f/2.2 sensor. The telephoto carries over unchanged from last year, but its presence alone sets the Ultra apart, since the standard Fold 8 skips the zoom lens entirely.

Other camera improvements include HDR support on the full 200MP mode and updated Nightography processing for better low-light shots. Video still tops out at 8K@30fps on the rear cameras, 4K@60fps on the cover screen camera, and FHD@60fps on the main screen selfie shooter. A new APV codec and Cine LUT color grading offer greater flexibility for creators.

The selfie cameras have gone untouched this year. Both the cover and main screens keep the same 10MP f/2.2 sensors as before, with the cover screen camera offering an 85-degree FoV and the main screen camera slightly wider at 100 degrees.

Software, AI, and a heavier focus on security

The Fold 8 Ultra runs One UI 9 on top of Android 17, with Samsung leaning heavily on Galaxy AI features tuned for the larger display. Features like Now Brief and Now Nudge are still here, joined by Gemini Intelligence, an agentic layer that can complete multi-step tasks, like looking up tickets or making restaurant reservations, across more than 40 supported apps on the user’s behalf. Gemini Notebook, the new avatar of NotebookLM, also picks up drag-and-drop support in Split View.

Samsung is also giving users more visibility into what its AI is actually doing. A new AI Assistant Activity dashboard centralizes every automation, so there’s no need to dig through separate apps to see what an agent just did. The Fold 8 Ultra also adds Privacy Alerts, which flag unnecessary attempts to access background permissions before they turn into a problem. Both sit alongside Samsung’s existing Knox protections, including Knox Vault and Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection (KEEP), which secure the personal data accessed by on-device AI features.

Price, availability, and launch offers

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is available for pre-order starting today in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options. The base model is priced at $2,099.99, around $100 more than what the Fold 7 cost at launch, while the 512GB model costs $2,299 ($180 increase) and the 1TB variant goes all the way up to $2,699 ($280 increase). Buyers who pre-order the device through Samsung.com can get up to $1,200 in trade-in credit, or up to $200 in Samsung credit without a trade-in.

Samsung is also bundling a six-month trial of Google AI Pro with the purchase, which includes 5TB of cloud storage. General availability begins August 7, with the Fold 8 Ultra going on sale through all major carriers and retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.