Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 available for W1.7m after steep discount — a week with the phone

Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold 8 [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

Samsung Electronics' new foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, is now available for as low as 1.7 million won ($1,180).

Buyers who stack the maximum carrier subsidy with additional retail discounts can shave roughly 800,000 won off the list price of 2.53 million won.

The phone has drawn considerable attention for its passport-sized design when folded. To find out whether the 1.7 million won price tag is worth it, this reporter used the device for a week.

Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold 8 shows a marked improvement on the crease that has long been a persistent complaint about foldable phones. Unless the screen is turned off, the crease is virtually invisible to the naked eye. [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

The most impressive feature was by far the screen size. Folded, the display measures 5.5 inches — roughly passport-sized — and expands to 7.6 inches when opened. Closed, it slips into a pocket without trouble; open, it becomes a large canvas well suited to immersive content.

The crease that has long plagued foldable phones has also improved noticeably. With the screen on, the fold line is essentially invisible to the naked eye. Even with the screen off, the crease is only detectable on close inspection of the hinge area.

For heavy content consumers who regularly watch videos or read digital media, the advantages of the larger display are likely to be immediately apparent.

Reading the comic "Bleach" on Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold 8. The large unfolded screen lets readers view two pages side by side, much like a physical comic book, for a highly immersive experience. [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

Satisfaction was particularly high when reading comics and webtoons. Digital comics can be displayed across the full unfolded screen with two pages shown side by side — much like turning the pages of a physical comic book — making for a deeply immersive read. This reporter normally carries a dedicated e-reader for comics and e-books, but found no need to bring one along during the week with the Z Fold 8.

Webtoons benefit equally from the larger display. Rotating the 4:3 screen to portrait mode and launching a webtoon app fills the panel in a format that suits the medium well. On a standard smartphone, small text in webtoons often requires zooming in, but on the Z Fold 8, dialogue, facial expressions and background details were all easy to take in at a glance.

Watching a YouTube video while simultaneously viewing comments on Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold 8 [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

Video watching was equally convenient. While streaming YouTube or Netflix on the folded screen, unfolding the device instantly expanded the picture without interruption. On the large display, shrinking the video to a smaller window allowed the playback and comment sections to appear side by side on the same screen. Running other functions alongside video playback posed no difficulty.

The AI-powered photo editing feature has also advanced. Users simply type a natural-language instruction into Photo Assist. When this reporter uploaded a photo of a hand making a cheese shape and typed "make all the fingers fully extended," the app generated a new image in about five seconds. The editing function, powered by Google Gemini, produced natural-looking results. Being able to compare the original and edited photos side by side on the wide display is an added bonus.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8's Photo Assist feature transforms a hand making a cheese shape into one with all five fingers fully extended. [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

One drawback was the lack of a middle-ground screen size between the folded and unfolded states. Compared with the base iPhone 17, the Z Fold 8's folded display is about two-thirds the size, while the unfolded screen is roughly twice as large. The folded screen felt cramped for extended messaging or web browsing, while the fully open display was oversized for quick, simple tasks.

The camera configuration may also disappoint some users. The dedicated telephoto lens offered in previous Galaxy Z Fold models has been removed, which could limit the phone's appeal for anyone who frequently photographs distant subjects.

A size comparison between the base iPhone 17 (left) and Samsung Electronics' new Galaxy Z Fold 8. The Z Fold 8's folded screen is about two-thirds the size of the iPhone 17. [Cha Min-ju/chami@]

chami@heraldcorp.com