Samsung just dropped One UI 8 at Galaxy Unpacked 2025, and it’s packed with enhanced new features for phones like the Galaxy Z Flip7 and Galaxy Z Fold7.

Let’s dive into what makes this update so awesome.

Now Bar

Now Bar is like your phone’s new best friend. Built into the Z Flip7’s full-screen FlexWindow, it shows notifications, widgets, and quick shortcuts. You can check what’s up without even unlocking your phone.

See Now Bar in action

Now Brief

Now Brief keeps you in the loop with news and updates tailored just for you. It’s got a slick 2×2 widget and live alerts during videos. Plus, it pulls in all kinds of content to keep things fresh.

Check out Now Brief

Photo Assist

Photo Assist is like having a photo editor in your pocket. It uses AI to tweak lighting, zap unwanted objects, and polish details. Whether you’re a selfie pro or just snapping for fun, it’s a game-changer.

Explore Photo Assist

Gemini Live

Gemini Live, powered by Google AI, makes your phone feel like a chatty assistant. It’s built into One UI 8 to answer questions, help with tasks, and give tips, all in a super natural way.

Meet Gemini Live

Browsing Assist and Writing Assist

Browsing Assist takes the hassle out of web surfing. It sums up pages, points out key info, and suggests stuff you’ll care about. Writing Assist fixes grammar, tweaks tone, and makes your messages crystal clear.

Learn about Browsing Assist and Writing Assist

One UI 8, paired with phones like the Z Fold7, makes your device feel smarter and smoother. Samsung’s Android 16 skin is all about making your phone work better for you. From editing pics to browsing or jotting notes, it’s got your back.

Samsung’s journey with foldable phones has come a long way since 2019. At the Galaxy Unpacked 2025 event on July 9, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Z Fold7, its thinnest foldable phone yet. With a folded thickness of just 8.9 mm, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is now 48% thinner than the original Galaxy Fold, which measured 17.1 mm.

This thinner design didn’t happen all at once, but step by step. Over the years, Samsung worked hard to make the Galaxy Z Fold series slimmer, smarter, and more user-friendly.

From 2019 to 2024, the foldable phones became 29% thinner. But the biggest change came just in the last year, as the Galaxy Z Fold7 is 26% thinner than the Z Fold6. Let’s take a quick look at how each model improved.

The Journey of the Galaxy Z Fold Series

2019: Galaxy Fold

This was the first foldable phone from Samsung. It was a totally new and exciting design, but also very thick,17.1 mm when folded. It had a 7.6-inch screen inside and gave users a new way to use their phones.

2020: Galaxy Z Fold2

Samsung made the phone a bit thinner, 16.8 mm, and added the Hideaway Hinge with over 60 tiny components. This made folding and unfolding smoother.

2021: Galaxy Z Fold3

Even slimmer at 16.0 mm, this phone added two big features that are S Pen support and IPX8-rated water resistance. It also used strong aluminum armor to protect the phone.

2022: Galaxy Z Fold4

This phone had a new gear-based hinge with a linear movement design. It makes it lighter and slimmer at 15.8 mm.

2023: Galaxy Z Fold5

The Galaxy Z Fold 5 introduced the Flex Hinge, which allowed the phone to close completely flat with no gap in the middle. This made the phone look better and feel thinner, now 13.4 mm.

2024: Galaxy Z Fold6

Samsung made the design even sleeker. It used a symmetrical dual-rail hinge, which makes it fold flat and thinner at 12.1 mm. This new hinge opens to various angles between 75 and 115 degrees for greater versatility.

2025: Galaxy Z Fold7

Now in 2025, the Galaxy Z Fold7 is the slimmest foldable phone Samsung has made only 8.9 mm thick when folded and 4.2 mm when open. It uses a new Armor FlexHinge, which is strong but very compact. It also has a bigger outer screen (6.5 inches) and inner screen (8.0 inches).

Samsung has shown how foldable phones can go from bulky and thick to slim and stylish without losing power or features. The Galaxy Z Fold7 is the result of years of smart design, better materials, and innovative ideas.

Samsung today unveiled its new One UI 8 with Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 devices, while creating doubts around the update rollout for older devices.

This was a huge opportunity to correct the mistakes made during the January 2025 version of Unpacked. Samsung took to the stage to talk about the Galaxy AI and new user interface improvements. However, it failed to address the One UI 7 rollout for the previous generation of devices. That mystery remained in place for the next two months until the stable rollout.

A similar scenario occurred today at the latest Unpacked event, and Samsung introduced One UI 8′s new capabilities, but also missed an honorable mention of existing models.

