'Galaxy Unpacked' Held in New York on July 9
Tablet When Unfolded, Ultra When Folded
"Is this really a foldable phone?"
This was the first thought that came to mind when I first held Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold7 at the 'Galaxy Unpacked 2025' event held in Brooklyn, New York, on July 9 (local time).
The weight of the Galaxy Z Fold7 is 215g. When placed directly on the scale, it weighed less than a snack bag. New York?Photo by Kwon Haeyoung
The difference in weight and thickness of the Z Fold7 compared to its predecessor was immediately noticeable. Thanks to its significantly slimmer and lighter design, it hardly felt any different from a traditional bar-type smartphone. When unfolded, the expansive 8-inch screen opened up impressively. When folded, the familiar grip felt almost identical to holding a Galaxy S25 Ultra.
The Z Fold7 weighs 215g. When placed directly on the scale, it was even lighter than a small bottle of water or a snack bag. Its thickness when folded is just 8.9mm. It is lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra (weight 218g, thickness 8.2mm) and has a similar thickness. The description "slim and lightweight foldable phone" is by no means an exaggeration.
Galaxy Z Fold7 (left) and Galaxy S25 Ultra (right). When folded, the thickness of the Galaxy Z Fold7 is 8.9mm, which does not feel significantly different from the Galaxy S25 Ultra (8.2mm). New York - Photo by Kwon Haeyoung
The strengths of the Z Fold7 go beyond its exterior. As soon as the screen is unfolded, the multimodal Galaxy AI based on One UI 8 fills the display, and the phrase "AI for foldables" feels entirely appropriate given how well-optimized it is.
In particular, the voice-enabled AI chatbot 'Gemini Live' stood out. When questions were asked by voice, the AI responded conversationally, and when objects in the camera view were shared, it provided relevant information in real time. For example, after showing a photo of a bedroom and saying, "Recommend furniture that matches," the AI suggested a variety of interior accessory styles one after another.
After activating the 'Gemini Live' feature and showing a photo of the bedroom while saying, "Recommend furniture that matches," the artificial intelligence (AI) suggested various styles of interior accessories. New York=Photo by Kwon Haeyoung
The editing features have also been greatly improved. The 'Suggest Erase' function, which detects and recommends the removal of unnecessary objects in photos using AI, was impressively accurate, almost as if it could read the user's mind. In video editing, new features have been added to remove unwanted background noise and to highlight the main subject's voice more clearly. It was impressive that expert-level results could be achieved without the need for separate editing applications.
The hardware performance has also been upgraded across the board. The Z Fold7 is equipped with the 'Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy' chipset. CPU performance has improved by 38% compared to the previous model, and GPU performance by 26%. As a result, real-time translation, generative image editing, and even high-end games ran smoothly without any lag.
However, the battery was somewhat disappointing. The Z Fold7 has a battery capacity of 4,400mAh, which is similar to its predecessor. While this may have been a choice to achieve a slimmer and lighter design, it does seem somewhat lacking when compared to the battery capacity of the Oppo Find N5?which claims to be the "world's slimmest phone"?at 5,600mAh. The Find N5 measures 8.93mm thick when folded and 4.21mm when unfolded, which is slightly thicker than the Z Fold7 (8.9mm and 4.2mm, respectively).
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