.png "Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Design and Hardware Review")
The claim matters because it is not about photo quality at all. The 10MP inner camera is sharp, and Snyder does not dispute that. The problem is geometric, and it works like this: the 4:3 screen is the first Fold panel that makes rotating the phone into portrait genuinely worthwhile for reading and scrolling, and when you do, the camera cutout, which sat harmlessly at the top in landscape, ends up floating inside your article, your photos and your social feed. With the phone starting at $1,899.99 in the US, 1,999 euros in Europe and 1,699 pounds in the UK at launch, buyers are right to ask what that cutout costs them.
At a Glance
- The Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 7.6-inch, roughly 4:3 inner display designed to kill the black bars of square-ish foldables, with a 5.5-inch cover screen at a 10:16 ratio that the reviewer finds too short for feeds and reading, which is what pushed him to the portrait mode in the first place.
- Its 10MP inner selfie camera sits in a hole-punch cutout at the top-middle of the right half of the folding screen, per Android Authority's hands-on review.
- The reviewer's verdict: the placement was already criticized on the Z Fold 7, and it is worse on the Fold 8 because the wide screen makes portrait orientation genuinely useful for the first time.
- Two fixes were available: an under-display camera, which Samsung used from the Z Fold 3 through the Z Fold 6, or a corner placement like Google's, Honor's and Motorola's foldables. Samsung chose neither.
- The Galaxy Z Fold 8 also dropped Flex Mode entirely, confirmed by SamMobile; the hinge cannot reliably hold half-open angles per Android Police, and Tech Advisor reports the likely reason is cost cutting during the memory price surge. Samsung has not explained the removal.
- The Fold 8 also drops the telephoto lens that earlier Folds carried, a separate cost-trimming decision The Guardian called poor for this kind of money.
- Pricing at launch: $1,899.99 in the US, 1,999 euros in Europe and 1,699 pounds in the UK for the 256GB Fold 8; the Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,099.99 in the US and 2,199 euros in Europe.
- An Android Authority reader poll of 359 foldable users found 51 percent never use the inner selfie camera, and only 6 percent use it frequently.
Why This Matters
The Fold 8 is Samsung's most aggressive foldable redesign in years, and its wider screen changes how people actually hold the phone. A camera placement that looked acceptable on the tall, nearly square Z Fold 7 becomes a daily annoyance on a device whose best new trick is portrait reading and scrolling, at a launch price of nearly two thousand dollars or two thousand euros in its two biggest markets.
There is a broader design question underneath the complaint, one Samsung will have to answer for every future foldable: does the main-screen selfie camera justify itself at all? Android Authority's reader poll suggests most foldable users never touch it, and the Fold 8's missing Flex Mode removes the one scenario, half-open video calls, where it made sense.
Main Story
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrived on July 22 as the wide member of Samsung's 2026 foldable trio. Its 7.6-inch inner panel at 1,848 by 2,448 pixels produces a roughly 4:3 aspect ratio, the same shape class as most iPad screens, while the 5.5-inch cover screen is short and stout at 10:16. Snyder found that the wide screen handles 16:9 video in landscape better than any foldable he has previously used, and he concluded it also created a portrait mode worth using daily for reading, news and social feeds, something the square-screened Ultra cannot offer.
That daily portrait habit is what exposed the camera. On the Z Fold 8, the hole-punch sits in the top-middle of the right half of the unfolding display, so in landscape it floats inside the picture area and in portrait it intrudes directly on articles, photos and feeds. Snyder notes the cutout only disappears completely when black bars extend past it, which for most modern content means almost never.
How the inner camera reached this point across Samsung's own generations:
Samsung is also an outlier among its rivals on placement. Motorola's Razr Fold, Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold, which launched the same month, and Honor's Magic V6 all position their inner cameras away from the content area, in the top corner of the folding screen, where they hide beside the status bar and fade from attention. The corner solution costs nothing, which is why the review argues the middle placement is the hardest cutout choice to defend.
