The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is my first foldable phone, and it totally caught me off guard

I’ve handled every foldable phone Samsung has ever launched. I have admired their engineering. I have watched with jealousy as people at airport lounges and hotel lobbies dramatically unfold their devices like they were unfolding a future I have purposely denied myself. But despite my curiosity and awe, I’ve stayed far, far away from foldables, especially book-style devices. Samsung’s flip phones still felt closer to home for someone like me who’s used only slab phones all their life, but larger foldables are where I inevitably drew the line for many reasons.

Early foldable models from Samsung had their fair share of red flags, be it peeling screen protectors, fragile hinges, a deep and distracting crease, and apps that behaved like they forgot what display size they were on. The phones also felt bulky and awkward, with their outer screens too cramped to be useful. But something changed with last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6. It was slimmer, lighter, and finally looked like it belonged in a regular person’s hand. Still, it wasn’t enough to make me want to cough up the kind of money that could buy a midrange phone and a holiday. Enter the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The new Fold 7 is the first book-style foldable I’ve used as my daily driver and primary phone. Like most of you, I’ve been firmly in the slab phone camp for years and am currently rotating between the Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 9a, and iPhone 16 Pro. And while I don’t mind splurging on a flagship that truly impresses me, a phone as expensive as a Samsung Fold has to seriously deliver to justify the price. So when Samsung handed me a Fold 7 to try out, I assumed I’d enjoy the novelty for a few days and then smoothly return to my trusty candy bars. But what happened next caught me completely off guard.

After using the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for over a week now, I’ve had to unlearn over a decade’s worth of slab-phone instincts. Nobody tells you just how much of a shift it is. For one, I initially found myself clinging to the familiar. I was defaulting more often to the outer screen and resisting the full experience. But within a day or so, the Fold 7 made it easier to let go of old habits.

The phone is incredibly skinny. At just 215 grams, it’s lighter than the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the Galaxy S25 Ultra. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it, but I gladly wrapped both hands around it. Speaking of which, if you’re thinking of getting Samsung’s latest foldable phone and are new to the experience like me, get ready to have your hands occupied more often than not. Sure, One UI offers enough tricks to manage one-handed use, like seamless screen transitions, the new Now Bar, and a dead-simple one-handed mode, but you’ll still end up needing your other hand if you want to properly enjoy that beautiful 8-inch AMOLED display. It’s addictive in the best way. Just like reading a book, you’ll default to both hands most of the time, but you won’t mind it.

While we’re on the topic of the displays, the crease took me by surprise. Not because I hated it, like I was expecting to, but because I hardly felt bothered by it. Yes, the crease running down the middle of the main screen is still there. It’s more noticeable on darker backgrounds than lighter ones, but honestly, it didn’t take away from my experience of navigating the UI, watching videos, reading, or generally doing anything on the big screen. You really only feel it when you swipe your finger across the inner screen and notice the dip. I got used to it surprisingly quickly and didn’t feel like it was a huge distraction. Samsung has also made the inner Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) 50% thicker this time, which makes the screen feel sturdier and adds a more premium touch compared to the earlier models I’ve tried.

If you’re used to bracing a slab phone with one hand, get ready to adjust. With the thin devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 7, there’s not much frame to hold onto when unfolded, and your fingers inevitably land somewhere on the screen. It takes a while to retrain your grip. I’ve even considered buying one of those ring holders to get a good one-handed grip on the device in its unfolded state. I guess this is where a case would make all the difference, but that’s another thing I’m struggling with at the moment.

When it comes to slapping a case on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, I’ve gone rogue. The phone feels so good in hand that covering it up with plastic just feels like a crime against its design. I know this decision could come back to bite me in the future, but for now, I’m staying case-free. That said, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 definitely feels more delicate than my usual slab phones. The barrage of warnings that popped up during the setup didn’t exactly calm my nerves.

It’s so slim and lightweight, it practically screams “handle with care.” But then I remind myself, it’s not totally defenseless. With Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front, Victus 2 on the back, and a sturdy Armor Aluminum frame, I’m not exactly taking a swim without a life vest. The IP48 rating? Well, it’s… something. I’m still not taking this thing anywhere near a beach unless it’s in a ziplock bag, but given its improved design, with barely any visible gap when folded, the Fold 7 does seem to keep dust from entering the inner screen, which was one of my biggest worries.

Now here’s where things get fun. I’m doing way more on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 than I ever did on my slab phones. It really is the multitasking machine it’s advertised to be. I’ve never been this productive on a phone. Asana and Slack are the two apps I use back and forth all the time for my work, and opening them simultaneously on one screen, without having to squint my way through the experience, was just sublime. I can even add a third app, like WordPress, to the mix without cluttering the display. That’s because on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, you can adjust the size of each multitasking window, a neat touch that allows me to give more space to the app I am focused on, while the others hang around in smaller windows. Unlike typical split-screen tricks on other phones, multitasking actually feels usable here, and dare I say, elegant.

Thanks to Samsung’s close collaboration with Google, even AI features like Circle to Search queries and Gemini Live sessions have become smoother and more immersive on the large screen. Reading is also a joy again. The Fold 7 is the Kindle replacement I didn’t know I was waiting for. I won’t deny the appeal of E-Ink readers for comfort, battery life, and fewer distractions, but getting that book-like experience without needing a separate device has genuinely reignited my reading habit.

Of course, no tech is perfect. One area where I ran into issues was streaming. I watch a lot of content on my phone, and while apps like Netflix and YouTube are well-optimized for both the inner and outer displays and handle transitions between them smoothly, others, like Prime Video, Apple TV, and some local streaming apps here in my country, aren’t quite there yet. As shown in the images above, all streaming apps are also not optimized to use the phone’s Flex Mode.

Moreover, I’ve never appreciated the screen lock feature some streaming apps offer more than I have on the Fold 7. As I mentioned earlier, there’s very little frame to grip when the phone is unfolded, so it’s easy to accidentally tap the screen while just holding the device. On apps like Prime Video, which don’t offer a screen lock while watching content, this leads to constant interruptions, whether it’s the X-Ray feature or the playback controls popping up every time your finger brushes the display. That said, One UI does let you adjust the aspect ratio on a per-app basis, which sometimes helps improve the viewing experience on apps that don’t scale properly to the large screen, but isn’t always an ideal solution.

After years of watching foldables mature from a distance, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 finally feels like a device designed not only for tech enthusiasts but for anyone looking to buy a premium smartphone. It’s sleeker, lighter, and more durable, has a good set of cameras (more on that in our upcoming review), and is more thoughtfully made than any Fold before it. The improvements in app continuity, multitasking, and hardware make the form factor more appealing than ever before.

I still wouldn’t switch to a foldable from any other brand, though. Samsung’s One UI is a huge part of what makes this experience work. The UI feels well-tailored to the foldable form factor, yet is familiar enough for anyone who has ever used a Samsung phone. Add to that the promise of seven years of updates and a robust ecosystem with Galaxy Watches, Buds, tablets, and more that talk to each other, and you’ve got a compelling reason to stay in Samsung’s corner.

Sure, foldables from HONOR, vivo, HUAWEI, and others are also pretty impressive. But I’m not ready to give up that polished, fully-integrated Samsung experience for the unknown. Not when I’ve only just now come around to the idea of switching from a trusty slab to a foldable phone. For the first time since foldables became a thing, I’m seriously thinking — yeah, this one is worth the plunge.