Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event wrapped up today in London, and the headline news is the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra — the first foldable in Samsung’s lineup to carry the “Ultra” name. It arrives alongside a redesigned standard Galaxy Z Fold8, the Galaxy Z Flip8, new Galaxy Watch9 and Watch Ultra2 smartwatches, and Samsung’s first real pair of smart glasses. Nearly every device in the lineup costs more than its 2025 predecessor.
“As AI becomes more agentic, mobile devices will become the most personal entry point to experiences that understand and adapt to each user,” said TM Roh, CEO, President and Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics, in the company’s official announcement. “By setting a new standard for foldables, we are once again advancing the premium mobile experience and opening the next era of intelligence to more people.”
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra: the first Ultra-branded foldable
The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra effectively takes over as the direct successor to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold7, now wearing the Ultra badge Samsung has long reserved for its top Galaxy S phones. It’s the thinnest Fold Samsung has made, built around the company’s new Flex Titanium display structure — a titanium-alloy film paired with a titanium plate that’s meant to make the hinge thinner while keeping the crease less visible over time.
The camera system is the real upgrade: a 200MP main sensor (f/1.7, full-resolution HDR), a 50MP ultrawide, and a genuine 10MP telephoto with 3x optical-quality zoom — Samsung’s first dedicated zoom lens on a Fold-series phone. It’s also the first Galaxy foldable with a silicon-carbon battery, rated at 5,000mAh (4,854mAh under Samsung’s own IEC 61960 testing standard), with 45W wired and 20W wireless charging. It runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 “for Galaxy,” with 12GB RAM on the 256GB and 512GB models and 16GB RAM on the 1TB version. It ships with Android 17 and One UI 9 out of the box.
It comes in Graphite, Cream, and an exclusive Violet Shadow, with Green Shadow reserved for Samsung.com.
Galaxy Z Fold8: a wider, lighter redesign
The standard Galaxy Z Fold8 isn’t just a cheaper Ultra — it’s a genuinely different shape, built around display ratios Samsung says are designed for how people actually use a foldable day to day. Closed, its 5.5-inch cover screen has a 10:16 ratio built for quick checks like messaging and short video. Opened, the 7.6-inch main display switches to a 4:3 ratio meant to feel more natural for games, video, and long-form reading. Both panels run at 120Hz with up to 3,000 nits of brightness, and both get the same Flex Titanium treatment as the Ultra.
At 201g, Samsung calls it the lightest Galaxy Z Fold it has ever made, powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip with a 4,800mAh battery (45W wired, 20W wireless). The camera system is simpler than the Ultra’s: 50MP wide and 50MP ultrawide rear cameras, with no telephoto, plus 10MP selfie cameras on both the cover and main screens. One thing that hasn’t changed: like every recent Fold, it still doesn’t support Samsung’s S Pen, which will disappoint anyone hoping for a proper stylus on a device this size.
Colors are Graphite, Cream, and Lavender, with an online-exclusive Pistachio option. Storage runs 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB with 12GB or 16GB of RAM, though Samsung hasn’t published exact pricing for the higher-storage tiers beyond the base configuration.
Galaxy Z Flip8: pricier, but not obviously better
The Galaxy Z Flip8 is $100 more expensive than the Z Flip7 at every storage tier, and it’s worth being upfront about what that extra money actually buys. The 4,300mAh battery is unchanged from last year. The IP48 rating — already behind some rival foldables’ IP58-and-up dust resistance — is unchanged too. And the glass back panel has been swapped for a plastic-glass composite Samsung calls “glasstic,” which is a cost-down move dressed up as a materials choice. At 180g and 6.1mm thick, it is Samsung’s slimmest and lightest Flip yet, and it does get a silicon-carbon battery that presumably helped make that possible, but the headline spec sheet is otherwise a lateral move at a higher price.
It’s also the first Galaxy foldable with a region-split chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 “for Galaxy” in North America, and Exynos 2600 elsewhere, including the UK and South Africa. The rest of the spec sheet carries over largely unchanged from the Z Flip7 and Z Flip6: a 6.9-inch FHD+ main display, a 4.1-inch cover screen, 50MP wide and 12MP ultrawide rear cameras with no telephoto, and 25W wired/15W wireless charging — slower than either Fold8 model. No charger is included in the box. On the plus side, the cover screen now runs an AI-native FlexWindow experience that’s meant to keep more information and shortcuts available without opening the phone.
Colors are Cream, Graphite, and Pink, with an online-exclusive Mint.
Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2
Both new watches move to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip. The Galaxy Watch9 starts at $379 for the 40mm Bluetooth model, with LTE priced at $429; a 44mm case is also available. Battery capacity is up 20% over last year (390mAh on the 40mm, 445mAh on the 44mm), and Samsung has refined its Sleep Apnea detection with an AI algorithm that now sorts breathing disruptions into three severity levels, building on the sleep-apnea feature that earned Samsung the first FDA De Novo authorization back in 2024. A new Heart Health Score rolls activity, sleep, body composition, and stress trends into a single number. Raise your wrist, and you can talk to Gemini directly with no wake word needed. Colors are Graphite, Silver, and Cream.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 costs $699 and comes in a single 47mm case, in Titanium Silver or Titanium Gray. Its 800mAh battery is 35% larger than the previous generation’s, yet the watch is 12% thinner, and its display now hits 5,000 nits at peak — Samsung’s claimed first for any smartwatch. New Trail Run tracking adds elevation, climb progress, and ascent/descent data for hikers, while a partnership with dive-gear maker Mares brings real-time ascent/descent rates and safety decompression timing to its existing dive-tracking tools, which are EN13319-certified and rated 10ATM/IP69K. A new hydration feature estimates fluid loss from sweat and recommends how much to drink.
Both watches ship with One UI 9 and are up for pre-order today, alongside the rest of the lineup. Notably, that One UI 9 stable release is landing on these new devices first — as Android Authority reported, existing Galaxy S26 owners will have to wait for the update to reach their phones separately, with no confirmed date yet, even though it’s shipping out of the box on the new foldables today.
Samsung’s smart glasses, built with Google
Samsung also gave the clearest look yet at its “Intelligent Eyewear,” built on Google’s Android XR platform with Gemini baked in. Two designs were shown: a slim black frame from Gentle Monster and a brown tortoise-shell style from Warby Parker. Neither has a display — this first generation relies entirely on a built-in camera, speakers, and microphones, so don’t expect anything projected into your field of view.
Samsung says the glasses can summarize messages and read them aloud, translate conversations live, capture a whiteboard or meeting notes on request, give turn-by-turn guidance based on your location, and let you share your point of view hands-free during a call, all controlled with voice or simple gestures. Battery life is rated at up to 9 hours, with the charging case good for 7 additional full charges.
“As agentic AI reshapes mobile experiences, the next step is to make those experiences more intuitive and responsive to each user’s context,” said Won-Joon Choi, Chief Operating Officer of the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. “Intelligent eyewear creates a new point of interaction, bringing more personalized AI assistance naturally into the moments that make up everyday life.”
“Google and Samsung have a shared vision to bring helpful and context-aware intelligence into everyday life,” added Sameer Samat, President of Android Ecosystem at Google. “Built on the Android XR platform, the intelligent eyewear blends world-class designs with Gemini’s advanced assistance that naturally responds to what you see, delivering all-day, hands-free help. We’re excited to continue this momentum and bring this experience to people soon.”
Samsung hasn’t confirmed pricing, and this wasn’t a launch so much as a preview — the company says the glasses are coming “this fall” in select markets, so there’s nothing to buy yet. Unconfirmed supply-chain estimates have floated a $379–499 range for what would presumably be an audio-only model, but treat that as a rumor until Samsung says otherwise.
Gemini everywhere, and a free AI Pro trial worth reading the fine print on
Gemini Intelligence is built into all three new foldables, and Samsung is preinstalling Gemini Notebook (the rebranded NotebookLM) on the Fold8 and Fold8 Ultra, with drag-and-drop support designed around the bigger foldable screens. Gemini’s task-automation abilities now reach more than 40 apps, and Samsung has also improved its iOS-to-Android migration tool: switchers can scan a QR code on their old iPhone and transfer data wirelessly without installing a separate app.
Every new foldable also comes with a 6-month free trial of Google AI Pro, which Samsung says includes 5TB of cloud storage, describing the bundle as “equivalent to $19.99 USD per month.” Worth remembering: that’s a trial, not a permanent perk. Once the six months are up, keeping that storage and those AI features means paying for the subscription yourself.
Pricing and availability
- Galaxy Z Fold8: from $1,899.99 (256GB/12GB); higher 512GB and 1TB tiers cost more, exact pricing not published by Samsung
- Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra: $2,099 (256GB/12GB), $2,299 (512GB/12GB), $2,699 (1TB/16GB); €2,199/€2,399/€2,799 in Europe
- Galaxy Z Flip8: $1,199.99 (256GB/12GB), $1,399.99 (512GB/12GB)
- Galaxy Watch9: from $379 (40mm Bluetooth), $429 (40mm LTE)
- Galaxy Watch Ultra2: $699 (47mm)
- Intelligent Eyewear: pricing not disclosed; arriving this fall
Pre-orders for the Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra, Z Flip8, Watch9, and Watch Ultra2 are open today, with general availability starting August 7, 2026. The Fold8 lineup’s overall price increases follow a pattern androidpure has tracked all month — Samsung’s own mobile division posted its first-ever quarterly operating loss this year as memory-chip costs spiked, and Samsung has already raised prices elsewhere in its lineup to cope. The Fold8 Ultra’s camera specs first surfaced in a leaked render androidpure covered back in July, and the Watch9’s Snapdragon Wear Elite chip was leaked weeks before today’s official confirmation — both are now confirmed exactly as reported.
