The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is smaller, cheaper, and has fewer cameras than the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but it may end up being the most popular Galaxy foldable to date.

Why? Because its 7.6-inch inner screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is supposedly “the new standard for viewing content,” as Samsung told us in an interview — and if there’s one thing most of us can’t get enough of in 2026, it’s content.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, meanwhile, has an eight-inch inner screen with a 10:9 aspect ratio, which is great for spreadsheets and multitasking, but less brilliant for movies and YouTube videos.

Don’t believe me (or Samsung)? I compared the experience of streaming Netflix, watching YouTube, and scrolling through Instagram Reels on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra — in both portrait and landscape orientations, where possible — to help you visualize the aspect ratio differences between these two devices.

Check out the side-by-side comparisons for each platform below, and let me know in the comments section which phone you’d prefer to use for watching videos. I've also included a roundup of each model's respective size specs for added context.

Netflix

Z Fold 8 (10:16) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (9:21)

Z Fold 8 (4:3) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (10:9)

Z Fold 8 (3:4) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (9:10)

YouTube

Z Fold 8 (16:10) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (21:9)

Z Fold 8 (10:16) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (9:21)

Z Fold 8 (4:3) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (10:9)

Z Fold 8 (3:4) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (9:10)

Instagram Reels

Z Fold 8 (16:10) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (21:9)

Z Fold 8 (4:3) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (10:9)

Z Fold 8 (3:4) / Z Fold 8 Ultra (9:10)

Verdict

For Netflix and YouTube, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 provides a cleaner viewing experience than the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in every orientation except 3:4. The black bars above and below the video are noticeably narrower than those on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and there's no awkward pillarboxing (i.e., bars on either side of the video) when using the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in 10:16 (you'll notice that content wraps around the phone's punch-hole camera, which doesn't happen on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra).

Of course, if you use the Galaxy Z Fold 8 in 3:4, the black bars are much bigger than those on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, but Samsung itself admits that this orientation is “more natural for reading e-books or browsing the web,” which gives the smaller device another nice win over the pricier model.

The Instagram Reels-watching experience is pretty similar across both phones, but given the Galaxy Z Fold 8's lighter weight (201g vs 215g), I'd give it the edge here, too.

So there you have it: if watching videos and scrolling through social media is your priority, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a better buy than the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra.

Of course, there is much more to both phones than their respective displays — the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has better cameras, for instance — so I wouldn't jump headfirst into buying one over the other until you've read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs Galaxy Z Fold 8 comparison.

Side note: You're not able to watch videos in 16:10 (Z Fold 8) or 21:9 (Z Fold 8 Ultra) on Netflix, nor videos in 10:16 (Z Fold 8) or 9:21 (Z Fold 8 Ultra) on Instagram, hence why these options don't appear in the above comparison.

Isn’t it funny that we take the flexible screen so for granted that we complain over a crease and lack of flatness? The screen folds to become half its size and unfolds to about the size of a mini-tablet, and we’re still not satisfied. I guess that’s what makes us — or maybe Samsung — human. You see, it wasn’t satisfied, either, at least with the already quite thin and pretty remarkable Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.

That 4.2mm thick device that features two displays and yet is somehow lighter than the Galaxy S26 Ultra was close to flat and did have a less noticeable crease at the bend, but apparently Samsung thought it could do better, which is how we got the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked on July 22.

That’s right, it’s now an Ultra device, though that has more to do with the other new entry in the folding lineup: the 4:3 ratio Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. This new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is not, after all, a full-scale redesign and is, instead, a refinement that brings better cameras (an upgraded 200MP camera with an f-stop adjustment, a new 50MP ultra-wide that matches the Galaxy S26 Ultra), a new 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, an anti-reflective coating on the display, and, somehow, a thinner body.

The slimming

At 4.1mm, you might be hard-pressed to notice the difference between Samsung's two most recent foldable flagships, though I can tell you that the chassis is now so thin, it barely squeezes in a USB-C port.

What is noticeable, though, is that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra unfolds its 8.1-inch OLED display effectively flat, and the crease is all but gone. (The phone actually almost snaps to flat and is somewhat less adjustable between flat and folded modes.)

