Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra’s Leaked Crease Fix Comes With a Catch

A leaked hands-on video shows Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra with its screen crease reduced to almost nothing, arriving nine days before Samsung makes the phone official. The clip surfaced on Weibo and shows a finished, working device, not a mockup, folding, unfolding and playing video from multiple angles.

The fix looks real. It also comes bundled with a hinge that behaves differently than before, a price that tops $2,000 for the first time, and the fact that a Chinese rival already solved the same problem months ago.

A Hinge That Finally Behaves

The footage was shared by the Weibo leaker Setsuna Digital, according to Notebookcheck, and it runs through the phone’s paces: opening it, closing it, playing a video, then tilting the display under bright light. Android Headlines, which first drew wide attention to the clip, was among several outlets to review the same footage.

Last year’s Fold 7 already had a notably thin chassis. It still carried a visible dip running down the center of the glass that reviewers and owners routinely flagged as the form factor’s biggest annoyance.

That dip appears to be gone, or close to it. Outlets that reviewed the leaked clip describe the crease as visible only when the phone is tilted to extreme angles under harsh, direct light, and effectively invisible during normal use like scrolling or watching a video. Running a finger across the middle no longer catches on a ridge.

Samsung has a separate display-making unit called Samsung Display. It showcased a new foldable OLED panel earlier this year built around what it called Advanced Crease-Less technology, which is reportedly paired with the redesigned hinge inside the Fold 8 Ultra.

The Crease Fix Has a Catch

The flatter screen comes at a cost. Ice Universe is a Weibo based tipster with a long history of accurate Samsung leaks. He said the new hinge now snaps decisively open or shut instead of holding at in-between angles the way older Fold models did.

“To further improve the crease, Samsung has made the folding and unfolding action more decisive,” he said, in comments reported by Android Police.

That change threatens Flex Mode, the feature that props the phone open at a custom angle for hands-free video calls or tabletop photography. Multiple outlets covering the tip, including SamMobile and Gizchina, describe Flex Mode as likely to hold its position less reliably than on earlier Fold generations.

Ice Universe went further, comparing the result directly to Samsung’s biggest foldable rival.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 series has reached the top level in the industry, with a crease performance comparable to the OPPO Find N6.

He posted that assessment on X, the platform he most often uses for Samsung tips. It is a notable concession: Samsung is describing its own flagship as matching a competitor, not beating it.

OPPO’s own hinge, the 2nd-Generation Titanium Flexion Hinge inside the Find N6, has held up through one million fold cycles in testing by TÜV Rheinland, a German product-certification firm, without the crease deepening. Samsung has not published comparable long-term numbers for the Fold 8 Ultra’s hinge.

Samsung Wasn’t First to Solve It

None of this happens in a vacuum. OPPO’s Find N6 launched globally on March 20, 2026, branded as the industry’s first Zero-Feel Crease foldable, built around a hinge that OPPO says widened its hinge’s waterdrop design by 11% over the prior generation to cut mechanical stress on the display.

Android Police called the Find N6 the hardest foldable to actually buy, since OPPO sells it only across Asia, Australia and New Zealand, starting around $1,600. Western buyers have not been able to hold one.

Apple is chasing the identical target. Analysts expect the first foldable iPhone, widely tipped to carry the Ultra name, to arrive in September 2026 with a crease Apple’s own supply chain has described as “nearly invisible” once unfolded.

Samsung will be the first of the three to put a near-invisible crease in front of Western buyers at retail scale, roughly nine months after OPPO first cracked the underlying engineering problem.

How Much Will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra Cost?

Leaked Korean carrier pricing points to about $2,099 for the base 256GB Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in the United States, and roughly €2,199 or £1,899 in Europe. That would make it the first Samsung foldable to clear $2,000 at launch. A 1TB version could reach nearly $2,900, which one leak blames on the ongoing global memory chip shortage.

The hardware behind that price is a real step up from last year’s model.