That brings us to the second part, all of the focus allocated on the latest devices, just like the S25 series. This is quite common and understandable but resurfaces the One UI 7 rollout saga.

One UI 8

Samsung’s flagship phones took five months to wrap up the beta program and become eligible for the next-generation software. It had a chance to overcome its past failure and showcase a better version of its software update policy.

Speaking of which, the new phones are also offering 7 generations of OS upgrade and 7 years of security updates. That brings a big value for this ultra-expensive phone and the same can be said about the S25 series owners.

Not addressing the One UI 8 rollout plan doesn’t fall into the parameters of existing customer satisfaction. Meanwhile, keeping them waiting is a new OS update is another major factor in this dissatisfaction.

One UI 8 beta testing is still active for the current S-series phones and is expected to expand to all eligible predecessors. However, Samsung’s silence won’t help us to predict the rollout date for S25 and other previous models.

At the Unpacked event, Samsung unveiled One UI 8, its latest generational update based on Android 16, while giving a new direction to the smart device ecosystem with the latest foldable devices.

Traditionally, Samsung used to release a new OS update after the foldable phone launch and test it through the third quarter, but recent advancements from Google’s campaign have allowed all Android OEMs to improve the software development and provide a new Android upgrade faster than Android 15.

Similar to the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung will ship the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 lineup with a new OS out of the box. This is also the first time the Korean tech maker is launching two OS updates in the same year.

One UI 8 is launched with numerous optimizations over the last update, which includes polishing the user interface, smoothing animations and providing more AI-powered personalization features. On the other hand, the update is bringing some exclusive capabilities for foldable phones to make their cover and internal display interactions seamless.

One UI 8 (Source – Samsung)

Speaking of AI, the latest One UI version is built to adopt a multimodal agent, combining large-screen multitasking with smart tools that understand users’ intent. On the other hand, features like Gemini Live will allow users to speak live to AI and understand the world with their phone in real-time.

Galaxy AI brings a new AI Result View in a separate split view or a floating view. Users can also experience improved drag-and-drop AI-generated content, such as images and text, directly from Multi-Window. Don’t forget that Drawing Assist and Writing Assist will also get better, and the same can be said about Now Brief and Now Bar.

Another aspect of the new update is security; Samsung Knox improvements will enhance user data safety with new settings. The update will be available for Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 series users from day one. Information about expansion to previous devices is still pending.

On July 9, in the heart of New York City, Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Flip 7. The Unpacked event started at 10 AM ET; I wasn’t there in person, but the buzz from the live stream and the flood of back-to-back revealings had me glued to my screen.

This is easily the most meaningful Flip update we’ve seen in years. The design is cleaner, the cover screen is actually useful now, and the new AI features? Surprisingly smart.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 looks and feels more polished. It’s thinner now – just 6.5mm when unfolded, shaving off a bit from its predecessor. It slides into a pocket like butter, but the real story is the bigger cover screen: 4.1 inches, up from 3.4 inches.

The smartphone’s 6.9-inch main screen is as good as ever; it’s bright, smooth, and perfect for everything. Samsung has also brought in some striking color options, including Blue Shadow, Jet Black, and Silver Shadow.

Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2500 chip powers the Galaxy Z Flip 7 in all countries, including the US. Apps load instantly, games run smoothly, and you’ve got 12GB of RAM backing it all up. Storage comes in 256GB or 512GB flavors; no 1TB option.

There’s no hardware upgrade in terms of optics. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 retains a 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP selfie camera. But AI ensures Sharper low-light shots, better auto-edits, and smarter scene recognition all make photos better.

Battery got a decent bump to 4,300mAh, with 25W charging to keep things moving. The phone also supports advanced Qi2 charging through compatible cases. There are no magnets inside, but you can spend some money to make it Qi2-ready.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 runs Android 16 with One UI 8, and Samsung’s new tools are helpful. Now Brief gives you quick notification summaries, and AI-powered Photo Assist helps tweak pics without digging into settings.

Durability also gets a quiet upgrade. The hinge is sturdier, smoother, and still rated IPX8 for water resistance. Samsung also greatly improved the display crease factor, with the Flip 7 featuring the least visible crease ever in the history of foldables.

Samsung officially launched Galaxy Z Flip 7

Samsung’s Z Flip 7 starts at $1,099 (256GB) and jumps to $1,219 for 512GB. It’s not cheap, but compared to earlier Flip models, this one actually feels like it’s worth that premium. Pre-orders start today (July 9), and the phone officially lands on July 25.