Camera placement across the current book-style foldable field:
One more Samsung decision makes the placement feel more puzzling. The Fold 8 does not support Flex Mode at all. SamMobile confirmed through the settings app that the feature menu is gone, and found the display can still physically rest half-open, but Android Police's testing found the hinge cannot hold those angles without slowly opening or closing, and Tech Advisor, which describes the hinge as the same Flex Titanium design family as the Ultra's, reports the likely explanation is cost during the industry-wide memory price surge. Samsung has not explained the change, and the feature remains on the Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8. The practical result: the one scenario where a main-screen camera shines, propped-up video calling, is the one the Fold 8 cannot do, which strengthens the argument that the cutout now buys nothing but obstruction.
The hardware trim does not stop at the hinge, either. The Fold 8 carries two 50MP rear cameras and no telephoto lens, where previous Folds and the Fold 8 Ultra keep a dedicated zoom camera, a decision The Guardian's review called poor for this kind of money and Tech Advisor links to the 200 pound and 200 dollar price gap against the Ultra.
The three realistic fixes, and what each would cost Samsung:
Reader sentiment backs the critical view, with nuance. In Android Authority's poll of 359 foldable users, 51 percent said they never use the inner selfie camera, 27 percent said rarely, and only 6 percent said frequently. Yet the top reader comment on the review pushes back on the radical fix, arguing the camera should be improved or moved under the display rather than removed, precisely because video calls matter on a device that could regain proper Flex Mode behavior in future generations. Snyder's own position is more extreme: he would drop the camera entirely and spend the space on the screen and the battery.
What is fact, what is opinion, and what is unresolved:
What Happens Next
The question now is whether Samsung treats this as a Fold 9 design input. The company reversed last year's Exynos-only Flip strategy within one generation after regional complaints, so camera placement could follow a similar path. Watch for under-display camera progress across the industry and for whether the Z Fold 9 restores Flex Mode, which would change the math on whether the inner camera earns its cutout.
FAQ
Where exactly is the selfie camera on the Galaxy Z Fold 8's inner screen?
It is a 10MP hole-punch cutout at the top-middle of the right half of the folding display, per Android Authority's hands-on review. In landscape it sits inside the video picture area, and in the phone's portrait orientation it intrudes on reading and scrolling content.
Does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 have an under-display camera?
No. Samsung used a 4MP under-display camera from the Z Fold 3 in 2021 through the Z Fold 6 in 2024, but switched to a sharper 10MP hole-punch on the Z Fold 7 in 2025 and kept the hole-punch on the Fold 8.
Does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 have a telephoto camera?
No. The Fold 8 carries a 50MP main and 50MP ultrawide with no zoom lens, a cut The Guardian criticized at this price. The zoom hardware went to the Fold 8 Ultra, which adds a 200MP main camera, a 10MP telephoto, Flex Mode support and a higher starting price of $2,099.99 in the US and 2,199 euros in Europe. For size context, the Ultra also unfolds physically wider, at 143.2mm against the Fold 8's 123.9mm, though the Fold 8's roughly 4:3 panel is the one Samsung markets as wide.
How much does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 cost?
At launch the 256GB model was priced at $1,899.99 in the US, 1,999 euros in Europe and 1,699 pounds in the UK. In the US, the 512GB model lists at $2,099 and the 1TB model at $2,499.
Does the Galaxy Z Fold 8 support Flex Mode?
No. SamMobile confirmed the Flex Mode settings menu is gone, Android Police found the hinge cannot reliably hold half-open positions, and Tech Advisor reports cost cutting during the memory price surge as the likely reason. Samsung has not explained the removal, and the Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 retain the feature.
Which foldables place the inner camera in a better spot?
Motorola's Razr Fold, Google's Pixel 11 Pro Fold and Honor's Magic V6 all move the inner camera to the top corner of the folding screen, where it mostly hides beside the status bar and stays out of portrait content, according to Android Authority, 9to5Google and GSMArena.
Bottom Line
The Galaxy Z Fold 8's wide, roughly 4:3 screen solved Samsung's old black-bar problem and accidentally created a new one: reviewers now live in portrait mode, where the mid-right 10MP hole-punch cuts directly through content, all on a phone that launched at $1,899.99 in the US, 1,999 euros in Europe and 1,699 pounds in the UK, without Flex Mode and without a telephoto lens. The specs are confirmed, the frustration is genuine and documented, and with 51 percent of polled foldable users saying they never use the inner camera anyway, Samsung's cheapest fixes, a corner punch or a returning under-display camera, are sitting ready for the Z Fold 9.
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