• 5,000mAh battery – up from 4,400mAh on the Fold 7, roughly a 14% jump in capacity.
• 45W wired charging – nearly double the Fold 7’s 25W cap.
• 500ppi inner display – up from around 368 pixels per inch on last year’s panel.
• $2,099 starting price – about $100 more than the Fold 7’s launch price, and Samsung’s highest yet for a mainstream foldable.

Not everyone will see that as a fair trade. A 14% battery bump and faster charging help, but rivals already ship larger cells: the Honor Magic V6 packs a 6,600mAh battery, well beyond what Samsung is planning here.

Two Foldables Now Aim at Apple’s iPhone Ultra

Samsung split its book-style foldable lineup in two this year for the first time. The Fold 8 Ultra keeps the tall, narrow shape Fold owners have carried since the original launched in 2019. The standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 goes wider and shorter, with a 4:3 inner display built to compete directly with Apple’s rumored wide-format foldable.

A regulatory filing tied to model number SM-F976 backs the Ultra naming as real rather than rumor. The wider Fold 8 reportedly drops to two rear cameras instead of three, and its display glass is said to run about 60 microns thick, roughly 30% heavier than the Ultra’s 45-micron glass, trading some crease reduction for extra drop resistance.

Whether the Ultra brings back the S Pen is still unsettled. Some early leaks hinted at a return, while Ice Universe reported in May that neither 2026 Fold model would support the stylus. Body measurements are disputed too: one set of leaked renders puts the Ultra at 4.5mm unfolded, while Ice Universe says the real figure is 4.1mm, and Samsung has not settled which is correct.

Apple is aiming at the same shape and the same season. Ming-Chi Kuo, a supply chain analyst who tracks Apple’s production plans, expects the first foldable iPhone in September 2026 alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup, priced between $2,000 and $2,500. Apple has told suppliers it is preparing to build 10 million foldables this year, up from a prior forecast of 7 to 8 million units, according to Nikkei Asia.

Samsung Gets a Two-Month Head Start

Samsung will make everything official on July 22 in London, alongside the Fold 8, Flip 8 and two Galaxy Watch models. Pre-orders typically open the same day, with retail sales following about two weeks later.

Samsung is reportedly planning to sell around 3.5 million Galaxy Z Fold 8 units, betting that the crease fix and the new wide model both find buyers. Apple, for comparison, is projected to ship 3 to 5 million foldable iPhones in its first year, per Kuo’s estimate.

Apple’s own timeline may slip further. Kuo has said the iPhone Ultra will be unveiled alongside the iPhone 18 Pro in September but might not actually ship that same day. That gives Samsung’s fix, trade-off included, roughly two months on shelves before Apple sells a single foldable iPhone.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra release date?

Samsung confirmed Galaxy Unpacked for July 22, 2026, in London. Samsung’s US store already has a reservation campaign running, offering a $30 credit and a chance at one of ten $500 gift cards for anyone who signs up before the phone becomes official.

How much will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra cost?

Leaked Korean carrier data suggests upgrading from 256GB to 512GB will cost an extra 253,000 won, or roughly $165, a steeper jump than the 158,000 won step-up buyers paid on the Fold 7 before its own price hike.

What is the difference between the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra?

The Ultra keeps the tall book shape and a triple rear camera system built around a 200MP main sensor. The standard Fold 8 is wider and shorter with a dual rear camera setup, and its display glass is reportedly thicker, prioritizing drop resistance over the Ultra’s deeper crease reduction.

Does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra support the S Pen?

Ice Universe reported in May 2026 that neither 2026 Fold model would support the S Pen. That lines up with Samsung’s earlier decision to strip the digitizer, the hardware layer needed for pressure-sensitive stylus input, out of the Galaxy Z Fold SE.

What is OPPO’s Zero-Feel Crease technology?

OPPO’s own materials describe Zero-Feel Crease as a hinge and glass system precise enough that the fold line isn’t visible under normal use, while noting the crease is not physically eliminated. TÜV Rheinland credited the design with cutting long-term crease formation by up to 82% and keeping the display flat through 600,000 folds.