In 2019, I stood on stage at CEBIT in Sydney to deliver a Lightning Talk about the technologies Gen Y and Gen Z were embracing — why their behaviour marked such a seismic shift from previous generations, and what that meant for brands trying to reach them. I argued the brands getting it right were using tech to deliver utility, education or entertainment. And for the interactive element of my demonstration, I reached into my bag and pulled out something most of the audience had never seen in person — the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, in Space Silver.
It had launched in Australia that very week, at $2,999, but not without baggage.
Six months earlier, early review units had famously failed when journalists peeled off what looked like a screen protector but was actually part of the display, forcing Samsung to delay the global launch by five months and re-engineer the hinge. The criticism was not entirely unfair. In the hand, it was a genuinely beautiful object with that glossy silver finish and when I snapped it shut, the crisp magnetic click of the fold closing drew an audible reaction from the room. It was the most tactile, satisfying thing a phone had done since flip phones died. For me, it was the future arriving early.
Seven years on, foldables are here to stay. This week, Samsung Australia unveiled its biggest swing at the category that little device created: the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Flip8, alongside two new smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra2. It’s the company’s eighth generation of foldables and, on paper and in the hand, its most complete lineup to date.
The Company That Kept Betting On Big
Before we get to the new devices, a little history — because Samsung’s foldable story didn’t start in 2019 with the original Galaxy Fold. It arguably started in 2011, when the first Galaxy Note landed with a 5.3-inch screen and the tech press laughed at the “phablet”. Too big, they said. Nobody wants that.
Everybody, it turned out, wanted that. Within a few years the entire industry had followed Samsung into bigger screens, and the Note’s DNA lives on in every large-format flagship sold today.
That willingness to be early is exactly what led Samsung to fold a screen in half when the rest of the industry was still perfecting rectangles. The Galaxy Fold I held up at CEBIT was gloriously imperfect, and the screen debacle of 2019 could have killed the category before it began. Instead, Samsung did what it has always done with big-screen bets: it kept iterating. Eight generations on, foldables are no longer an experiment; they’re a category Samsung created, refined and still leads. As a user of the earlier models myself, I’ve watched that evolution up close: the hinges have become smoother, the crease has faded, the weight has dropped and that satisfying snap of the fold closing, the detail that won me over on stage, has only become more precise. The “should I?” hesitation has given way to “why would I ever go back?”
Galaxy Z Fold8: A Brand-New Shape
The headline act this year is the Galaxy Z Fold8, which introduces a first-of-its-kind, passport-like form factor built around how we actually consume content. Folded, its 10:16 cover screen suits the quick check-ins — messages, socials, short-form video. Unfolded, a 4:3 main display becomes a canvas for films and games; rotate it, and the same ratio is suddenly perfect for reading long-form articles and e-books.
At 201g, it’s Samsung’s lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet, with dual 50MP cameras, a 4,800mAh battery and the new Flex Titanium display technology — a titanium-based structure that makes the display thinner while reducing crease visibility over time. Pricing starts at $2,699.
From hands-free shooting and real-time preview to cover-screen selfie videos and Flip-only mirror selfies,
Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra: The Productivity Powerhouse
For those of us who essentially run a business from our phone, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is the one to watch. It brings Samsung’s Ultra standard to foldables for the first time in this form: an expansive 8-inch main display, a 200MP main camera with 8K video recording, a 5,000mAh battery with 45W fast charging, and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy at its core — all in Samsung’s slimmest Z Fold design yet, measuring just 4.1mm unfolded.
The multitasking here is underpinned by what Samsung calls the next evolution of agentic AI — Galaxy AI that doesn’t just answer, but anticipates, with features like Now Brief and Now Nudge surfacing next steps as your plans take shape. Pricing starts at $2,999, topping out at $3,899 for the 16GB + 1TB model.
Galaxy Z Flip8: The Sleekest Flip Yet
The Galaxy Z Flip8 is Samsung’s thinnest and lightest flip phone ever — 180g and just 6.1mm thick unfolded. The reimagined, AI-native FlexWindow puts information and Gemini Intelligence on the cover screen, while the 50MP FlexCam with ProVisual Engine makes it a genuinely brilliant selfie and content-creation tool. It starts at $1,949, and comes in Cream, Graphite and Pink, with Mint as an online exclusive.
Two Watches, Two Very Different Wearers
Samsung has drawn a clear line through its wearables range this year, and I suspect a lot of readers will see themselves instantly on one side of it.
The Galaxy Watch9 is the everyday wellness companion — lightweight aluminium casing, that signature cushion silhouette, a 3,000-nit display and AI-powered health insights spanning sleep, heart health, cardio load and even hearing protection. It starts at $649.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra2 is for the adventurers. It packs an 800mAh battery (a 35% jump on the previous Ultra), a world-first 5,000-nit display readable in full sunlight, titanium casing and an EN13319 certification that makes it an actual diving instrument — enter the water and it automatically tracks depth, time and temperature. There’s also a new Trail Run mode and real-time hydration guidance via Nutrition Alert. It’s priced at $1,299.
Both run the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite platform and come with a 60-day Strava trial and two months of iFIT.
Pricing, Pre-Orders And Offers
Pre-orders opened in Australia on 23 July, with general availability from 14 August. Pre-order offers run until 13 August and include bonus trade-in credit or Eco Vouchers on the foldables via Samsung.com (up to $150), $100 off the Galaxy Watch9 and $250 off the Watch Ultra2 with the code TIME2SAVE, plus gift cards of up to $300 at participating retailers and savings of up to $800 through Telstra, Optus and TPG (Vodafone) on payment plans.
For more information, visit samsung.com/au/smartphones and samsung.com/au/watches.
The Verdict (For Now)
Fifteen years ago, Samsung bet that we’d want bigger screens in our pockets. Seven years ago, it bet we’d want to fold them. Both times, the sceptics were loud — and both times, wrong. When I snapped that Space Silver Galaxy Fold shut on the CEBIT stage in 2019, the room heard the future clicking into place — even if the reviews of the day hadn’t caught up yet.
The question for many of us now has finally moved from whether a foldable can replace our phone to which one suits the way we live. The technology I once demonstrated as a glimpse of what was coming is now simply how millions of people carry theirs.
