Are you ready for the impending announcement of the Galaxy Z Flip 8? Wait, that can’t be right. After all, the Z Flip 7 is still less than eight months old, not to mention that Samsung literally just released the Galaxy S26 family to the global masses, which must mean that the company’s next foldable devices are at least a few months away.
But that’s obviously not going to stop rumormongers from… rumormongering and publications like 91mobiles from unearthing precious (albeit not always surprising) information well ahead of time.
The Z Flip 8 will apparently match the Z Flip 4 in one key area
That’s right, this 2026 flip phone is expected to keep not only its 2025 predecessor’s charging capabilities unchanged, but those of the 2022-released Galaxy Z Flip 4 as well (not to mention the same speeds supported by the Z Flip 5 and Z Flip 6 in 2023 and 2024, respectively).
To put things in context, the Z Flip 4 used to pack a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, while the Galaxy Z Flip 8 is likely to house a vastly superior Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC (or a similarly powerful Exynos 2600) under its hood.
That makes it pretty hard to understand why Samsung seemingly has no intention of breaking the 25W charging speed barrier, especially after upgrading the Galaxy S26 Ultra from the S25 Ultra’s 45W technology to 60W. Then again, the “vanilla” Galaxy S26 is still stuck with mediocre 25W charging support, which doesn’t make today’s news that shocking. Just… disappointing.
Is 25W that bad?
Maybe not, but it’s definitely not great either, especially when you look around and see the ultra-affordable Motorola Razr (2025) support slightly higher 30W speeds and the slightly costlier Razr Plus (2025) boost that number to an impressive 45W.
Naturally, that means the entire Motorola Razr (2026) family will hold a clear advantage over the Galaxy Z Flip 8 from at least one important standpoint, and the same goes for new and future clamshell-style foldables from brands like Oppo and Honor this year.
In case you’re wondering, the charging speed tests in our in-depth Galaxy Z Flip 7 review did not look great, putting the total charging time at 95 minutes, with the battery only reaching 43 percent capacity after half an hour, which doesn’t compare very favorably to the “vanilla” Razr (2025), let alone the Razr Plus (2025) or Razr Ultra.
At the risk of repeating myself, those numbers would be… disappointing for the Galaxy Z Flip 8, which is obviously unlikely to cost less than its predecessor or its main 2026 competitors.
Can the Galaxy Z Flip 8 still be saved from instant irrelevance?
I think so, and for the sake of a market segment that Apple is weirdly not interested in, I certainly also hope so. But with the Z Flip 7 reportedly outsold by the much pricier Galaxy Z Fold 7, things are not looking very promising for Samsung’s next-gen clamshell… unless that sketchy rumor from a few months back proves accurate and the Z Flip 8 somehow ends up tipping the scales at 150 grams… while also packing the same 4,300mAh cell capacity as its 188-gram predecessor.
That would leave Samsung with a very simple way to make the Galaxy Z Flip 8 more attractive than its forerunners, but the chances of a starting price reduction in today’s economic climate are even lower than that aforementioned weight decrease. At best, we can hope that the Z Flip 8 will cost the same as the Z Flip 7 at launch in the summer, which is far from guaranteed… and would be far from impressive anyway.
