Jason Hiner/ZDNET Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Samsung's Fold 7 has reached the point that it's now the same size as flagship phones when closed. The software upgrades in One UI 8 and Android 16 finally take advantage of the productivity potential of foldables. There are multiples modes in the Fold 7 that make it even better than just a phone that transforms into a tablet. It didn't take long for Samsung's Z Fold 7 to change my mind about folding phones. After testing it for less than a week, I'm not only convinced that I could use this as my daily work phone but I've also realized that there are features I'd seriously miss if I went back to a normal phone. That's a long way from the previous experiences with foldables, including extended time with the Z Fold 5 just two years ago. I've simply never loved folding phones and after testing them I've never felt tempted to turn one into my new work phone -- which has been a long string of various Android models since the Nexus One in 2010. But the Fold 7 is different. The hardware on the Fold 7 is light years ahead of last year's Galaxy Fold 6 -- it's 25% thinner, both when folded and unfolded. In fact, the Fold 7 is the most impressive piece of tech hardware that I've put my hands on all year. When you pick it up, it has an immediate wow factor, especially when you hold it next to other flagship phones. Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs. Z Fold 6: I tried both phones, and the difference is dramatic But the most impressive part of the Fold 7 is not just how it looks and feels, but how it works. More than ever, it has a UX that takes full advantage of all the possibilities of the foldable form factor. So let's break it down. Here are my three reasons why the Fold 7 has changed my opinion of foldable phones. 1. Feels like carrying a regular phone The biggest difference with the Fold 7 is how much it looks and feels like a regular phone when it's folded closed and you're simply looking at the cover screen or the back of the phone. If you saw it sitting on a desk or a table next to someone else's phone you could easily mistake it for just another standard smartphone. In fact, next to my iPhone 16 Pro Max or my Samsung S24 Ultra -- the two phones I carry every day -- the Fold 7 is slightly smaller. In fact, a closed Fold 7 looks similar to Sony Xperia smartphones and uses the same 21:9 aspect ratio that is slightly thinner than most of today's smartphones. However, it's almost 10% wider than previous models of the Fold, and that extra width is enough to make it feel like a normal phone. The size of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 (right) compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Jason Hiner/ZDNET At the same time, it's also lighter (215 grams) than my iPhone 16 Pro Max (227g) and Samsung S25 Ultra (233g) -- as well as last year's Fold 6 (239g). It's remarkable to realize this folding phone is now both thinner and lighter than the best-selling flagship phones. Also: I spent a week in New York City with the Samsung Z Fold 7 - and it spoiled me the entire time One benefit I didn't expect from the width of the Fold 7 when it's closed and using the cover screen is that it's easier to use one-handed than the large flagship phones I usually carry. And then when I'm ready to use it two-handed, I can simply flip it open and that's when the real magic happens on the 8-inch main screen. 2. Software now plays to its strengths Samsung has long been a builder of some of the world's most impressive, cutting-edge hardware devices. So it's no surprise that the Fold 7 has finally caught up to the vision of the foldable phone as a small tablet disguised as a phone that can transform at a moment's notice. Now that Samsung has officially pulled off the hardware for that vision in the Fold 7, it could have easily taken a couple more generations to get the software right. But thankfully, that's not the case. With an assist from Google and Android 16, the software on the Fold 7 now does a lot more to take advantage of the full productivity potential of the hardware. Also: Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Here's the clear winner after testing both My first and favorite example of this is the new 90:10 split-screen view, a feature Google built into Android 16 with collaboration from Samsung and its One UI 8 software. With this, you can take two apps that are side-by-side on the 8-inch main screen, put your finger on the center line between them and then drag it almost all the way to one side or the other and let go. It will then snap into 90:10 view where you only see a sliver of the one app while viewing most of the other app. However, now you can tap that sliver to open it in 90% of the screen and move the other app to 10%. This lets you quickly switch back and forth between two apps that are helpful to use next to each other, such as Slack and email or a word processor and a web browser. The new 90:10 split-screen in Fold 7, compliments of Android 16. Jason Hiner/ZDNET Another nice