Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked wrapped up in London on July 22, and the rumor mill turned out to be mostly right: the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Z Fold8, Z Flip8, Watch Ultra 2, Watch 9 and a pair of “Intelligent Eyewear” smart glasses are all official. Preorders opened the same day, with general availability set for August 7.
The headline device is the Z Fold8 Ultra — Samsung’s thinnest Fold to date at 4.1mm unfolded, paired with the largest Fold screen, the strongest camera system in the line, and the biggest battery any Fold has shipped with. It starts at $2,099 for the 256GB model.
A foldable line finally split by use case
The more interesting move is the Z Fold8 — a smaller, passport-style foldable with a 4:3 aspect ratio, starting at $1,900. It’s the first US foldable of this shape since the original Pixel Fold, and it signals Samsung splitting its book-style foldable into two distinct products instead of one flagship that tries to do everything. If our earlier coverage of the Fold8 Ultra leaks had you debating whether to wait, this segmentation is the real story: Ultra for the flagship experience, standard Fold8 for a more pocketable, boxier design at a lower price.
That $2,099 starting price for the Fold8 Ultra is also part of a broader pattern across the whole event: nearly everything Samsung announced costs more than its predecessor. The Fold8 Ultra’s price sits above where the Fold7 Ultra launched, and the same is true of the Flip8 versus the Flip7. None of the official statements attribute this to the memory shortage rattling the rest of the electronics industry, but the timing lines up with the same component-cost pressure that’s pushed up prices on everything from GPUs to handheld consoles this year.
Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9: real hardware gains, not just software
Both new watches move to Samsung’s new Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset, and the gains aren’t just on paper. The Watch Ultra 2 gets an 800mAh battery — up 35% — plus a 5,000-nit display Samsung says is a world first for the category, a shock-resistant titanium case, and a body that’s 12% thinner with softer bands. It’s priced at $699.99. That matches what last week’s battery leak pointed to almost exactly. The Watch 9 starts at $379 for the 40mm Bluetooth model and adds new health-tracking software on top of the same chipset bump.
The Z Flip8 is a tougher sell. Hands-on impressions note real reductions in thickness, weight, and bezel size compared to the Flip7, but there’s no camera upgrade to go with a higher price — and it’s fueling an existing rumor that this could be the last standalone Flip generation before Samsung folds the line into something else. For existing Flip7 owners, that combination — thinner body, same camera, higher price — is a genuinely hard sell for an upgrade, and several outlets covering the hands-on units flagged it as the one device in the lineup that didn’t clearly justify itself.
The glasses are a tease, not a launch
Samsung’s Intelligent Eyewear — smart glasses built on Google’s Android XR platform — got a name and a stage moment, but almost nothing else. No price, no ship date, no weight, no camera specs. Two frame partners were confirmed, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, suggesting Samsung is hedging between a fashion-forward design and an everyday, subtle one. Reporting so far describes the 2026 version as audio-only, with a display-equipped model rumored for 2027. If the pattern from the past two years holds — Samsung teases hardware to plant a flag, then fills in specifics months later — expect the real buying decision on these to come well into next year. Coverage from developer-focused outlets suggests the audio-only framing is deliberate: Samsung wants Android XR developers building for the platform now, before the display-equipped version arrives and raises the stakes on what these glasses are actually expected to do.
What’s next
Preorders for the Fold8 Ultra, Fold8, Flip8, Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9 are live now through Samsung.com and major carriers, with shipping starting August 7. If you were holding off based on our pre-event guide, the short version is: the foldables and watches deliver on the leaks, and the glasses are the one thing worth waiting on more details for before getting excited.
Sources: Samsung Newsroom, Engadget, CNBC, Android Central.
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