GoKawiilSamsung’s latest foldables bring upgrades over last year’s models — including a new wider-screen device — but they also carry the industry’s favorite trend: higher prices.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8 each cost $100 more than last year’s Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, while the brand-new, confusingly named Galaxy Z Fold 8, lands between them in price. Foldables have always sat at the top of the smartphone price ladder, and none of Samsung’s new ones are bucking that trend. Raising prices on some of the most expensive phones you can buy only pushes them further into niche territory.
Samsung said the higher prices reflect increased memory and component costs, which have affected phones, PCs and other products across the tech industry. The company also pointed to improvements over last year’s devices, including the new Titanium Flex displays, larger batteries and better 50-megapixel ultra-wide cameras on the Z Fold 8 and Z Fold 8 Ultra.
That pricing pressure isn’t unique to Samsung. Nearly every 2026 phone has either cost more than its predecessor or arrived with so few upgrades that the price stayed flat, and Samsung’s foldables are also facing similarly pricier competition from Motorola’s Razr lineup.
The bigger picture is the RAM shortage, fueled in large part by the AI boom, which has driven memory prices sharply higher and left manufacturers with a choice: raise prices or cut specs. The explosive demand for AI data centers and models has pushed chipmakers to prioritize high-bandwidth memory for AI workloads, leaving less capacity for standard DRAM and NAND used in phones and PCs. Tariffs and other costs may be adding to the squeeze, but AI-driven memory demand is the main culprit behind the broader run-up in phone prices.
Read more: Samsung Wants Us to Pay $2,000 for a New Galaxy Phone. It’s a ‘No’ for Me
Outer screens of the folded-up Galaxy Z Fold 8 (left) and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (right). Andrew Lanxon/CNET
Prices of Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip 8
The Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung’s newest foldable, is the company’s new entry-level book-style foldable. In addition to its wider, shorter format that unfolds to reveal an inner 4:3-screen, the device lacks a handful of features of its more premium sibling. The Z Fold 8 starts at $1,900 for 256GB of storage, goes up to $2,100 for 512GB, and reaches $2,500 for 1TB.
256GB 512GB 1TB Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 $1,900 $2,100 $2,500
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