That’s due to the lightweight but also very strong titanium architecture behind that OLED panel. There has been a rigid titanium backplate behind the OLED panel since the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but the lattice work along the crease — in the center of the panel — has been totally redesigned from a seemingly infinite series of parallel holes to holes that start narrow on top but open up on the opposite side (it’s sort of an “A” shape). Stacked on top of that panel now is another far more flexible titanium alloy sheet (a mix of titanium and other metals like aluminum and chrome). It’s about as flexible as a sheet of paper (I touched it, I know) but with infinitely more strength.

The combination of these two panels, which are sandwiched and glued together along with the OLED panel, an ultra-thin glass pane, and a plastic screen protector, all work in concert to allow the panel to be both 30% easier to open (a new chamfered display frame edge also assists here) and more inclined to pop out flat. And that makes the crease almost invisible.

I know all this because I met with Samsung Electronics and Samsung Display engineers in South Korea who worked together to bring the Z Fold 8 Ultra to life.

Even though I sort of understood how these elements worked together to make a flatter whole, I couldn’t entirely figure out how the rigid back plane was flexible enough to make the folding and unfolding possible, but Byung Duk Yang, EVP at Core Component Technology Team, Samsung Electronics, put a finer point on it for me.

Sitting next to a specially designed flexible display blow-out diorama featuring all those aforementioned panels hanging inside like so many curtains, Yang explained, “You’re right. Titanium is basically not flexible. We use a titanium plate already, but there are micro-holes to get the stretchability — so that is basic titanium. But this time we used the new titanium alloy — we needed some stretchability. That’s why it is not 100% titanium; it’s titanium alloy.”

The switch to the titanium alloy, which replaced a thicker polymer layer, is key because, with titanium’s ability to better withstand long-term deformation, it’s less likely that the now mostly hidden crease will grow more prominent over time.

As I noted, people tend to, with these foldables, fixate on the crease, but Yang explained that in designing these panels, Samsung Display has many considerations. “The crease itself is not our only top priority. We have to consider durability and surface quality.”

Stress tests

I also traveled to Samsung’s Gumi Factory City in South Korea, where I witnessed the new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and its new sibling, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, undergo rigorous stress tests that included extreme heating and cooling, folding and unfolding tens of thousands of times, and ball-drop tests in which metal balls are repeatedly dropped on the screens from various heights.

From what I could tell, the Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra are quite resilient and, in the Z Fold 8 Ultras I saw, less reflective.

The new antireflective coating appears to do its part in helping the flexible display hide the crease. After all, less light is bouncing back to your eyes. And when I visited the Gumi testing lab, I saw how they used a special box with a dome of brilliant white light and a spectrometer to test display reflectivity. The light robotically moved around the Z Fold 8 Ultra panel to assess general reflectivity but also how the light might bounce off the crease. Results are gathered by a computer in a lab that runs 24 hours a day. We were, by the way, the first reporters ever to see it in person.

I’ve been pondering, though, what comes next for the Galaxy Z Fold lineup. Unless Samsung removes the USB-C port, it really can’t get any thinner. But the display could get at least one cool improvement; Samsung confirmed to me that they are thinking about how the Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra might come to a future folding device. As you may recall, that privacy technology works at a pixel level to hide your screen from prying eyes, so it would require a very specific update to the flexible OLED panel.

In the meantime, though, consumers will have to consider this new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, perhaps the thinnest, flattest, and fullest expression of Samsung’s foldable ambitions.

Do you own a lot of Samsung devices? If so, why not test yourself to see how well you know the brand's products and services by taking the quiz below.

A smartphone can be a major investment — especially if you’re shopping for one of the best phones around — so it’s important to be sure that the device you’re buying isn’t just good for now, but good for many years to come.

Software support is a key factor in determining how long a phone will last, and in recent years, manufacturers have been committing to much longer product support windows than they used to. But not all phones get the same amount of support, and indeed some older phones will be approaching their final update in 2026.

So, below, we’ve detailed how long phones from Apple, Samsung, Google, and Motorola will continue to receive updates.

To keep things simple, we've focused on major brands with US availability, but if you have a recent high-end phone from the likes of Honor, Oppo, or Xiaomi, it will likely be in line for between five and six years of updates from its launch date. Older and lower-end models tend to be in the two-to-three-year range.

Apple iPhones

Apple never used to commit to a specific support window for its phones, but that changed in 2024, when new UK regulations required brands to outline a minimum support window. As a result, Apple now promises a minimum of five years — but this only applies to security updates, not the kinds of iOS updates that add new software features. And five years is a minimum, with Apple often going beyond that number anyway.

All of which is to say we can’t be certain when iPhones will get their final update, but typically, they’re supported for between five and seven years.

So, the list below is our best guess for how many years of updates each currently supported iPhone model has left.

• iPhone 17 series — 4-6 years (last update in 2030, 2031, or 2032)
• iPhone Air — 4-6 years (last update in 2030, 2031, or 2032)
• iPhone 16 series — 3-5 years (last update in 2029, 2030 or 2031)
• iPhone 15 series — 2-4 years (last update in 2028, 2029, or 2030)
• iPhone 14 series — 1-3 years (last update in 2027, 2028, or 2029)
• iPhone SE (2022) — 1-3 years (last update in 2027, 2028, or 2029)
• iPhone 13 series — 0-2 years (last update in 2026, 2027, or 2028)
• iPhone 12 series — 0-2 years (last update in 2026, 2027, or 2028)
• iPhone 11 series — final update will probably be this year with iOS 27
• iPhone SE (2020) — final update will probably be this year with iOS 27

Samsung Galaxy phones

Samsung offers as much as seven years of support for some of its recent phones, but older and lower-end handsets get fewer updates, so how long your phone will be updated for can be quite variable depending on the model.

• Samsung Galaxy S26 series — 7 years (last update in 2033)
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 — 6 years (last update in 2032)
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 — 6 years (last update in 2032)
• Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold — 6 years (last update in 2032)
• Samsung Galaxy S25 series — 6 years (last update in 2032)
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy S24 series — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy A57 — 6 years (last update in 2032)
• Samsung Galaxy A56 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy A36 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy A26 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy A17 — 5 years (last update in 2031)
• Samsung Galaxy A17 — 4 years (last update in 2030)
• Samsung Galaxy A55 — 1 year (last update in 2027, security patches until 2029)
• Samsung Galaxy A35 — 1 year (last update in 2027, security patches until 2029)
• Samsung Galaxy M35 — 1 year (last update in 2027, security patches until 2029)
• Samsung Galaxy A25 — 1 year (last update in 2027, security patches until 2028)
• Samsung Galaxy A54 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Samsung Galaxy A34 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Samsung Galaxy S23 series — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Samsung Galaxy M54 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028

Google Pixel phones

Google has committed to supporting all handsets from the Pixel 8 onwards for seven years, while phones from the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 lines get five years of support.

Note that, as a-series models launch later than their mainline siblings, they technically get supported for longer. But depending on when major new Android versions launch, they may not get additional significant updates.

• Google Pixel 10a — 7 years (last update in early 2033)
• Google Pixel 10 series (excluding 10a) — 6 years (last update in late 2032)
• Google Pixel 9a — 6 years (last update in early 2032)
• Google Pixel 9 series (excluding 9a) — 5 years (last update in late 2031)
• Google Pixel 8a — 5 years (last update in early 2031)
• Google Pixel 8 series (excluding 8a) — 4 years (last update in late 2030)
• Google Pixel Fold — 2 years (last update in mid-2028)
• Google Pixel 7a — 2 years (last update in mid-2028)
• Google Pixel 7 series (excluding 7a) — 1 year (last update in late 2027)
• Google Pixel 6a — 1 year (last update in mid-2027)
• Google Pixel 6 series (excluding 6a) — final update this year (2026)

Motorola phones

Motorola’s update commitments feel quite messy and inconsistent, with some phones getting more or fewer updates than you might expect, but you’ll find an overview of the currently supported handsets below.

• Motorola Signature — 7 years (last update in early 2033)
• Motorola Edge 70 series — 3 years (last update in 2029, security patches until 2031)
• Motorola Edge 60 Neo — 3 years (last update in 2029, security patches until 2031)
• Motorola Edge 50 Neo — 3 years (last update in 2029)
• Motorola Razr 70 / Razr 2026 series — 2 years (last update in 2028, security patches until 2030)
• Motorola Edge 60 series (excluding Neo) — 2 years (last update in 2028, security patches until 2029)
• Moto G75 — 2 years (last update in 2028, security patches until 2030)
• Motorola Razr 60 / Razr 2025 series — 1 year (last update in 2027, security patches until 2029)
• Motorola Edge 50 Pro — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Motorola Edge 50 Fusion — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Motorola Edge 50 Ultra — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Motorola Razr 50 / Razr 2024 series — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2028
• Moto G86 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2029
• Moto G56 — final Android update this year (2026), final security patch in 2029