The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is a five-star phone, but has one key disappointment for digital artists

Here it is – our official review of the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra. An excellent camera phone for creative professionals that blends seamlessly into busy lifestyles. We think the foldable flagship is a bit too overpowered (and premium priced) for casual users, but would suit working creatives out in the field who prioritise performance and portability.

With Apple's new iPhone launch event just around the corner, and rumours of a foldable iPhone Ultra doing the rounds, a lot of people are understandably holding out on purchasing the latest Galaxy Z series over intrigue on what the rival brand could reveal.

This is a smart move, and there's no rush to make a purchase as important as this without first weighing up your options. At Creative Bloq, we look at reviews through the lens of how tech can actually benefit creatives in daily use cases, and that's exactly how I've assessed the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra in my quick video review below.

VIDEO: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra review

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Sample images from the Z Fold8 Ultra

One of the most important aspects of a camera phone for creative professionals is, of course, the camera. Even if you're more of a casual smartphone shooter, part of being a creative is creating content now (whether we like it or not), and having a phone that can walk you through the entire script, shoot, edit, upload process in one device is a key selling point.

I have no complaints in the camera department with the Z Fold8 Ultra, and during testing I found that it handled small details remarkably well when shooting with the 200MP camera. For a more in-depth look at the Z Fold8 Ultra camera, check out my camera phone shootout where I pit it against the standard Z Fold8 model.

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Pain points: what it is it missing?

We need to address the S-Pen issue

I'm a long-time Samsung user and a proud owner of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, so it's hard for me to imagine life without the Samsung Ecosystem taking the wheel. What I mean by this is that things feel really easy with Samsung. Almost too easy.

My phone has my data and passwords backed up, it knows how I like things organised, saves my preferences, can replicate my tone in emails, and Galaxy AI has been tremendously helpful in keeping life on track for me as a journalist, photographer, hobbyist maker, and now social media manager.

What I'm getting at is that Samsung knows how loyal its users are, and it understands the reluctance to jump ship without a strong cause. That's why it's even more disappointing when companies let us down and remove tools that creatives rely on.

The Samsung S-Pen is a stylus that used to come included as part of Galaxy devices up until the Z Fold6 series, after that, it was abandoned following last year's Z Fold7 series (though it still remains on the flagship S Ultra series). Not having a stylus might seem like such a small element to moan about, but it made a huge difference for things like sketching, digital art, signing documents, and photo editing.

It feels like a huge and rather confusing loss to ditch this compatibility yet again with the Z Fold8 series, when arguably it makes the most sense to use a stylus with a foldable display with larger screen real estate to use it on.

Samsung: bring back the S-Pen. Even if it can't be part of the device physically and must be sold separately to use, that's fine by me. Okay, rant over. Let me know in the comments if this is a bugbear for you too.