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The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has better camera specs and a higher-capacity battery than its smaller sibling, but its dimensions aren't as well-suited to video streaming, and it costs more.

• Includes a telephoto camera
• High-capacity 5,000mAh battery
• Big screens

• Very expensive
• Large size won't suit everyone

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is smaller than its Ultra counterpart and lacks a telephoto camera, but it also costs less, has just as much power, and boasts a compact display that may suit some users better.

• Lower price than the Z Fold 8 Ultra
• Top-end power
• More pocket-friendly than the Ultra

• No telephoto camera
• Smaller battery than the Ultra

Samsung has unveiled three new foldable phones — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8. And while the last of that trio falls into its own category, the former two phones have a lot in common.

Aside from having similar names, they’re both book-style foldables, and they also share plenty of specs. But between very different form factors and differences in their respective camera setups, there's lots to differentiate them, too.

So, below, we’ve compared the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, so you can easily understand how they stack up. We haven't reviewed either model just yet, but we have been hands-on with both, and so have been able to draw some early conclusions as to who they're best suited to.

Before we look closer at the key features of these two phones, we've detailed their core specs below, so you can see their major similarities and differences at a glance.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8

Dimensions (unfolded):

158.4 x 143.2 x 4.1mm

161.4 x 123.9 x 4.5mm

Dimensions (folded):

158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9mm

81.9 x 123.9 x 9.7mm

Weight:

215g

201g

Foldable display:

8.0-inch 2256 x 2504 AMOLED, 120Hz

7.6-inch 1828 x 2448 AMOLED, 120Hz

Cover screen:

6.5-inch 1080 x 2520 AMOLED, 120Hz

5.5-inch 1248 x 1972 AMOLED, 120Hz

Chipset:

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy

RAM:

12GB / 16GB

12GB / 16GB

Rear cameras:

200MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide, 10MP telephoto

50MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide

Front camera:

10MP and 10MP

10MP and 10MP

Battery:

5,000mAh

4,800mAh

Charging:

45W wired, 20W wireless

45W wired, 20W wireless

Storage:

256GB / 512GB / 1TB

256GB / 512GB / 1TB

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 were both announced on July 22, with pre-orders opening the same day.

General availability for both phones starts on August 7, though if you pre-order, you might get them earlier — at the time of writing, we’re seeing an August 3 delivery date in the UK, for example.

As for pricing, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899.99 / £1,699 / AU$2,699. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is more expensive, with a starting price of $2,099.99 / £1,899 / AU$2,999. In both cases, that’s with 256GB of storage, though you can pick either model up in 512GB and 1TB configurations.

So, in other words, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra starts at $200 / £200 / AU$300 more than the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Storage

US price

UK price

AU price

256GB

$2,099.99

£1,899

AU$2,999

512GB

$2,299.99

£2,069

AU$3,299

1TB

$2,699.99

£2,409

AU$3,899

Storage

US price

UK price

AU price

256GB

$1,899.99

£1,699

AU$2,699

512GB

$2,099.99

£1,869

AU$2,999

1TB

$2,499.99

£2,209

AU$3,599

In some ways, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 have similar designs — after all, they’re both foldable phones that fold and unfold horizontally like a book. However, their shapes and dimensions differ a lot.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra looks a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, with a tall, narrow design, leading to dimensions of 158.4 x 143.2 x 4.1mm when unfolded, 158.4 x 72.8 x 8.9mm when folded, and a weight of 215g.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, on the other hand, is shorter and wider, looking more like a passport than a book, with dimensions of 161.4 x 123.9 x 4.5mm when unfolded, 81.9 x 123.9 x 9.7mm when folded, and a weight of 201g.

Both phones, though, have an IP48 rating, meaning they’re water-resistant to depths of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes, and also resistant to dust and other objects greater than 1mm in size.

They also both have aluminum frames, and share Samsung's Flex Titanium technology, meaning their hinges are similarly invisible (you will notice their respective hinges at certain angles, but Samsung has come a long way in this department since the days of the original Galaxy Fold).

As for colors, while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is sold in Graphite, Cream, Green Shadow, and Violet Shadow, the Z Fold 8 can be bought in Graphite, Cream, Lavender, and Pistachio shades.

Now we get to the biggest difference between these two phones: their displays. Or rather, the shape and purpose of those displays.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has an 8.0-inch 2256 x 2504 foldable AMOLED screen and a 6.5-inch 1080 x 2520 AMOLED cover screen, both with a 120Hz refresh rate and around 422 pixels per inch.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a 7.6-inch 1828 x 2448 foldable AMOLED screen with around 403 pixels per inch and a 5.5-inch 1248 x 1972 AMOLED cover screen with roughly 428 pixels per inch.

So, both screens on the standard Z Fold 8 are noticeably smaller, but the aspect ratios arguably make a bigger difference, with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra having an almost square 1.11:1 foldable screen and a narrow 21:9 cover screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, on the other hand, has a 4:3 foldable screen, which is ideal for widescreen content, and a 10:16 cover screen, which is a bit more square than a typical phone and can be easily covered with one hand from top to bottom.

