My wife has been using a Galaxy Z Flip since the very first one back in 2020. So when Samsung sent me a Galaxy Z Fold 8 to test, I handed it over to her to see what she made of it.
She found the problem pretty quickly. It's the one thing I think Samsung got wrong with this phone.
She wanted to take a photo. On her Flip she'd fold the phone partway, put it on a table, and leave it there while she got herself in the frame. On the Fold 8 that doesn't work, because the phone can't stay open at an angle.
What she was after is Flex Mode, and it's been on Samsung's foldables since the original Galaxy Z Flip in 2020. Fold the phone somewhere between roughly 75 and 115 degrees and it stays where you put it. It's handy for video calls, for doing your makeup, and for propping the phone up so the kids can watch YouTube for ten minutes.
Flex Mode users will find the Galaxy Z Fold 8 lacking
The Fold 8 can't do Flex Mode because its hinge works differently. If you push it past a certain point, it opens the rest of the way on its own.
That's a side effect of the redesign that gave the phone its wider, shorter shape. The same redesign is why the Fold 8 weighs 201 grams and is the lightest book-style foldable Samsung has made. So it's a trade-off rather than something Samsung forgot about.
I still think Samsung traded away the wrong thing. Flex Mode is on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, so it's not as if Samsung has decided the feature is no longer needed or important. It just decided the Fold 8 didn't need it.
And it's not just my wife who will notice. Samsung has spent years pitching the Flip at Gen Z and younger buyers, and part of what makes that work is being able to prop the phone up and shoot without a tripod.
That matters a lot if you take plenty of photos and videos of yourself, which describes a good portion of that audience. They're the people Samsung would want moving up to a Fold eventually, and the Fold 8 is the one model that can't do it.
You can work around it with a standing case, and plenty of people will. But a case adds a few millimeters to a phone Samsung is touting as thin and light. Buying an accessory to get a feature the pricier model — and the Flip 8 — still has isn't a great look.
None of this makes the Fold 8 a bad phone. It's light, and the wider cover screen means you don't have to open it up nearly as often. But the first thing my wife tried to do with it, she couldn't, and for anyone moving over from a Flip, that's not a good thing to lose.
Here's hoping Samsung works out how to have both the new wide design and Flex Mode on the Galaxy Z Fold 9. For now, I'm with my wife on this one.
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