Galaxy Z foldables return with slimmer, lighter profile

Roh Tae-moon, acting head of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience Division, unveils the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 smartphones during the Galaxy Unpacked July 2025 event at Duggal Greenhouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., Wednesday (local time). Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

NEW YORK — Samsung Electronics unveiled its Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 foldable smartphones during the company’s unpack event in Brooklyn, Wednesday (local time), highlighting the new devices’ slimmer and lighter profile.

With global smartphone manufacturers refocusing on enhancing the physical user experience, Samsung said it has packed its most advanced technologies into its thinnest and lightest foldable phones to date, raising the bar in the form factor competition.

“Galaxy Z Fold 7 combines Galaxy AI (artificial intelligence) with powerful hardware to deliver our most advanced smartphone experience yet,” Roh Tae-moon, acting head of Samsung Electronics' Device Experience Division, said during the Galaxy Unpacked July 2025 event at Duggal Greenhouse.

“This next chapter of foldables brings together design and engineering, with AI built specifically for the foldable form. It gives people the ultra-experience they want —powerful, immersive, intelligent and portable all in one.”

Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Z Fold 7 / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics

The Fold 7 is the thinnest and lightest Samsung folding phone yet, measuring 8.9 millimeters thick when folded and 4.2 millimeters thick when unfolded. Weighing just 215 grams, it is 24 grams lighter than the previous Fold 6 and even lighter than Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The device comes with a 6.5-inch cover display and an 8-inch main display, offering more expansive experiences in various use cases. When folded, it provides a 21:9 aspect ratio to enable typing and browsing experiences similar to bar-type smartphones.

When unfolded, its screen is 11 percent wider than its predecessor, creating a more spacious workspace for multitasking and a more immersive display.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 / Korea Times photo by Nam Hyun-woo

To achieve a slimmer and lighter profile, Samsung carried out a major structural redesign, including on the hinge, battery and other core components.

For the hinge, the company used the Armor FlexHinge, which involves a water droplet design and multi-rail structure to reduce creasing. It also used Advanced Armor Aluminum in the frame and hinge housing to increase strength and hardness by 10 percent.

To enable performance on par with Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S25 series, the Fold 7 uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite processor for Galaxy. The company noted that the application processor (AP) delivers performance boosts of 41 percent in neural processing, 38 percent in the CPU and 26 percent in graphics processing compared to the previous generation.

Multitasking demonstration of the Galaxy Fold 7 / Korea Times photo by Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung has powered the Fold 7 with its One UI 8 and Google’s Android 16 and Gemini, which understands context and responses more naturally, helping users avoid jumping between apps and screens to use AI functions.

With the new One UI 8, Galaxy Z Fold 7’s flexible format and expansive screen offer a more intuitive and immersive way to interact with AI.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 / Korea Times photo by Nam Hyun-woo

The clamshell Flip 7 also achieved a slimmer profile, measuring 13.7 millimeters when folded and 6.5 millimeters when unfolded.

Its cover screen boasts the slimmest bezel among all Galaxy smartphones at 1.25 millimeters, which enables a 4.1-inch display on the outside. Its main display also increased to 6.9 inches, close to that of Galaxy S25+.

Along with the Fold 7, the Flip 7 also uses Armor FlexHinge and an Armor Aluminum Frame to add extra toughness.

The Flip 7 comes with the series’ first 4,300 milliampere-hour battery to deliver up to 31 hours of video play time on a single charge. It is powered by Samsung’s latest Exynos 2500 AP.

“Galaxy Z Flip 7 is proof that big intelligence can come in a small, pocket-sized form factor,” Roh said. “By bringing rich multimodal AI capabilities and seamless functionality, we’ve created a device that adapts, anticipates and empowers users, unlocking a smarter, more intuitive way to engage with the world.”

A comparison between Galaxy Z Fold 7, right, and Galaxy S25 / Korea Times photo by Nam Hyun-woo

Samsung will begin rolling out the Fold 7 and the Flip 7 globally on July 25.

The Fold 7 saw a price increase across all storage options, with the 256 gigabyte model rising from 2,229,700 won ($1,623) to 2,379,300 won, and the 512 gigabyte model from 2,388,100 won to 2,537,700 won. Meanwhile, the Flip 7 retained the same pricing as its predecessor at 1,485,000 won for the 256 gigabyte version and 1,643,400 won for the 512 gigabyte version.

The Fold 7 and Flip 7 signify a new generation for Samsung’s foldable smartphones, as facilitating a slimmer and lighter profile while maintaining performance on par with its other flagship products posed special technical challenges.

While Samsung is maintaining its leadership as the world’s largest foldable smartphone maker, the global foldable smartphone market is nearing its saturation point with Apple expected to debut its foldables as early as next year.