The taller, narrower Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra does have size benefits of its own, mind. It's harder to stretch your thumb to the top of this phone's display, but it's more easily covered with one hand from left to right. And when open, the Ultra is better suited to productivity apps that display square-shaped content like spreadsheets.

For video streaming, you'll want to go for the Galaxy Z Fold 8, since most video content is displayed in 16:9 (you'll see smaller black bars on a 4:3 screen), and it's arguably the better-shaped phone for gaming, too.

There are big differences between the cameras on these two phones, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra coming out on top. This device has a 200MP f/1.7 wide camera, a 50MP f/1.9 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, and a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto with 3x optical zoom. It also has a 10MP selfie camera on each screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 has one fewer camera and fewer megapixels in its wide one. Specifically, you’re getting a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 50MP f/1.9 ultra-wide with a 120-degree field of view, and two 10MP selfie cameras. So, it lacks the telephoto snapper found on the Ultra.

Both phones, though, are capable of recording video in up to 8K quality at 30fps, or in 4K at up to 120fps.

We haven't had a chance to test both phones' cameras just yet, but we'll update this article with images when we have. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra will, for obvious reasons, be the superior zoom shooter, but there isn't likely to be too much to choose between the phones' 200MP and 50MP wide cameras, since both will default to smaller photo sizes anyway, as is standard practice for modern smartphones.

There’s nothing to choose here, with both the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Z Fold 8 having a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset and 12GB of RAM — unless you get a 1TB model, in which case you’ll get 16GB of RAM.

This combination of specs will ensure top-end performance regardless of what you're doing on your phone, and in our short time with both devices, they're equally capable gaming phones and productivity powerhouses (notwithstanding their respective display sizes, which makes each better suited to different tasks).

Both the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 8 also run Android 17 overlaid with One UI 9, and come with the promise of seven major Android upgrades.

Samsung has finally started putting silicon-carbon batteries in its phones, allowing for higher-capacity batteries in the same footprint. As a result, it's managed to pack a 5,000mAh battery into the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (up from 4,400mAh in the Z Fold 7).

Unsurprisingly, the smaller Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 features a lower-capacity battery (4,800mAh), which should allow the Ultra to last slightly longer — but not by much.

Samsung claims you'll get 27 hours of video playback from the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, while the standard Galaxy Z Fold 8 is rated for 26 hours. In our early anecdotal testing, we've managed to use both phones for multiple days without needing to charge them, so those playback estimates are likely accurate.

Both phones also support up to 45W wired charging and 20W wireless, so you won't be losing out on charging speed by picking one phone over the other.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has bigger, more productivity-friendly screens than the Galaxy Z Fold 8, along with an extra camera, more megapixels in its wide camera, and a slightly higher-capacity battery. However, it also costs $200 / £200 / AU$300 more, and offers identical power.

Its larger screens also won’t be desirable for everyone — indeed, the Galaxy Z Fold 8's screens are much more video-friendly, and may soon become the norm for foldables — so the only indisputable advantages of the pricier model are its cameras and larger battery (though on the latter, we're talking fine margins).

Whether those extra features are significant enough to justify the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra's higher price will, of course, be subjective, but you might want to wait for our full reviews to see how these two phones compare in practice.

• GenStorAIGE AI90 shifts AI memory beyond traditional GPU HBM limitations using SSDs
• PT200Z SSD supports constant cache updates during demanding inference workloads efficiently
• Eight RTX 5090 GPUs gain dramatically larger effective inference memory capacity

GenStorAIGE has introduced its AI90 inference acceleration platform at WAIC 2026, taking a storage-centric approach to expanding effective AI memory capacity.

Rather than depending solely on GPU high-bandwidth memory, the platform incorporates PCIe Gen5 solid-state drives directly into the memory hierarchy itself.

This allows portions of the Key-Value Cache used by large language models to sit outside GPU memory entirely.

AI90 combines HBM, system DRAM, and SSD into a unified three-tier memory structure for handling inference workloads.

By transparently offloading KV Cache data onto SSDs, the platform reduces pressure on GPU memory while supporting significantly larger workloads and longer context windows.

According to GenStorAIGE, this architecture cuts first-token latency from several seconds down to sub-second response times in supported configurations.

That represents up to a 50x improvement, alongside throughput gains reaching 5.1x and a roughly 39% reduction in GPU memory usage.

Combined with intelligent peer-to-peer GPU communication, the company states AI90 can accelerate inference by up to 5.8x on systems running eight Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 cards.

That multiplier effectively allows an eight-card setup to behave closer to a 46-GPU cluster during sustained inference tasks.

The architecture also supports context windows exceeding 128,000 tokens, enabling far larger document processing and conversation handling without exhausting available memory.

To support continuous write workloads generated by constant KV Cache updates, GenStorAIGE paired AI90 with its new PT200Z AI SSD.

Built using pSLC NAND flash and connected through a PCIe Gen5 x4 interface, the drive delivers sequential read speeds reaching 14.8 GB/s.

Random read performance hits approximately 3.1 million IOPS, while read latency sits at just 54 microseconds.

