Samsung unveils a shorter, wider foldable in London, reshaping the folding phone race before Apple enters with a similar design.
Samsung uses its London Unpacked event to introduce the Galaxy Z Fold8, a folding phone that looks more like a passport than a remote control. Instead of the tall skinny profile of earlier Galaxy Z Fold models, the new device folds into a shorter, wider slab. Samsung wants to reignite excitement in a category that has slowed, especially before Apple is expected to reveal a comparable folding iPhone within months. Company executives frame the change as user-led rather than competitor-led.
Foldable phones have typically stayed tall and narrow when closed, so they feel familiar in one hand and resemble a standard smartphone. That format, while practical for texting and scrolling, has frustrated people who mainly watch video because the internal display often leaves big black bars or awkward cropping.
Samsung’s new passport-style shape is designed to align more naturally with widescreen content, making streaming and clips look closer to what you see on a small tablet. The company is betting that a better media experience will justify the form factor’s higher price.
Most folding phones still follow the established tall-and-slim template, a design that prioritises reachability and phone-like ergonomics over cinematic viewing. One notable outlier was Google’s own passport-shaped foldable, which appeared briefly and then disappeared from the market without building real momentum.
That experiment showed the idea was not completely untested, but it never reached mass adoption. Samsung now tries to refine the concept with its larger ecosystem, marketing muscle and a clearer pitch around video consumption.
The new shape positions Samsung as the brand defining what a “proper” big-screen foldable should look like before Apple stakes its claim. Analysts suggest that if Apple launches a similar passport-style device, it could validate Samsung’s design choices and expand the audience for foldables overall.
For now, Samsung is using the Galaxy Z Fold8 to reframe the category around streaming and media rather than just novelty hardware. The open question is whether a better aspect ratio alone will convert mainstream phone buyers.
