SEOUL, July 23 (AJP) - Foldables in their eighth generation have come of age, arriving in different shapes and forms tailored to different user needs with the artificial intelligence at the center of the experience, according to Samsung Electronics, the pioneer of foldable smartphones.
At a media briefing held in central Seoul on Thursday, a day after Galaxy Unpacked in London, executives from the company's Mobile eXperience (MX) division walked journalists through the newly unveiled Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Fold8 and Flip8, explaining the thinking behind Samsung's first three-tier foldable lineup.
Rather than presenting foldables as a single category, Samsung said it had redesigned the lineup around different user needs: the Fold8 Ultra for productivity-focused professionals, the Fold8 for immersive content consumption and multitasking, and the Flip8 for users seeking portability and self-expression.
"Ultra represents our determination not to compromise on anything," Kim Jae-hyuk, a product planning manager in Samsung's smartphone business, told reporters.
He said the Fold8 Ultra combines Samsung's highest-end camera system, premium hardware and productivity features in its foldable lineup for the first time.
Artificial intelligence has become the central design principle behind the new devices, he said.
The new Galaxy foldables are designed to understand user context, proactively suggest actions and reduce the number of steps needed to complete tasks through Gemini-powered agentic AI.
Features such as automatic multi-window suggestions, contextual notifications and AI-assisted note organization were highlighted during live demonstrations.
Gemini Notebook combines documents, images, voice recordings and notes into a single workspace capable of generating summaries, reports and infographics, positioning the feature as a productivity tool for professionals handling large volumes of information.
Samsung said AI experiences across the new foldable lineup will extend beyond smartphones to Galaxy Watch devices and the company's newly announced AI-powered smart glasses, expanding the Galaxy ecosystem around context-aware AI.
"Flex Titanium" is a new titanium-based display support structure designed to reduce visible creases while improving rigidity without adding weight.
The devices also feature a peak brightness of 3,000 nits and a new anti-reflective layer to improve outdoor visibility.
Preorders for the new Galaxy devices opened Thursday.
Samsung Electronics shares were up 2.98 percent at 268,250 won as of 1 p.m. in Seoul.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.