Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 brings real upgrades, but you’ll pay for them

WEB DESK: Samsung has just unveiled the seventh generation of its folding smartphones, and this time, it has gone for real change rather than minor tweaks. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 mark a significant design shift after years of safe iterations, bringing slimmer profiles, bigger screens, and smarter features, but not without some trade-offs. 

Samsung has retired the long, narrow outer screen design that had defined the Z Fold series for years. The Fold 7 now opens up like a proper book and closes to a shape that actually feels like a regular phone in your hand. At 8.9mm thick when folded, it’s much slimmer and lighter than the Fold 6, and it shows. The moment you pick it up, it feels like a whole new device rather than a modest upgrade.  

The outer display now stretches 6.5 inches across with a 2520 x 1080 resolution, a clear improvement from the previous 6.3-inch cover. Inside, you get an 8-inch main display, and Samsung has finally abandoned the under-display camera in favour of a standard 10MP hole-punch selfie shooter. It’s a small but welcome return to simplicity.  

But slimming down came at a cost. To make the Fold 7 thinner, Samsung removed the special screen layer needed for S Pen support. That means no stylus compatibility this time, a disappointing loss for those who loved scribbling on the large inner screen. Still, Samsung seems to believe that most users would rather have a sleeker phone than stylus features they rarely use.  

Like its predecessor, the Fold 7 carries an IP48 rating for dust and water resistance. 

Finally, a full-size cover screen 

Samsung also upgraded its clamshell-style foldable. The Z Flip 7 now features a proper edge-to-edge cover screen, ditching the awkward file folder shape that limited earlier versions. This is more in line with what Motorola did with the modern Razr, and it’s a welcome move. 

The larger front display can now show more widgets, offer better navigation, and let users interact with apps more freely. Sure, the camera cutouts eat into the usable space a bit, but it’s still a massive improvement over the previous design.  

The Flip 7 is marginally slimmer than its predecessor and includes a few notable upgrades: a bigger 4,300mAh battery, DeX support for desktop-style productivity, and Google’s Gemini Assistant on the cover screen. These are features that should have been here already, but at least they’ve finally arrived. It still retains the IP48 rating for durability. 

Foldable for less? Meet Flip 7 FE 

Samsung also introduced the Z Flip 7 FE, a more budget-friendly option priced at $899. It’s cheaper than the $1,099 Flip 7, but not exactly a bargain when Motorola has similar foldables starting from $699. While the Flip 7 FE doesn’t feel like a low-end device, it’s unlikely to make a strong impression given the competition.  

Pricing and availability

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn’t come cheap. The base 12GB/256GB model is priced at $2,000 internationally. Want more storage? Expect to pay $2,120 for 512GB and $2,420 for the 1TB variant.  

In Pakistan, the Z Fold 7 is expected to be significantly more expensive, possibly starting from Rs600,000. That’s even higher than last year’s Z Fold 6, which crossed the Rs500,000 mark. 

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