Everything announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2026: Can Samsung compete with the rumored foldable iPhone?
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Samsung just held its 2026 Galaxy Unpacked event in London, and ZDNET was there going hands-on with all the new tech. This year, Samsung is uniquely positioned to deliver foldable phones to rival the rumored foldable iPhone launching this fall. That means bolder designs and an emphasis on its mature engineering -- after all, Samsung has been making flagship foldables for seven years now.
Also: 4 surprise products we could see at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked (including the Galaxy Glasses)
The highlight is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 , a unique phone with a 7.6-inch AMOLED inner screen (120Hz refresh rate), a bigger battery (finally), and anti-reflective coating that looks especially good. There's also a Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra , with a more traditional narrow design and a 5,000mAh (up from 4,400mAh) battery.
Beyond the new phones, Samsung also announced two smartwatches -- the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 -- and teased some new smart glasses. Everything is on pre-order now and expected to ship on August 7, 2026.
If you missed the livestream, you can still watch it on Samsung's official YouTube channel or at the Samsung Newsroom website. ZDNET's sibling site, CNET , also broadcast the event with live reactions and commentary from editors and analysts.
Samsung has been spearheading the foldable phone form factor for eight generations now, incrementally improving the build with each generation. This year, we get the first "Ultra" foldable and an improvement to the number one drawback -- the crease in the display -- with a new "flex titanium" material made of a titanium-alloy film and a titanium plate to improve flexibility (and reduce its visibility).
It's an improvement, to say the least. ZDNET's Adam Doud had praise for the new phones' build while on the ground in London: "The crease on the Z Fold 8 is the best Samsung has ever shipped." Whether it's the best foldable on the market is up for debate, but it might be Samsung's boldest yet with a unique size and aspect ratio. Let's take a look.
Cover screen on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.
Samsung's flagship foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 , sports a unique, passport-sized form factor that is surprisingly slim and lightweight, measuring 9.7mm thick when closed and 4.5mm when opened, and weighing just 201 grams. In fact, Samsung says it's the lightest Z Fold it's ever made.
The squat form factor is a bit of a risk, but it's one Samsung hopes will pay off in differentiating itself from competitors, Apple in particular, which is rumored to drop its own foldable iPhone this fall. Honestly, we were a little unsure about the form factor when we first saw it, but after a few minutes, it warms up to you.
Also: I tried Samsung's new wide Galaxy Z Fold 8, and it's my favorite product of Unpacked 2026
"The new Flex Titanium tech decreases the crease to a minimum," ZDNET's Prakhar Khanna said of the improvements. "Gone are the completely flat shut sides. Now, you have thinner sides with a minute gap in the middle." It's also more comfortable to hold and lies fully flat when opened -- a big usability improvement.
The cover screen's 10:16 aspect ratio is designed for messaging, social updates, and quicker actions, while the unfolded main display has a 4:3 ratio for more immersive use cases: watching videos and gaming. For cameras, it has a rear dual-50MP wide-angle camera, a 10MP main camera, and a 10MP selfie camera.
The base-level foldable features a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset and a 4,800mAh battery (up from 4,400mAh in the Galaxy Z Fold 7). Perhaps the biggest upgrades, however, are the form factor and display crease.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in both orientations.
Samsung's high-end flagship, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra , will be a solid competitor to the foldable iPhone rumored to launch this fall. It's slightly larger than the Z Fold 8, with an 8-inch inner screen, a 6.5-inch cover screen at a 120Hz refresh rate, and a total weight of 215 grams.
It also boasts major battery and charging improvements, finally upping the capacity to 5,000mAh from the 4,400mAh rating that's plagued the Z Fold series for years now. The device also supports up to 45W wired charging (from 25W), which makes the occasional top-up much quicker. It can charge from 0 to 67% in 30 minutes, according to Samsung.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has the best cameras of the new phones, with a 200MP main camera, 50MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x telephoto. It also supports 8K video recording through the new APV codec and gets a bump in battery life thanks to the larger battery.
As far as chipset and memory go, the Ultra has the same configuration as the base Galaxy Z Fold 8: a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, 12GB of RAM with 256GB or 512GB of storage, or 16GB of RAM with 1TB of storage. The biggest differences here are the powerhouse battery in the Ultra, the larger screens, and the better cameras. The most notable camera upgrade is the larger 50MP ultrawide sensor, which should be capable of capturing more detail and more accurate colors, whether it's a landscape-spanning shot or a macro one, while also benefiting videographers who want to seamlessly blend their footage across different lenses.
Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra vs. Z Fold 7: After a year of usage, I'm ready to upgrade
The wider form factor of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is getting a lot of praise for how well optimized it is for watching video content, but the Ultra excels at this, too. Samsung made some key improvements to the Ultra model, including 3,000 nits of brightness and that gorgeous-looking anti-reflective coating.
Samsung's new flip-style foldable, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 , is its slimmest, lightest phone of the bunch (and also the most affordable). It has a 6.9-inch dynamic AMOLED inner display at a 120Hz refresh rate, with a redesigned "FlexWindow" that brings more apps, notifications, and actions to the cover screen.
Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 vs. Z Flip 8: Is a foldable or a flip the better option?
The Flip's 50MP camera has some unique features as well, including hands-free shooting and auto stabilization in the Camcorder Grip with Zoom Rocker feature, as well as a "mirror view" with the selfie camera and cover screen, which Samsung says is for quick look checks while on the go.
It's slightly thicker than last year's Galaxy Z Flip 7, but it's about eight grams lighter, weighing just 180 grams. Similarly, it has the same-sized 4,300mAh battery, but it has faster 45W charging. It features an upgraded Exynos 2600 processor with 12GB of RAM. It'll come in 256GB and 512GB storage options in Cream, Graphite, or Pink colorways.
The new Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is Samsung's most powerful smartwatch to date, designed for high-performance athletes and adventure-seekers looking to push their health tracking to the max. It's got a blindingly bright display at 5,000 nits, the largest battery in a Galaxy Watch so far at 800mAh, and improved durability with an impressive IP69K rating -- meaning you can actually go diving with it.
Also: I wore the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 for a week - it's a true Apple Watch Ultra 3 rival
Despite the massive battery (35% larger than last year's model), it's actually 12% slimmer than the previous generation. Samsung coupled this with lighter, slimmer watch bands for an overall more subtle look that at least attempts to move away from the chunky, rugged smartwatch look.
Samsung also announced a flurry of AI-powered health tracking features with the new watches, including vitals monitoring, sleep apnea tracking, and hearing insights, but one of the standout features is the new Heart Health score, which includes blood pressure monitoring.
"While it's not FDA certified nor medical grade, it can help provide awareness of where your blood pressure is and whether medications need to be adjusted," ZDNET's Adam Doud said of the feature. "Having a watch that can record a probably-mostly-accurate blood pressure measurement is vastly superior to not recording any at all."
As Samsung's base model smartwatch, the Galaxy Watch 9 has a handful of upgrades that could make Pixel Watch or other Android watch owners convert. The Galaxy Watch 9 is Samsung's everyday smartwatch for all-day tracking, with 3,000 nits of brightness and a lightweight aluminum casing.
It gets an upgraded battery with its capacity extended to 390mAh, providing around 30 hours of life with the Always-On Display enabled. Samsung packs several new features that bring its health-monitoring software closer to rivals, specifically Oura, Google, and Apple. That last one is big.
Also: Galaxy Watch 9 vs. Galaxy Watch 8: I've compared both models, here's my advice
"Samsung is in a unique position to compete with Apple, but without competing for Apple's customers," said ZDNET's wearables and health tech editor, Nina Raemont . "Since an iPhone user can't use a Galaxy Watch, and vice versa, we see some copycat features, but I'm not complaining. The newest watch gets trail running, the Mares app, and the Vitals tab for monitoring biomarkers that deviate from a healthy baseline. These are three features already available on the Apple Watch Ultra."
Samsung teased its new smart glasses during its Unpacked event, but they're still a work in progress, with no set release date, but potentially releasing this year. Samsung looks to to set itself apart with stylish frame designs from both Gentle Monster and Warby Parker , brands opting for a more stylish look than competitors, which are notoriously chunky.
One of the biggest features, however, is Samsung's claim of nine hours of battery life on a single charge -- putting them near the top of smart glasses out the market right now. Their case can also charge them up to seven times, providing a lot more portability.
During the event, Samsung demoed the glasses' capabilities in conjunction with Gemini Intelligence, showing their hands-free AI-powered features like booking dinner reservations or ordering a coffee. As expected, they have a host of integrations with Samsung's own ecosystem, including summarizing meetings and transferring to Samsung Notes, and working with pinch and tap gestures with the Galaxy Watch.
Samsung has a unique opportunity to build additional integrations within its own ecosystem here, and the glasses' unique quality-of-life features are certainly something that would set them apart from competing smart glasses coming down the pipeline.
