Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 ‘passport’ design is the next big smartphone trend

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Instagram posts often take up the whole outer screen — sometimes more than the whole screen, requiring a tiny swipe just to see a full image or video — and you won’t see as much conversation history when opening Slack. Some of this can be resolved by adjusting text size preferences in the Z Fold 8’s settings menu, but some people will never bother.

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The better option is to open the device and switch to its 7.6-inch inner screen. If you do this and rotate the phone into a vertical orientation, your TikTok videos and Instagram feed will go from cramped to supersized. Using that inside display in tall mode really helps make up for the limited height in landscape mode, even if it feels awkward at first.

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In its normal orientation, this style makes for a top-notch reading experience that feels more natural and book-like than narrower devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. And unlike past iterations, this model is light enough to go cover to cover without any hand cramps. I wish Samsung would ditch the unsightly camera on this display; there’s already a selfie camera on the cover screen, where you’d most likely be taking video calls.

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The US$1,900 Galaxy Z Fold 8, left, has a shorter, wider shape than conventional phones like the iPhone 17 Pro Max, at right.

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This Was Built for Photo and Video Playback

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Another standout use for the inner screen is browsing photos. Smartphone cameras capture 4:3 images, so they’ll automatically fill the entire display, making this a great gadget for showing friends your recent vacation photos. And when snapping pics, the outside cover screen makes for an immersive viewfinder regardless of how you’re holding the phone.

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The Z Fold 8 includes a primary camera alongside an ultrawide lens, but there’s no telephoto lens that can offer close-up optical zoom. That’s a shame, since Samsung’s portrait mode often bests Apple and Google at subject separation and blurring the background in a shot.

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As for the upcoming folding iPhone, it’s also likely to go the dual-camera route — making for an easy hardware upgrade next year for those who love the extra reach of a zoom lens.

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So far, watching videos on the Z Fold 8 hasn’t been the huge differentiator that Samsung would have you believe. Sure, you can pinch to zoom in on content, and then it’s far bigger than any non-folding phone can muster. But if you’re watching a modern movie, the image on the inner display isn’t dramatically larger than on a 17 Pro Max or S26 Ultra. It’s nice, at least, that the black bars above and below what you’re watching are smaller here.

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Reading on a passport-style phone feels more natural than on taller, narrower foldables. Photographer: Chris Welch/Bloomberg

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For this phone style to truly meet its potential at entertainment, we’re going to need a larger version — something in the ballpark of Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy Z TriFold. But such a device would be more cumbersome to handle and less pocketable. Might the South Korean company eventually move away from the tall, narrow “Ultra” and just produce two sizes of this style instead? That would make a lot of sense to me: Some people will just want a versatile and compact device like the Z Fold 8, while others will crave a true do-everything product.

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The company already has high expectations for the new shape, believing it will make up about a third of its foldable sales in the U.S., according to Samsung.

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For Apple, the foldable iPhone is step two of a three-year plan to reinvent the look and feel of its flagship device. Last year, the company introduced overhauled Pro and Pro Max models and a thinner version called the iPhone Air. It’s also working on a separate iPhone revamp in 2027 to mark the product’s two-decade anniversary.

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Even if the newest crop of foldables sell well, though, they aren’t likely to displace other Galaxy and iPhone models anytime soon — especially the large ones. There are concessions that come with going shorter and wider. If you’re an email junkie or live in your TikTok feed, the bigger screens (and much lower prices) of a Galaxy S26 Ultra, iPhone 17 Pro Max or iPhone Air make more sense.