As part of Samsung’s recent product announcements at Galaxy Unpacked in July 2026, Samsung revealed the Galaxy Z Flip 8 foldable phone. It is the lightest (6.35 ounces) and thinnest (0.24 inches) Galaxy Z Flip phone model created by Samsung. Samsung began accepting pre-orders for the phone immediately after the announcement at its starting MSRP of $1,199.99, with the device available on August 7. Ahead of the official release date, several reviewers and others had already had the chance to hold and test the Z Flip 8, and they have opinions.
If you’re potentially looking to upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, released in July 2025, or an even older phone and want to buy the Flip 8 right away, there are a few things you need to understand before you make the purchase. Some reviewer reviews highlight negative aspects of the Galaxy Z Flip 8’s design, including the fact that it’s only a minor upgrade over its predecessor Flip 7. As a positive change, Samsung has improved the new phone’s cover screen, but it may still lag behind other foldable phone brands. It seems that the manufacturer has also chosen not to upgrade the cameras of the new device. Samsung made the Flip 8 thinner and lighter while upgrading the chipset, allowing for faster performance. Ultimately, some reviewers don’t think the Galaxy Z Flip 8’s design is impressive enough to silence rumors that Samsung might be considering discontinuing this model.
The Flip 8 is not a significant upgrade over the Flip 7 phone
While some reviewers thought the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 hit the sweet spot last year, many reviews of the Flip 8 phone are less enthusiastic. The Flip 8 doesn’t offer any significant upgrades over what its predecessor offered, aside from a slightly smaller design and a new chipset. One reviewer said he wasn’t sure if he was holding a Galaxy Z Flip 7 or 8 when initially testing the new model. Another reviewer called the new model “boring.” Even with only minor upgrades, the starting price of Samsung’s new model is $100 higher than the initial offering price of last year’s Flip 7.
As a positive upgrade, it looks like Samsung may be trying to make the Galaxy Z Flip 8 phone more pocket-friendly with some of its changes, including the slimmer design and improved beveled edges. New colors are also available. The predecessor was available in Coral Red, Jet Black, Umber Blue and Mint, while the new model offers Pink, Graphite, Cream and Mint.
Cover display is improved, but some reviewers say it still lags behind the Razr
When your Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 phone is folded and locked, you can use the cover screen to check messages and notifications without having to open the phone completely. The Cover Screen is a more useful feature with the new model due to the upgrades Samsung has made.
You can customize the Flip 8’s cover screen, making sure it displays the things that are important to you. You can now add your favorite apps to the cover screen, allowing you to access them faster than unlocking and opening the foldable phone. You’ll also now see a button on the cover screen that navigates to the apps you’ve used most recently, which can save you time compared to unfolding the phone.
The cover screen continues to measure 4.1 inches, just like with the Galaxy Z Flip 7, which will disappoint some people. Additionally, one reviewer said that the Flip 8’s cover screen upgrades are still well behind what’s found with the Motorola Razr’s design.
The Flip 8 appears to use the same cameras as its predecessor
As many early reviewers have noted, it appears Samsung has chosen not to upgrade the camera hardware with the Galaxy Z Flip 8 over what was available with its predecessor. It still has two rear cameras with the same basic specifications: a wide-angle shooter offering 50 MP resolution and optical image stabilization (OIS), and another with 12 MP resolution with ultra-wide capabilities. The front camera (for selfies) has a resolution of 10 MP.
The Flip 8 offers some improvements to the camera software. One upgrade is called MyFan, which lets you select a person for the camera software to follow while you shoot video. Another key upgrade is the ProVisual engine that has been added to the 50 MP main camera. It improves the quality of images produced by the camera by ensuring realistic skin tones and enhanced details in portraits and selfies. When using the front display screen, the Flip 8 includes an enhanced mirror mode. When you need to see your face in more detail before recording a video or photo, mirror mode helps you.
Samsung upgraded the chipset to improve the performance of the Flip 8
Perhaps the biggest upgrade found with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 phone over the Flip 7 is in its chipset. With the Flip 7, Samsung chose to use its own Exynos 2500 chipset. With the Flip 8, however, Samsung chose to upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
Early reports indicated that the Flip 8 would use the cheaper Exynos 2600 chipset. However, Samsung ultimately chose to provide the more powerful Snapdragon chipset, which is also used in the Galaxy Z Fold 8 phone, which is also a new product available for pre-order.
With its more powerful processor, the Snapdragon chipset should help users handle multitasking or processor-intensive tasks like video editing. Exynos chipsets reportedly generate more heat than other manufacturers’ options, meaning Samsung may have chosen to switch due to the Flip 8’s extremely thin design. A thin design makes heat dissipation more difficult. Poor heat dissipation can lead to reduced phone longevity and compromised performance.
Disappointing Z Flip upgrade could signal Samsung is losing interest in the model
Whether the Galaxy Z Flip 8 will represent the best Samsung phone for how you want to use it will come down to personal preference. However, before you fall in love with the Flip phone’s small, foldable design, know that the Flip 8 might be the last with this specific design. Some critics believe that if Samsung planned to continue making Flip models in the future, it would have invested more in upgrades with this release and attempted to distinguish the line – something similar to what the company did with the Z Flip’s bigger sibling this year when it added the new Z Fold Ultra variant.
In the future, it’s possible that Samsung may choose to focus its foldable phone design attention on the larger, more expensive Galaxy Z Fold models. One reviewer said the combined announcement of the two new Fold models and the Flip 8 made it seem like Samsung wanted to draw attention to the Fold models. Samsung might also want to focus on the Fold’s design in the future to give it a better chance of competing with Apple’s expected upcoming entry into the foldable phone arena. Of course, this is all entirely speculative at this point, but it’s something you might want to know before jumping into the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
