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

Our Verdict This is what a phone made for creative professionals looks like. I think the Z Fold8 Ultra has set an extremely high standard here, and ticks a lot of boxes for a premium price. It has an optimised design and software features to enhance multitasking, productivity, content creation, and…

Our Verdict This is what a phone made for creative professionals looks like. I think the Z Fold8 Ultra has set an extremely high standard here, and ticks a lot of boxes for a premium price. It has an optimised design and software features to enhance multitasking, productivity, content creation, and casual browsing for all kinds of use cases, though sadly it's missing one key element that would make it the ruler of the market - why, oh why, did Samsung bail on stylus compatibility? For Excellent foldable design Superb image quality Powerful AI performance Easy multitasking Against The hinge isn't completely invisible yet, but easy enough to ignore Still no S-Pen compatibility Premium priced Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. Jump To: Video review Sample creations Pain points 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.Z Fold8 Ultra key specsDisplay size: 8-inches wide (unfolded), 6.5-inches tallChipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Main Camera: 200MP (f/1.7) 24mm wideTelephoto Camera: 54 x 89mmUltrawide camera: 50 MP f(/1.9) 120˚Selfie Camera: 10MP (f/2.2) 18mmVideo: 8K at 30fps / 4K at 30/60/120fpsStorage: 256GB - 1TBBattery: 5,000mAhPrice: $2,099 / £1,899Weight: 215gWith 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 @creativebloqofficial ♬ original sound - Creative Bloq *If you can't see the video above, please refresh the page.Sample images from the Z Fold8 UltraOne 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. Image 1 of 11 (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) Image 1 of 11 View Original Image 2 of 11 View Original Image 3 of 11 View Original Image 4 of 11 View Original Image 5 of 11 View Original Image 6 of 11 View Original Image 7 of 11 View Original Image 8 of 11 View Original Image 9 of 11 View Original Image 10 of 11 View Original Image 11 of 11 View Original Pain points: what it is it missing? We need to address the S-Pen issueI'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.Get the Creative Bloq NewsletterSign up to Creative Bloq's daily newsletter, which brings you the latest news and inspiration from the worlds of art, design and technology.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. (Image credit: Future)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. The Verdict 10 out of 10 The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is a five-star phone, but has one key disappointment for digital artists This is what a phone made for creative professionals looks like. I think the Z Fold8 Ultra has set an extremely high standard here, and ticks a lot of boxes for a premium price. It has an optimised design and software features to enhance multitasking, productivity, content creation, and casual browsing for all kinds of use cases, though sadly it's missing one key element that would make it the ruler of the market - why, oh why, did Samsung bail on stylus compatibility? TOPICS Beth NichollsEcommerce WriterBeth is Creative Bloq’s Ecommerce Writer and has the fun job of finding you the very best prices and deals on creative tech. Beth kicked off her journalistic career writing for Digital Camera World and has since earned bylines on TechRadar and PetsRadar too. With a Master's degree in Photography, Beth loves getting to tinker with new cameras, especially camera phones, as the resident Samsung fan on the team. View More You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Logout Back To Top LATEST ARTICLES 1 Adobe just added a brand new AI-assisted editor to Photoshop 2 If I were a creative student today, this is the complete home desktop setup I'd get 3 Quote of the Day by Yayoi Kusama: "I fight pain, anxiety, and fear every day, and the only method I have found that relieves my illness is to keep creating art" 4 Buy Nintendo Switch 2 now and save up to $80 before next week's price rise 5 The MSI Crosshair 16 HX proves an old CPU can learn new tricks

Source: Creative Bloq AI Art — Published August 27, 2026 at 15:00 UTC — Category: Image AI