The Foldable Phone Is Getting Harder To Ignore
Samsung launched three new foldables — thinner, smarter, and more expensive than ever — led by a RM10,499 Ultra that shoots 8K video, runs AI agents, and still has a crease.
- Samsung launched three new foldables, the Z Fold8 Ultra, Z Fold8, and Z Flip8, priced from RM5,399 to RM10,499.
- Pre-orders offer stacked savings of up to RM1,950 off, though the flagship still costs RM10,499.
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Samsung launched three new foldables today (22 July) — the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Z Fold8, and Z Flip8 — starting from RM5,399 and going all the way to RM10,499 for a phone that, when unfolded, is still smaller than an A5 notebook
All three run on One UI 9 based on Android 17, with AI tools baked in deep enough that Samsung has stopped calling them features and started calling them agents.
The flagship of the flagship, Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, is a 200MP main camera, 8K video, Cine LUT colour controls, and a 6.5-inch cover screen that is, by itself, a perfectly decent phone.
Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and weighs 215g — about the same as a large egg and a half.
Folds to 8.9mm thick, unfolds to 4.1mm.
Samsung calls this engineering.
Your wrist will have opinions.
Galaxy Z Fold8 — RM7,299 to RM9,699
The one most people will actually consider.
Wider cover screen now in a 10:16 ratio, main display in 4:3 — closer to a tablet than its predecessor.
Dual 50MP cameras, and dual Recording lets you shoot with front and rear simultaneously.
My FanCam tracks a subject automatically, which is either very useful or very unsettling depending on who you point it at.
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Galaxy Z Flip8 — RM5,399 to RM6,199
The affordable one; relative term.
Runs on Exynos 2600 instead of Snapdragon — Samsung’s in-house chip, which Samsung insists is fine.
6.1mm thin when open.
The 4.1-inch FlexWindow cover display is now large enough to be genuinely useful, not just for checking notifications and feeling smug.
New Camcorder Grip mode turns it sideways for horizontal video.
The internet will use this exclusively for vertical video anyway.
@milesabovetech The Thinnest and Lightest Z Flip! #zflip8 #samsung #techtok #android #milesabovetech ♬ original sound – Zy💤 – Zy slime video's 💫
The Flex Titanium Thing
Both Fold models now use a titanium-alloy film layered over a titanium plate beneath the display — Samsung’s answer to the crease that has haunted foldables since 2019. The crease is still there. It is now, apparently, structurally supported.
All three are rated IP48 — dust resistance not guaranteed, water resistance up to 1.5 metres.
But don’t drop it in the pool.
Don’t drop it at all.
At RM10,499, you will feel it.
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The AI
One UI 9 introduces Now Brief, Now Nudge, and Gemini Intelligence — tools designed to handle multi-app tasks with fewer taps.
In practice: your phone will start anticipating what you need before you ask.
Whether that’s convenient or quietly alarming is a matter of personal philosophy.
Every buyer also gets a free 6-month Google AI Pro trial with 5TB cloud storage, worth RM97.99 a month.
Samsung is essentially paying you RM587 to try Google’s AI.
On a Samsung phone, running Android.
The irony is structural, like the titanium.
Pre-Order Now, Regret Later — But With Benefits
Samsung Malaysia opened pre-orders now running until 13 August, with launch rewards that can stack up to RM1,950 off — which still won’t make the RM10,499 model cheap, but it helps.
The biggest single saving is an RM800 instant rebate, plus another RM500 off if you pay with the right bank credit card — so choosing your payment method actually matters this time.
If you were smart enough to register your interest early, that RM250 Samsung Reservation+ Voucher you got is real money, so dig it out.
| Perk | Value |
|---|---|
| Trade-in rebate | Up to RM800 |
| Bank instant rebate | Up to RM500 |
| Samsung Rewards Points Booster | Up to RM400 |
| Reservation+ voucher | RM250 |
| Google AI Pro (6 months) | RM587.94 equivalent |
| Accessory discount | Up to 30% off |
| Samsung Care+ | First 3 months free (Samsung.com only) |
| Instalment plan | 0% interest, up to 36 months |
Samsung Rewards members get an additional RM400 in points, and accessories like cases and chargers are up to 30% off when bought together with the phone.
For anyone not ready to pay upfront, there’s a 0% interest instalment plan stretching up to 36 months — because Samsung knows exactly how long it takes most people to mentally accept spending this much on a phone.
Stack everything right, and you’re looking at close to RM2,500 in combined value off a phone that costs RM10,499.
It’s still RM10,499.
| Model | 256 GB | 512 GB | 1 TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Z Fold8 Ultra | RM8,099 | RM8,899 | RM10,499 |
| Z Fold8 | RM7,299 | RM8,099 | RM9,699 |
| Z Flip8 | RM5,399 | RM6,199 | — |
Stop Showing Off, Start Being Useful
The products were unveiled during the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event that took place in London, U.K, featuring TM Roh, Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division, delivering the main keynote address to unveil Samsung’s newest generation of devices.
Roh said one thing clearly: the AI on your phone should stop showing off and start being useful.
His vision is a phone that quietly learns how you live — how you sleep, how you work, how you move — and acts on your behalf without you having to ask.
He argued that foldables aren’t just a gimmick; the bigger screen is actually the right canvas for AI to do serious work, like editing, summarising, and multitasking without squinting.
The phones are also getting thinner and lighter, because an AI assistant you don’t want to carry is no assistant at all.
And because a phone that knows everything about you is also a phone that can betray you, Roh promised that Samsung Knox (a multi-layered security and device management platform built into Samsung Galaxy devices) stays between your data and everyone else.
Live, From London, Watched in KLCC
In Malaysia, the launch was marked with a live watch party at Smith & Wollensky Kuala Lumpur, Suria KLCC — one of the city’s better steak houses, which tells you something about how Samsung feels about this lineup.
Media and guests gathered on the evening of 22 July to watch the global Unpacked stream live before getting their hands on the devices at dedicated experiential zones.
Samsung Malaysia president Charles Kim was present at the event, signalling that this wasn’t just a routine product drop — it was a statement.
The room watched Roh’s keynote from London in real time, and by the time the prices appeared on screen, the conversations had already started.
After the stream, guests moved to the experiential zones, where the devices were available to handle, fold, unfold, and quietly calculate whether 36 months at 0% interest is actually a reasonable life decision.
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