Write latency drops even further to 10 microseconds, supporting the rapid cache updates AI90's architecture depends on constantly.

Endurance ratings reach up to 100 drive writes per day, a figure suited for sustained enterprise AI workloads with constantly shifting cache data.

This design reflects a broader shift across AI infrastructure toward memory tiering, as LLMs increasingly outgrow the practical limits of GPU HBM alone.

Integrating extremely fast SSD storage into inference pipelines offers one method for scaling context length without requiring additional GPUs or larger HBM configurations.

Whether the performance claims hold outside controlled testing conditions remains genuinely unverified at this stage.

As with most vendor announcements, these performance figures come directly from GenStorAIGE and still require independent benchmarking across varied real-world AI workloads.

Via The Guru of 3D

• UC Irvine scientists develop hidden charging interface for long-term implanted medical devices
• Needle-access outlet powers implants without permanently exposing electrical connections
• Researchers achieve 16 Mbps data transfers via temporary implant-needle connections

A persistent challenge in bioelectronics is that exposed sockets invite microbial infection, while wireless charging antennas remain bulky.

Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have developed an implantable power outlet that remains beneath the skin and is accessed through a simple needle insertion.

Called the Implantable Bioelectronic Outlet (IBO), the device remains beneath the skin until electrical access is needed for charging, maintenance, or data retrieval.

Researchers describe the implant as a general access point compatible with sensors, neural interfaces, stimulators, and battery-powered systems already used in medicine.

The device consists mostly of soft spongy plastic containing pores roughly 150 micrometers wide, comparable to a very fine needle's diameter.

The sponge was first dipped into a highly conductive polymer, coating its pores with a layer between 100 and 200 nanometers thick.

They then applied a silicone rubber solution to form a protective, electrically insulating jacket around the exterior surface.

Several jacketed sponge layers were sandwiched between unmodified sponge layers and covered entirely in silicone rubber to complete the module.

According to Hyung Joon Shim, a postdoctoral scholar in electrical engineering at UC Irvine, the device stays fully beneath the skin between uses.

A needle is inserted only when electrical access becomes necessary and is removed immediately afterward.

In tests on mice and rats, researchers coupled the outlets with neural interface implants to recharge batteries and transfer data.

Data transfer reached nearly 16 Mbps, matching the implants' maximum possible speed during these experimental sessions.

Separate pig experiments paired the outlets with stimulation implants, delivering 20-microampere electrical pulses lasting 100 milliseconds each over extended periods.

The porous structure resisted cracking after more than 100 needle insertions with gauges ranging from 18 to 30.

The implanted outlets remained in the mice for over a year without degrading or causing visible complications.

Jennifer Gelinas, associate professor of pediatrics and anatomy and neurobiology at UC Irvine, said long-term safety is among the most critical requirements for any implantable technology.

Since test animals were anesthetized during charging sessions, real-world use in awake patients would require a different needle placement.

Gelinas suggested medical tape or an adhesive dressing, similar to methods used for standard intravenous needles, could stabilize the connection point.

Passing a needle through skin would likely cause brief discomfort comparable to a standard injection.

Future versions might incorporate smaller needles, topical anesthetics, or specialized coatings designed to reduce pain and inflammation during use.

Because the outlet needle would not require a hollow channel for fluid delivery, it could potentially be made thinner than conventional injection needles.

The scientists claim that this outlet could complement wireless technology, reserving needle access specifically for fast charging or large data transfers.

That said, the research team cautioned that evaluating pain, infection risk, and tissue response across repeated access sessions remains necessary before any patient testing begins.

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Saturday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Saturday, July 25 (game #1643).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

• S

• L

• F

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1644, are…

• STOMP
• LIMIT
• FUNKY
• STEAD

My major triumph this round was getting LIMIT.

I was given a head start with one of the "I"s in the correct position, but the clincher was guessing that there must be two of them.

From here on in it was a rare stress-free game.

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1644, are…

• FROWN
• SMOKE
• SPACE
• NINJA

• Quordle #1643, Saturday, 25 July: SALON, SHEEN, BURST, GOURD
• Quordle #1642, Friday, 24 July: DOLLY, EDIFY, LAGER, PRANK
• Quordle #1641, Thursday, 23 July: LADEN, EVICT, WOVEN, SHIRE
• Quordle #1640, Wednesday, 22 July: COYLY, SINGE, AWASH, AWOKE
• Quordle #1639, Tuesday, 21 July: TRUSS, AXIAL, SWINE, THING
• Quordle #1638, Monday, 20 July: ICING, SLICK, GAILY, RISEN
• Quordle #1637, Sunday, 19 July: SPURT, ACRID, THRUM, BLEEP
• Quordle #1636, Saturday, 18 July: KNAVE, TIGHT, BLEAT, CHAOS
• Quordle #1635, Friday, 17 July: CUMIN, PALER, GRASS, INBOX
• Quordle #1634, Thursday, 16 July: IGLOO, PLAIT, YEAST, AROMA
• Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
• Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
• Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
• Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
• Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
• Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
• Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
• Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
• Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
• Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK