Samsung’s New Foldable Phones Are the Best on the Market, but Which One Should You Buy?

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links. Here’s how we test products and why you should trust us.Samsung5 min readSamsung continues to assert itself as the go-to name for foldable smartphones. The new suite came out on Friday, and all reporting shows preorders have been up significantly compared to the previous generation and, from everything I’ve seen (which, as I’ll get into, is a lot), the form factor is finally locked down. As with anything Apple, the leaks and rumors around Cupertino’s foldable phone program have been buzzing for years—but until we see anything, we won’t speak on it as though it’s a two-horse race. For the moment, Samsung and its Galaxy foldables—the Z Fold8, Z Flip8, and Z Fold8 Ultra—have our undivided attention, the consumer’s undivided attention. And my oh my, what incredible phones they are.The Z Fold phones are slimmer and sleeker than ever before, aiming to turn the “phone one second, phablet the next” fantasy into a reality for even more users. The smaller phones offer everything Samsung diehards expect from a Galaxy device (the most powerful Android phones on the market with cameras that put all other phones to shame) in unique foldable shapes that appeal to both nostalgic millennials and tech-hungry Gen Z users.I’ll be honest—all three of the new phones are pretty damn good. They are fast, with impressive battery life, and the folding feels better than ever. But telling them apart (and knowing the strengths and weaknesses) at a glance is not easy. And for devices that start at $1,200 and go all the way up to $2,700 (yikes!), it’s more important than ever to know what you’re buying.I got hands-on time with each phone, but I’ve spent the past two weeks using the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra as my main phone, so that’s my main point of reference. Below, I’ll give a quick overview of each—nothing too technical or nerdy, I promise—before offering a verdict on which one I think is the smartest buy. This isn’t tech and specs hour, just all the basics you should know before buying one of these new Galaxy phones.Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra: “Hot Dog” Fold, Best for MultitaskingFirst off, the big boy. The Z Fold8 Ultra is the largest and most powerful of the three with a 6.5-inch main screen and an 8-inch internal foldable display. It has the most powerful internals with up to 16 gigabytes of RAM, the only telephoto zoom lens, and the fastest charging of the three. Above all else, it is remarkably thin when unfolded and, even compared to last year’s lineup, the hinges and mechanisms are smoother, the screen crease even less noticeable. These refinements apply to the whole line of phones, but I find it most impressive here where the screen is the largest and potentially most fragile.Between onboard Gemini integration and a built-in suite of Galaxy AI options, artificial intelligence is more comprehensive—or inescapable, depending on your persuasion—than ever. All of it is even more integrated into messages, web browsing, and your typical daily phone actions than ever before thanks to Galaxy’s new One UI 9 interface. When unfolded, it’s easy to use the toolbar to seamlessly drag and drop apps into split view. Truly, a phone has never felt more like a small computer in my hands.It all makes the Z Fold8 Ultra the best phone for multitasking. And I can’t deny the innovation factor. This is Samsung’s first Ultra Galaxy phone in the foldable lineup, finally bringing the absolute best in camera quality and battery life to the folding form.Galaxy Z Fold8: “Passport” Fold, and Most Likely to Be a Fan FavoriteBased on preorders and early word of mouth, the Z Fold8 is turning out to be the early favorite. I can see why. For as much as I’m loving my Z Fold8 Ultra, the size is the one thing preventing me from fully embracing it as my next smartphone of choice. This phone is smaller and people are calling it the “passport” phone because both the size when folded and unfolded line up perfectly with this point of comparison.To me, this is the perfect size. Samsung, or the industry at large, is headed mostly in the right direction and making phones smaller again—a hill others and I at Esquire will die on. But the fold still allows you to have more space when you need it. Let me just tell you from experience, it’s hard to go back from Google Maps on a folding phone.While it lacks everything that makes the Ultra “ultra,” the Z Fold8 isn’t the downgrade that you might think. Namely, it runs off the same Snapdragon processor, which means the guts are pretty much identical (minus some RAM for multitasking power). The lack of a telephoto lens means the cameras won’t quite be on par with Pro-tier iPhones or Google Pixels, either. That camera quality is the only thing a user coming from an older phone would be able to clock as “inferior.” Otherwise, this is still as premium as a smartphone can get.Galaxy Z Flip8: “Hamburger” Fold, the Fun OneThis third folding phone is called the Flip and folds vertically, like a traditional flip phone. So when my editor Luke Guillory says “I want the one that folds like a hamburger” and I say “you mean the one that flips,” I can’t imagine how confusing it must be for regular people. Just know this: the Z Flip8 is the smallest and most affordable of the new Galaxy foldables. And like the Z Fold phones, it’s an upgrade from the Z Flip7 that is even thinner and lighter.So what’s the sell on this one? Really, it’s just cool. Flipping the phone half open and holding the camera camcorder style is still undeniably sick. The size limitations of the front screen mean Flip8 isn’t going to give you the full dual-screen experience of the fold phones, but for the first time ever apps are actually usable on the cover screen—a feature users have been breathlessly asking for for years. In fact, with customizable daily “Now Briefs” and better notification integration, the cover screen is straight up useful for the first time ever.So Which Samsung Flip or Fold Should You Buy?First off, these are the best Samsung Galaxy foldable phones yet. But given the current market, you need to be willing to spend $2,000 on a new phone to enjoy one—otherwise you’re probably fine sticking with whatever two-year-old smartphone you’re working with.If you’re ready for the commitment, the standard Galaxy Z Fold8 is my pick for an early front-runner. It manages to be compact enough when folded, and just expansive enough when unfolded to be useful in both modes. Plus, it has all the cutting-edge tech and features you want from the latest Galaxy phone.