If I’m being completely honest. Foldables have always felt a bit like prototypes trying to pretend they’re ready for the real world. Cool to look at, fun to show off, but not quite there for everyday life.That seems to have changed with the Galaxy Z Fold7.
I had the chance to get my hands on the new Fold at Samsung South Africa’s media event at Circa in Johannesburg, where they livestreamed the Unpacked keynote from New York. The moment the global curtain lifted, we stepped straight into the local experience, full hands-on, full access, and full opinions forming within minutes.
Here’s what stood out.
It Finally Feels Like a Real Phone
The Fold7 weighs just 215 grams. That’s actually lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. When folded, it’s only 8.9mm thick, which is hard to wrap your head around if you remember the first-gen Fold. Closed, it feels like a regular phone now. Not a compromised brick.
The 6.5-inch outer screen with a 21:9 aspect ratio is finally wide enough to type and scroll without feeling cramped. Flip it open and you get a gorgeous 8-inch AMOLED screen with ultra-rich contrast and 2600 nits of peak brightness.
Sleek and Tough, No Trade-Offs
Samsung’s design team clearly brought their A-game this year. The new Armor FlexHinge is thinner, tougher, and less visible. The cover screen is protected by Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2, which sounds fancy because it is. And the Ultra-Thin Glass inside is now 50 percent thicker for added strength.
The frame is built with advanced Armor Aluminum, which is Samsung’s way of saying you’re less likely to panic if you drop it. This is a phone that’s ready for everyday abuse without looking like it went through war.
The Power Under the Hood? Wild.
At the core is Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, and it’s a beast. According to Samsung, you’re getting 41 percent faster AI processing, 38 percent faster CPU speeds, and 26 percent better graphics performance.
In real-world use, the phone feels fluid. Apps snap open. Multitasking is seamless. You can run three apps on screen, edit a video, and still jump into a call without slowing down.
Galaxy AI is More Than a Buzzword
It does seem like everyone’s just slapping “AI” onto everything, for hype. But to Samsungs credit, it actually works. There’s Photo Assist that lets you move or erase objects in your pictures with a tap. Generative Edit can fill in missing backgrounds. There’s even a tool called Suggest Erases that proactively finds and removes random photobombers.
Gemini Live, analyzes what you’re seeing on screen or through your camera and answers your questions in real time. It’s context-aware and surprisingly useful unlike “Apple Intelligence”.
Camera: Fold, Meet Flagship
For the first time in the Fold lineup, we’re getting a 200MP main camera. Shots are sharper, brighter, and packed with detail. Even in the low lighting at the event, the phone held up beautifully.
Add 10-bit HDR video, AI night mode, and Samsung’s upgraded ProVisual Engine, and you’ve got a serious content creation tool in your hand. I tried out the Side-by-Side Editing mode too. Being able to see your original and edited versions on the big screen? Game changer.
Local Pricing
In South Africa, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is priced at:
- 256GB – R42,999
- 512GB – R45,999
- 1TB – R49,999
Available in Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, and Jetblack.
Pre-orders are open now with general availability starting July 25. Samsung is also throwing in 6 months of Google AI Pro and 2TB of cloud storage, plus Samsung Care+ for accidental damage and repairs.
Final Take
Samsungs Fold series isn’t trying to be a tech novelty anymore. It’s not here to prove foldables can exist. It’s showing that foldables can finally compete and maybe even replace your traditional phone.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is thinner, smarter, tougher and most importantly, it’s more useful.
And for the first time, I didn’t walk away from a foldable thinking, “Maybe next year.” I walked away thinking, “I could actually use this every day.”
And that’s probably the biggest shift of all.
Stay tuned to GeekHub for the deep-dive review when Samsungs hands us a device for more than a few minutes.
