Samsung Mobile held its second Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event of this year in Brooklyn, New York, on July 19^th. As expected, the extravaganza event saw the announcement of its latest foldables and watches. I was among the select analysts invited to attend the event in person.

The star of the show was Galaxy ZFold 7, the ultra-thin, ultra-light folding phone/tablet hybrid. As evident, it is the 7^th generation and has the most significant leap in improvements across the board—size, weight, camera, construction, and more. Along with that, Samsung also announced the Galaxy ZFlip 7, Galaxy ZFlip 7 FE, and Galaxy Watch 8 series. All devices are now ready for pre-order and will start shipping from July 25th, 2025.

You can find detailed specifications of each of the devices here:  Galaxy ZFold 7, Galaxy ZFlip 7, Galaxy ZFlip 7 FE, Galaxy Watch 8 Series.

The launch event was preceded by an in-depth NDA analyst briefing with Samsung product managers and executives, and a hands-on experience session was held after the event, open to all attendees. During the hands-on session, numerous devices were available for exploration, and experts were on hand to answer any questions. I received one of the Z Fold 7 review units and am currently testing it. Be on the lookout for my review here.

Tantra’s take:

Galaxy ZFold 7:

Samsung foldables have come of age. After pioneering the concept, Samsung has brought continuous improvements and enhancements in terms of performance, reliability, and features to foldables. The latest Galaxy Z Fold 7 is their best yet, representing a significant leap in evolution, especially in terms of thinness, weight, and camera quality.

This phone has addressed most of the pain points of a foldable smartphone/tablet hybrid, including bulkiness, heaviness, fragility, difficulty in typing when folded, inferior camera, and others. Its ultra-thinness and ultra-light weight make it look and feel like a regular smartphone. Samsung has rightly dubbed this device the “unfolded Galaxy S25 Ultra,” the company’s latest flagship smartphone.  And that is true in many respects:

• Similar thickness when folded (0.35 in vs. 0.32 in)

• Lighter weight (7.58 oz vs. 7.69 oz)

• Comparable outer display (6.7 vs. 6.9 in)

• Similar camera (200MP sensor)

• Same performance (Qualcomm Snapdragon8Elite SoC)

Now, choosing foldable is no longer a tradeoff. It represents the best of both – a smartphone and a tablet – and is the ultimate productivity device.

The biggest remaining pain point is the price. All the attractive deals and trade-ins that Cellular Service Providers (CSPs) and Samsung are offering should ease the pain a little bit, but a $1,899 retail price is still a steep hill to climb for consumers.

However, for the enterprise market, the price hurdle can be effectively addressed through corporate volume discounts, bundling, and long-term service commitments. Here, a close relationship with CSPs and Samsung would be very crucial. Some might ask, “How is this different from previous Folds?”. Well, everybody likes a larger display. However, until now, many enterprise users have not been willing to make the trade-off of a foldable. But ZFold 7 changes all that.

My advice to Samsung is to seize the opportunity, position this as the ultimate productivity device, and sell it hard to enterprises, directly and through CSPs. They should target specific personas within enterprises, showcase use cases, and conduct case studies to highlight the tangible productivity gains that can be achieved. Some of the early target personas could be executives on the move who need instant access to dashboards, records, documents, and other data. For example, senior executives, sales executives, shop floor, retail floor managers, and others. They should also collaborate with the app developer community to not only optimize existing apps but also develop new ones for dual/foldable displays, much like how Apple has iPad-optimized apps.

Wide adoption in enterprises is crucial for the ZFold product line to become mainstream; otherwise, it will continue to be a niche, premium device.  

Galaxy ZFlip 7 and Galaxy Watch 8:

The biggest attraction of the ZFlip7 compared to its predecessor is the large outer display with almost zero bezel, as well as its integration with Galaxy AI. The key to making foldable devices attractive is to allow most activities to be performed on this display, thereby minimizing the need to unfold the phone. This not only enhances user experience and stickiness, but more importantly, significantly improves battery life.  Galaxy AI’s ability to run from the outer display and many other features achieves precisely that.

The biggest surprise in ZFlip 7 is the choice of SoC. Bucking the trend, Samsung is using its own Exynos 2500 in all the regions. This marks the first time in many years that an Exynos-powered premium smartphone has entered the US market. It will be interesting to see how customers react to the performance and the absence of a traditional Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC.

If played well, foldable phones have the potential to replace today’s flagship phones, but OEMs must ensure that users don’t have to compromise on reliability, display quality, camera, and other features, as well as price. This would be similar to how large display “phablets” started as a niche but quickly became mainstream smartphones.

Galaxy Watch 8 series introduces some interesting new features and enhancements, but most are incremental. The most notable feature is the return of the beloved rotating bezel on the Classic version. The new Vascular Load and Antioxidant Index measurements further increase the healthcare appeal of the watch. The watch body is now thinner and lighter.

Galaxy ZFlip7 FE:

This is the first Fan Edition (FE) of any foldable that Samsung has ever launched. FEs are cost-optimized versions of S-series devices. I think the launch of the Galaxy ZFlip 7 FE is significant for several reasons.  The straightforward reason is that foldables have been around for years now and have become so robust; expanding them into multiple tiers makes sense. The interesting reason, however, is competitive pressure. Motorola Mobility, which is seeing a resurgence after being bought by Lenovo. It has introduced truly inspiring foldables under its Razr brand. Although Motorola primarily serves the prepaid market in the US, where Samsung is less prominent, these Razr phones, especially the Razr Ultra, could pose a challenge to Samsung in international markets.

Samsung is taking a smart approach by anticipating this challenge and releasing a cost-optimized model early to address the market. Samsung is achieving the lower cost by using last year’s design and last year’s SoC—its own Exynos 2400. Interestingly, ZFlip 7 FE’s direct competitor, the Razr Ultra, utilizes top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC. It is worthwhile keeping an eye on this competition.

In summary, this Galaxy Unpacked event marked a major milestone in Samsung’s foldable journey. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to all the new devices announced.