productivity feature like this is the "Continue apps on cover screen" option. This is especially effective now that the cover screen is the size of a normal phone screen. The way I prefer to set this up is by going to Settings | Display | "Continue apps on cover screen" and then select "Swipe up to continue app." Then, when you are working on an app such as your calendar on the main screen and you need to close your phone, a round up arrow pops up on the bottom of your cover screen that says "Swipe to continue. You simply swipe up and continue working on your app on the cover screen. Previously, your Fold would have turned off the screen and you would have had to unlock it and reopen the same app on the cover screen to continue working. There are a lot more software options like this. Look for a future article where I provide a list of productivity hacks from the expanded UX on the Fold 7. 3. Multiple modes to drive productivity One of the best things about the Fold 7 is that it's not merely like having both a phone and an 8-inch tablet in your pocket. Because of the folding form factor, it can also do some things that a standard 8-inch tablet can't. But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about the standard modes first. Then we'll get to the creative stuff. If all the Fold 7 did was turn your flagship phone into a tablet when you had both hands free and were ready to multitask, then it would be a win. As mentioned above, the improvements in the software now makes multitasking a lot better, more efficient, and more productive. Being able to run 2, 3, and even 4 apps on the main screen of the Fold 7 feels like speeding in a sports car compared to the normal ways of flipping between apps on a phone, which feels pedestrian by comparison. There are also some cases where simply having a much larger screen to view things like spreadsheets, restaurant menus, the desktop version of web pages, and even video calls on Zoom and Google Meet can be a huge improvement. Also: 24 hours later with Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Why I'm leaving the S25 Ultra behind I often like to take 1:1s and meetings while walking outside to get some fresh air and exercise at various times throughout the day. One of the biggest challenges on these walks is when something comes up where I need to access or view a document or a message that's not easy to look at from my phone. The Fold 7 is a champ in those instances because I can flip it open and use that 8-inch screen to view things in a much more usable way. Now let's talk about Flex Mode -- one of my favorite hidden gems on the Fold 7. To enter this mode, you turn the Fold 7 sideways when you're on the main screen (make sure "Auto rotate" is turned on in the Quick Settings Panel) and then you fold the phone to 90 degrees so that it looks like an open laptop and set it down. You can do this while you're in YouTube and the video will go on the top screen and controls will go on the bottom screen. You can do it in a typing app like Slack, Gmail, or ChatGPT while the keyboard is open and the app screen will go on top and the keyboard will go on the bottom. You can do it with a video call app like Google Meet and the video tiles will go on the top screen and the meeting controls will go on the bottom -- you can also adjust the screen like a laptop to center yourself in the frame for the video call. The Fold 7 in Flex Mode, running Anthropic's Claude chatbot. Jason Hiner/ZDNET Not only can the Fold 7 act like a mini laptop, it can also act like a desktop computer, using Samsung DeX and new upgrades in Android 16. You can connect your Fold 7 to a computer monitor or a TV via a cable (such as HDMI to USB-C) or wirelessly and you can attach a keyboard and mouse via Bluetooth. DeX has gradually gotten more usable over the years, but Google did Samsung a solid in Android 16 by integrating some new features such as "desktop windowing" that now allows you open, move, and resize multiple windows within DeX mode so that the environment looks and feels a lot more like Windows or a Mac. I have some tips for optimizing this kind of setup that I'll put in a future article, but the bottom line is that this phone can function like a full computer and since the Fold 7 is likely to already have all of your most used apps and data, it can be a functional work computer in a pinch. It's probably not going to replace your full-time PC but it might actually be more productive than a Chromebook or a tablet. Final thought These are my first impressions of the Samsung Fold 7. I've got a lot more to say about it and more things I want to test. But there's no doubt that the Fold 7 is a breakthrough device that brings the promise of a true 2-in-1 phone into reality. The Chinese phonemakers have been building devices like this for a couple years and Apple will reportedly release its first foldable iPhone in 2026. But for now, the Samsung Fold 7 is the best foldable available in the US -- and it may even give us a peek at what the future of all flagship phones could look like.