My First Day With the Galaxy Z Fold 7: This Foldable Finally Feels Just Right to Me

There's something slightly ironic about the superslim Galaxy Z Fold 7. Because the generous 6.5-inch cover screen feels much more normal than those found on previous versions of Samsung's foldable, I've hardly bothered opening the phone to use the sprawling inside display -- despite that kind of being the whole point. 

That's not a bad thing. Rather, it's a testament to how Samsung has managed to make both displays practical and useful. The cover screen no longer feels like an awkward compromise. Instead, it feels wonderfully ordinary.

That's largely due to how much Samsung slimmed down its latest book-style foldable. The Z Fold 7 is just 8.9mm thick when closed and 4.2mm thick when open. It also weighs a mere 215 grams, which is impressive for a book-style foldable. It joins the ranks of other skinny foldables like the Oppo Find N5, the Huawei Mate X6 and the Honor Magic V3 -- and outslims them by a hair. 

The cover screen feels like just the right size this time around.

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During my first day with the Z Fold 7, I've used the cover screen to do everything from navigating New York City to snapping photos and posting them to Instagram. I've opted for the internal screen when watching videos or multitasking, like checking my email while surfing the web or streaming music. I like that using the bigger screen now feels more like a choice than a necessity.

Watch this: Ultra Thin: First Look at the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7

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Scaling back on compromises 

Just a month and a half ago, Samsung launched the S25 Edge, which also boasts a slim profile, albeit one that's slightly thicker than the Z Fold 7's, at 5.8mm. That phone essentially set the stage for the Z Fold 7, and I'm surprised how quickly I got used to both phones' feather-light form factors. It's hard to go back to anything else.

Like the S25 Edge, the Z Fold 7 has a sturdiness that keeps it from feeling like it's going to bend in my hand. It sports a Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 cover and a Victus 2 backing, which gives me some peace of mind, as I refuse to slap on a case and add any additional bulk. I trekked New York's concrete jungle and tossed the phone in my bag without worrying too much about durability. I hope that confidence is well-placed in the long run. 

The Z Fold 7's thinness helps it feel wonderfully ordinary when closed.

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Something else Samsung's two skinny phones have in common is a 200-megapixel main camera, like the one you'll find on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The Z Fold 7 also has a 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel telephoto camera, along with 10-megapixel selfie cameras. This results in some beautifully vivid shots, with balanced colors in both light and dark settings. Here are a few of my favorites:

My colleague Tara Brown strikes a pose at Samsung's Unpacked Night. I love how crisp this portrait shot is. (You can even see the food on the table in full focus!)

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I snapped a selfie with CNET's Tara Brown and Vanessa Hand Orellana using the cover screen camera. Not too shabby! 

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

I swung by the Morgan Library in New York to see how the phone would photograph darker, more textured settings. I'm quite pleased with the warmth and detail in this one.

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

The camera really ate with this one. This was snapped using food mode.

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The colorful contrast of the flowers against the dark New York sky is pleasingly punchy. 

Abrar Al-Heeti/CNET

The trade-off in getting nice images is that the camera bump is pretty noticeable and detracts a bit from that overall slim design. But that's a compromise I'm willing to embrace. 

The camera bump on the Z Fold 7 isn't very subtle, but that's the cost of getting three solid cameras.

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Unlike the S25 Edge, which sports a mere 3,900-mAh battery, the Z Fold 7 thankfully doesn't compromise on battery capacity. It maintains the 4,400 mAh from last year's Z Fold 6, which means I went about my day without pondering how long my phone would last. After 6 hours of regular use, the battery went from full to a solid 70%, before I put the phone aside for my flight back to San Francisco. I look forward to running more thorough battery tests once I've had more time with the Z Fold 7. 

Multitasking is where the inside screen really shines.

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A clear use case

The Galaxy S25 Edge is a cool phone, but without much of an obvious selling point beyond the neatness factor. The Galaxy Z Fold 7, on the other hand, presents a more enticing pitch: You essentially get a phone and tablet in one, without the clunkiness of a hybrid device. 

But scaling back a phone's size does the opposite to its price tag. The Z Fold 7 costs a whopping $2,000. That follows the pattern of $100 price hikes over the last couple of years; the Z Fold 6 cost $1,900, and the Z Fold 5 was $1,800. Anyone eyeing this year's foldable will have to decide if they're willing to buy a slimmer phone, even if it means a much slimmer wallet.

So far though, the Z Fold 7 is doing a decent job proving its worth, even if the price seems inflated. I'll just need to remind myself every now and then to take advantage of the full real estate on board.