During this year's Galaxy Unpacked 2025, I have had a preliminary experienceGalaxy Z Fold7 specific featuresThis short experience focuses on the most critical changes of Galaxy Z Fold7 - the design changes brought about by the significant reduction of the body, and the trade-offs and considerations behind the battery specifications.
Big design change, no more squeezing toothpaste
Compared to the first Galaxy Fold in 2019, which was 17.1mm thick and weighed 276 grams when folded, the Galaxy Z Fold7 has compressed its folded thickness to 8.9mm and its unfolded thickness to only 4.2mm. Its weight has been reduced to 215 grams, which is almost the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, making it one of the lightest and thinnest large-size foldable screen phones on the market.
Samsung has not made it clear whether this significant reduction in thickness and weight is related to the Galaxy Z Fold6 Special Edition that was only launched in South Korea last year, or the adoption of the Galaxy S25 edge's new modular camera and battery design. However, it is certain that both the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Galaxy Z Fold6 Special Edition have cancelled S Pen support, which is the key reason for the reduction in thickness.
The S Pen trade-offs you have to make
Looking back,Galaxy z fold3It is Samsung's first foldable screen phone that supports the S Pen. It uses the same Wacom technology as the Galaxy Note series and requires an additional digital converter, thus increasing the thickness of the display panel.
Therefore, in order to further reduce the thickness of the body, Samsung removed the S Pen function in the Galaxy Z Fold6 Special Edition, significantly reducing its thickness and weight. The Galaxy Z Fold7 continues this design choice, which improves the slimness and portability of the body, but also attracts doubts from some users.
After all, the S Pen once became a symbolic feature of the Galaxy Z Fold series. Even if its actual usage rate is not high, it still has brand identification and professional symbolic significance.
However, in the face of the launch of Chinese brands such as vivo and HonorA thinner, lighter, large-screen foldable phone, canceling the S Pen has almost become a choice that Samsung has to make.
For example, the thinnest vivo X Fold5 is only 4.3mm, which is equivalent to a thickness of 9.2mm, and weighs 217 grams. The Honor Magic V5 is further reduced to 4.1mm / 8.8mm, and weighs 217 grams. The former is even equipped with IPX8, IPX9, IPX9+ waterproof, and IP5X dustproof, and can be folded underwater. The latter also uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor in a thin body and supports IP58/IP59 dustproof and waterproof. These specifications obviously put pressure on Samsung, so it must give up the S Pen function in exchange for a thinner body.
It is worth mentioning that Samsung has been reported to cooperate with Korean touch chip manufacturer HiDeep to develop a new stylus technology as early as the end of 2024. It does not require built-in digital converters and batteries, and is expected to support thinner devices. However, this technology has not yet been applied to the Galaxy Z Fold7 launched this time. Perhaps this technology is still in the development stage, or it will be given priority to Chinese brand manufacturers in terms of market strategy.
The battery design is relatively "upgraded" and relatively conservative compared to competitors
Although the Galaxy Z Fold7 maintains a 4400mAh battery capacity, being able to fit the same capacity in a thinner body is a technological advancement to some extent. The reason is that Samsung has adopted a new battery module design, which allows the internal space of the Galaxy Z Fold7 to be used more effectively.
However, compared with its competitors, the battery design and charging specifications of Galaxy Z Fold7 are still conservative. The vivo X Fold5 is equipped with a 4.3mAh battery in a 6600mm thickness, and the Honor Magic V5 uses a battery design with a starting capacity of 4.1mAh and a maximum capacity of 5820mAh in a 6100mm thickness. Both phones are equipped with higher-power wired fast charging and wireless fast charging designs, while the Galaxy Z Fold7 still maintains a 25W charging speed, and its specifications are obviously backward.
One of the reasons may be that after the Galaxy Note 7 battery accident, Samsung has adopted a very conservative strategy for battery design. Even the Galaxy S25 series flagship phones launched this year only support a maximum charging power of 25W, and even the Galaxy S25 Ultra with a large screen design only supports a maximum of 45W. While many Chinese brands have begun to adopt new technologies such as silicon-carbon negative electrode batteries to increase battery energy density, Samsung has not adopted such designs at present, perhaps still concerned about safety and brand trust. After all, under the influence of previous accidents, it is difficult for Samsung to withstand another impact.
In addition, in order to retain the integrated lens design, the Galaxy Z Fold7 did not move the camera module significantly outside the body like its competitors, which resulted in limited internal space and to some extent compressed the available battery space.
Camera upgrade, but only with a wide-angle lens as the main lens
In terms of camera, the biggest upgrade of Galaxy Z Fold7 is the introduction of the same 2-megapixel wide-angle lens as the Galaxy S series flagship phones. It supports pixel merging output, ProVisual Engine technology and 10-bit HDR shooting, which significantly improves night shooting and image quality performance, and can even record more image details in well-lit conditions with the native 2-megapixel specification.
However, other lenses have not been significantly upgraded. The ultra-wide-angle lens still maintains the 1200-megapixel specification, and the telephoto lens is 1000 megapixels, supporting up to 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom. The under-screen lens has been changed to a hole-punch design, unifying the video lens selfie experience of the inner and outer screens.
Compared with previous models, the camera performance of Galaxy Z Fold7 has been greatly improved and can meet the needs of most scenarios. However, if it claims to have "Ultra" performance, it is obviously still far behind the Galaxy S series flagship phones. For users with higher photography requirements, it is recommended to purchase the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Actual shooting:
Video:
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Differences between different lenses:
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Performance and AI experience
Galaxy Z Fold7 uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, combined with an upgraded cooling system to improve performance and AI computing performance. It also uses an enlarged graphene thermal conductive plate to improve heat dissipation efficiency, thereby maintaining stable output of the body performance.
In terms of AI applications, Samsung continues to deeply integrate with Google Gemini technology, and also introduces its own Galaxy AI functions to provide intelligent functions such as semantic search, instant translation, schedule management, and outfit suggestions. In addition, it can also use AI to retouch images, add interesting content, or remove unnecessary background noise in videos.
Samsung currently stated that the AI functions currently developed in cooperation with Google will remain free of charge until 2025, but it is not yet clear whether they will become charged in the future or whether there will be additional practices.
Performance test:
Summary and market observation: Upgrades are noticeable, but the pace is too slow
Judging from the design adjustments of Galaxy Z Fold7, Samsung has finally stopped just "squeezing toothpaste-style upgrades", but has made drastic readjustments from the inside out, starting with thinning the body, upgrading the camera, improving performance, and integrating more practical AI functions. Therefore, we can indeed see a lot of upgrades in Galaxy Z Fold7.
However, the cancellation of the S Pen function, the unchanged battery capacity, and the significantly slower charging speed may make many loyal users wait and see, especially under the premise that the vivo X Fold5 is almost simultaneously launched in Taiwan and has a more competitive price. Samsung may face the impact of more potential user groups turning to competing products.
On the other hand, in terms of the market layout of small-screen foldable phones, Samsung's failure to simultaneously introduce the more affordable Galaxy Z Flip7 SE in Taiwan may also allow Chinese brands that have already launched a number of small-screen foldable phones in the Taiwanese market and have more competitive prices to gain the upper hand. Therefore, whether Samsung will consider introducing the Galaxy Z Flip7 SE in the Taiwanese market next may become the focus of attention in the future.
Overall, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is indeed a one-step upgrade, but if Samsung wants to truly regain its dominance in the foldable phone market, it may need more groundbreaking design innovations, or even launch a new type of foldable phone, to lead the market again.
