Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Rumors, leaks, and everything we want to see

Samsung's new Galaxy Z Flip 7 is here, so it's time to look forward to the Galaxy Z Flip 8. The phone isn't expected for another year, but it's never too early to speculate on what may be. After all, Samsung has likely already begun work on its next flip phone.

Based solely on our brief time with the Galaxy Z Flip 7, it's not hard to see where the strengths and weaknesses lie. This helps us speculate the areas where we could see improvements with the Galaxy Z Flip 8, as well as places where Samsung may not change anything at all.

So, what can we expect from the Galaxy Z Flip 8, and what do we want to see? Let's take a look.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Price and release date

Samsung only just launched the Galaxy Z Flip 7 in early July, meaning we probably won't expect the Galaxy Z Flip 8 until next July. While previous summer Unpacked events took place in August, Samsung seems set on July being the new launch month for its foldables. Thus, barring any changes, we can expect a similar time frame for 2026.

As for pricing, there's no reason to believe Samsung will increase the price on the Galaxy Z Flip 8. We saw a $100 increase with the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but the Flip 7 retained the same pricing despite the new chip and larger cover screen.

Meanwhile, if Samsung continues to launch new Galaxy Z Flip FE models, we do hope that it considers lowering the price to something that matches the Razr 2025, for example.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Design and displays

Samsung is known to utilize smartphone designs over multiple years. Since the company just introduced a fresh design for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, we don't expect anything drastic for 2026. The phone will likely look very similar to this year's Flip, save for some minor cosmetic changes such as new colors and slightly different dimensions.

In fact, we hope Samsung doesn't make any drastic changes, as the company has seemingly perfected the Galaxy Z Flip 7 design.

Samsung was able to shave off some millimeters on the Z Flip 7 chassis, making the phone much thinner than its predecessor and its closest competitor. We hope that the Z Flip 8 is able to retain the same thinness, even with any potential changes Samsung makes.

One small change Samsung implemented from the Flip 5 to the Flip 6 was a color-matched ring around the camera lenses. Samsung could make a similar change next year.

Meanwhile, the displays are likely to remain the same. That means that Galaxy Z Flip 8 could retain the 6.9-inch primary folding display and external 4.1-inch panel. An improved hinge design has resulted in a minimal crease compared to previous generations, something we expect Samsung to continue to improve.

Lastly, Samsung may introduce different colors with the Galaxy Z Flip 8. We do hope some Galaxy Z Flip 7 colors remain, such as the Navy Blue and Coralred, but we would like to see other bold and vibrant colors, like the green it introduced with the Galaxy S22 series.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Hardware

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 was a notable departure for Samsung, arriving with the Exynos 2500 instead of the Snapdragon chip powering the rest of the company's flagship phones. Although there was no explanation provided, it's likely due to cost and efficiency considerations, given the nature of flip phones.

Because of this, we expect Samsung may stick with Exynos for the Galaxy Z Flip 8. In fact, Samsung has reportedly been working on a 2nm Exynos 2600. According to reports, it seems yields for the new chip are pretty high, and Samsung seems confident enough in its upcoming chip that it will power the Galaxy S26 series. Early benchmarks also suggest that the chip could be quite impressive, which is good news for the Galaxy Z Flip 8.

Aside from an Exynos chip, we expect the phone to feature at least 12GB of RAM to power Samsung's Galaxy AI features. It will also likely come with 256GB and 512GB of storage, as Samsung has yet to launch a model with 1TB of storage.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 received a battery increase from 4,000mAh to 4,300mAh, which is impressive given the slimmer profile. Samsung could increase the capacity, which it often does each year for some of its flagships, but it may also have the same battery. We also expect the same 25W wired charging speed, although given the decrease to 10W wireless charging on the Z Flip 7, we're unsure about what the Galaxy Z Flip 8 will end up with in that regard.

Samsung has been questioning consumers about whether or not they want Qi2 magnets on their phones, which could suggest the company is looking into implementing this on its future phones. However, it's unclear if this will work on the Galaxy Z Flip 8. Motorola told Android Central that the Razr Ultra 2025 did not receive Qi2 because the magnets would not work with the design of the phone.

As for the cameras, Samsung is known to reuse sensors for multiple generations, meaning we can probably expect the Galaxy Z Flip 8 to have a 50MP primary sensor and 12MP ultrawide. This probably won't be a bad thing since Samsung phones normally have excellent quality.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: Software

By the time Samsung launches the Galaxy Z Flip 8, the company is likely to introduce the next version of One UI, which should be based on Android 17. We don't really know what to expect from Android 17 or One UI, but it will likely follow Android 16's example with Material 3 Expressive and expand on it.

With the next version and a new chip, we can expect new software and Galaxy AI features, although at the time of writing, we couldn't say what those will be.

Furthermore, the Galaxy Z Flip 8 will likely receive software support from Samsung for up to 7 years, which has been the company's standard for its flagship phones.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8: What we want to see

There isn't much to go buy given the lack of rumors and leaks, so we can't paint a full picture. However, we can still wish for what we want to see based on the current (and even past) Galaxy Z Flip, with the hopes that Samsung will listen and deliver. Here are some of the features we hope to see:

Faster charging

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 was already a bit of a downgrade on the charging front, which is unfortunate to see on a $1,099 phone. The 25W charging speed is simply okay, but with phones like the Razr reaching as much as 68W, it's clear Samsung is purposely holding it back.

With the Galaxy Z Flip 8, we hope Samsung will finally give us flagship charging speeds, at least as much as 45W wired and 15W or more for wireless charging. This way, it will at least match some of the company's midrange phones and keep up with the steadily increasing battery capacity.

Qi2 support will also be nice, especially if built-in magnets are involved.

AI button

The Motorola Razr Ultra 2025 includes an AI Key, which is meant to be a handy way to access Moto AI at the press of a button (and freeing the power button). Samsung used ot have a customizable Bixby button until several years back, and we would love to see that return on the company's 2026 models.

With the prevalence of Galaxy AI and Google's Gemini, having a dedicated AI button makes more sense now than it did five years ago. We just hope Samsung doesn't fumble it like Motorola did and lets users get more out of it.

Better use of cover screen

It's surprising that we still have to say this in 2025, especially after the success of the Motorola Razr series, but Samsung needs a bit of an overhaul for the cover screen software. The company still forces users to go through hoops to allow apps on the cover screen, and that needs to change.

Samsung already did the right thing by expanding the size of the cover screen, but now it almost seems like a wasted opportunity. Motorola's cover screen experience almost mirrors the regular display, so it's odd to see Samsung continue to refuse to natively support this feature.