Galaxy Z Flip 8 and Z Fold 8 series go on sale next week, but prominent tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) just shared his real-world review, featuring the most trending foldable phone of Samsung’s 2026 lineup.

MKBHD is a big name in the tech industry, with his reviews often becoming a decision-maker for many. The review of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 came at a time when people are confused about whether to join the trend or hold off on purchase plans.

Based on Marques Brownlee’s (MKBHD) review of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, here are his key takeaways:

1. Hardware and form factor

The squarer, thinner 5.5-inch outer screen makes standard one-handed use effortless without awkward hand shuffling. The Titanium Flex Hinge significantly reduces the inner screen crease and feels snappy to open and shut.

Opening the phone reveals a mini-notebook shape that is ideal for reading, split-screen multitasking, and watching widescreen videos, which actually play larger than on standard slab phones.

2. Daily usability

Marques notes that not all apps adapt cleanly to the new screen aspect ratios; some display black bars or suffer from broken UI buttons. The updated spring-loaded hinge no longer prop open at a halfway angle for software-assisted hands-free mode.

When opened, both speakers end up on the left side, leading to unbalanced stereo sound during video watching. The shape and lack of built-in magnets make alignment tricky on many vertical and in-car wireless chargers.

3. Performance, battery, and camera

Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset paired with a 4,800 mAh silicon-carbon battery easily offers full-day battery life, backed by faster 45W wired charging.

To achieve such a thin design, Samsung omitted a dedicated telephoto lens entirely, offering only a 50MP main and 50MP ultrawide lens that take “just fine” photos.

You can watch MKBHD’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 review here:

TM Roh, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics’ DX Division, has once again put his money where his confidence is, buying up company shares just before a massive rally rewarded the bet handsomely.

According to TheElec, TM Roh bought 3,045 shares of Samsung at 230,000 won per share on the open market on July 30. The total acquisition came to KRW 700 million ($485k), taking his overall holdings to 124,280 shares.

At the current exchange rate, that works out to roughly $485,000, a meaningful personal bet from one of Samsung’s top executives at a time when the stock had been anything but predictable.

Samsung Electronics’ stock recorded its largest single-day gain since listing the very next session, and the total value of Roh’s holdings jumped by about 6.9 billion won in a single day.

For a company navigating heavy investor scrutiny around its AI chip roadmap and memory pricing, moves like this send a clear signal: leadership is willing to back its own conviction with real money.

South Korea’s HBM and DRAM semiconductor exports continue their meteoric rise, fueled by relentless global demand for AI infrastructure.

According to industry data shared by @SemiconductorsX, Korea’s total HBM and DRAM exports reached $98.89 billion in July, a 62.8 percent year-over-year surge. Semiconductors alone led the charge at $41.01 billion, representing a massive 178.8 percent increase YoY.

A closer look at the product breakdown:

• DRAM (ex-modules): $13.55 billion, up 467% year over year and 21% month over month.
• DRAM (including modules): $21.23 billion, up 394% year over year.
• Flash/NAND: $1.78 billion, up 280% year over year.
• SSD: $4.51 billion, up 500% year over year.
• MCP (HBM): $10.08 billion, up 140% year over year.

Sharp increases in average selling prices (ASPs) are powering these values, with unit prices per kilogram for DRAM excluding modules hitting $91.9k (a 517% YoY jump) and HBM/MCP reaching $98.7k.

Industry giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix remain the primary beneficiaries of this tight, high-margin memory landscape, alongside peers like Micron and Kioxia.

While minor month-over-month softening appeared across select categories following prior historic highs, the broader year-over-year trajectory remains exceptionally strong.

With structural shortages in high-bandwidth memory expected to persist into 2027 and 2028, South Korea’s memory leaders continue to maintain unprecedented pricing power.

Market research firm Omdia reports that the global smartphone market declined 6 percent year on year to 272 million units in 2Q 2026. Samsung retained its leadership, even in a shrinking market, shipping over 60 million phones.

Omdia reports that Samsung was the largest smartphone vendor in the second quarter of the year. Samsung shipped sizzling 60.5 million Galaxy phones, securing a 22 percent market share with 5 percent annual growth.

Galaxy S26’s late launch impacted Samsung’s position in the first quarter. However, the delayed launch shifted premium demand into the second quarter, letting Samsung capture additional share in the entry segment.

Apple, on the other hand, ranked second with 55.1 million iPhones shipped and a 20 percent market share in the same period. The iPhone maker’s annual growth was impressive at 23 percent, boosting its sales from 44.8M in 2Q25.

Chinese vendors: Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo completed the top 5, with third, fourth, and fifth rank, respectively. Xiaomi sold 31.2 million phones in Q2 2026, Oppo shipped 28.4 million, and Vivo sold 21.5 million devices.

“The current memory cost cycle is driving a structural repricing of the industry, creating a lasting shift in how vendors compete on pricing, profitability, and product positioning,” said Le Xuan Chiew, Research Manager, Omdia.

Despite seasonal demand from flagship launches, holiday promotions and shopping festivals, smartphone shipments are expected to continue declining over the next two quarters amid persistent cost pressures.

Samsung’s newest foldable is off to a start nobody quite expected. Pre-order stock for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has sold out across every color and storage tier in Korea, and Samsung is now pushing back the timeline of deliveries to keep up.

According to BusinessPost, sales of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series have surpassed Samsung’s expectations. The pre-order inventory is running out of stock even before the first batch of shipments begins on August 7.

Samsung delays Galaxy Z Fold 8 deliveries

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 was set to officially release on August 7, but Samsung Korea has confirmed that sequential shipping will now begin on August 28, three weeks later than planned.

The 1TB variant of Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra also ships from August 28, while the 512GB model sticks closer to schedule with an August 7 rollout.

Even offline pickup windows have slipped, moving from early September into mid-September.

On the other hand, the company’s new clamshell foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip 8, will start reaching buyers on August 11 or August 18, depending on the color chosen.

Samsung hasn’t pinned down the exact cause of the shortage, but an internal source claims that the demand has outpaced what anyone expected in South Korea.

A Samsung Electronics official commented regarding this, saying, “We cannot confirm (the specific cause of the inventory shortage), but shipping dates seem to be delayed because sales have exceeded expectations.”

Two things seem to be fueling the surge in demand:

• Galaxy Z Fold 8 arrives with a genuinely new form factor.
• Samsung’s “Double Storage” pre-order promotion [256 GB to 512 GB]

The MX division just posted its first-ever quarterly operating loss. If Z Fold 8 momentum holds, it could be exactly the boost the MX business needs to turn things around before year-end.