Hoping to hear more about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7? You’re in luck. We’re just a week away from Samsung’s official unveiling of its latest foldable, with Samsung’s latest foldable smartphone expected to steal the show during July’s expected Galaxy Unpacked event.

Although Samsung’s upcoming smartphone promises to be the thinnest Galaxy Fold ever, the rumors surrounding it are anything but.

If you’d prefer not to wait, there have been more than enough leaks about the Z Fold 7 to form an early impression of what to expect from next month’s reveal.

So, let’s dive into what we know so far about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, early.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Release date and price rumors

Samsung hasn’t officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 yet, but that doesn’t stop us from piecing together when it will, based on its usual routine for unveiling and releasing smartphones.

Samsung typically holds two Galaxy Unpacked events each year. The first of which takes place right at the start of the year, and will usually focus on its Galaxy S series smartphones. This year, it was the turn of the Samsung Galaxy S25.

The second of Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked events takes place halfway through the year, and it’s here that we tend to see the company’s latest Galaxy Z Fold and Flip foldable phones.

Exactly when Samsung hosts these events can vary, but the second Galaxy Unpacked events of the last two years have both fallen within July. A Korean outlet, The JoongAng, claims the same will happen this year as well.

Samsung's summer Unpacked event is scheduled for July 9, 2025, at 10 a.m. Eastern.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z series phones will typically go on sale within a few weeks of their announcement, meaning this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 could be available for purchase as early as Wednesday, July 25.

While the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 both received a $100 price bump last year, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are said to remain at that price, with no further increases expected.

This means that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 will likely be available to buy starting at a still-mighty $1,899.

While there are rumors of a price hike for the Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7, it seems more likely that Samsung will unveil a higher-end foldable, such as a Z Flip Ultra or Z Fold Ultra. However, we'll have to wait until Unpacked to know for sure.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Rumored specs

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Design and display rumors

From what we’ve heard so far, this year’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 will reportedly take inspiration from last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 special edition, a limited edition of the foldable sold only in Korea and China that was larger, faster, thinner, lighter, and offered better cooling, speakers, and an improved primary camera.

These changes, along with the phone's super-narrow bezels, could translate to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 receiving a bigger ~8.2-inch foldable display (previously 7.6 inches), a 6.5-inch cover screen (previously 6.3 inches), and adopting a form factor that’s only 8.9mm thick (4.5mm when open) — though some reports suggest the phone could be as little as 3.9mm in thickness while open, making it the thinnest Galaxy Fold to date.

It’s suggested that the rest of the Z Fold 7’s build will largely remain the same, meaning it will presumably offer the same layout as the Z Fold 6 while touting a similar Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, rated at 2,600 nits of peak brightness.

Beyond raw specifications, Samsung’s display is also claimed to have a significantly less noticeable crease than other Galaxy Fold models, with Android Central reporting that the company showcased a creaseless panel at MWC 2025.

As for color choices, it appears the Z Fold 7 will be available in a few different shades. Android Central reported additional color leaks, including the sleek Blue Shadow, Jet Black, and Silver Shadow. But Samsung could save the more unique colors for its own storefront exclusive.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Camera rumors

Among the list of Galaxy Z Fold 6 special edition features that the Z Fold 7 is expected to inherit, a staggering 200MP upgrade to the typically 50MP main camera stands out the most.

It’s believed that the new Galaxy Fold will also feature the same 12MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto (3x optical), 10MP front-facing selfie camera with a 100-degree wide-angle lens, and 4MP under-display selfie camera of last year’s model.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Performance and battery rumors

There’s no need to speculate over whether or not the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will go with an Exynos or Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, as 91mobiles has already put that conversation to bed after uncovering an FCC certification confirming that the new Galaxy Fold will make use of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset (tailored for Galaxy devices) backed by up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite is a proven powerhouse, with Qualcomm exec Chris Patrick telling Tom’s Guide in October 2024 that the chip was “a desktop-class CPU [with] mobile-level power efficiency.”

That efficiency could make great use of the Galaxy Fold 7’s expected 4,400 mAh battery capacity, the same as previous models, utilizing 15W wireless charging and 25W of peak wired charging.

What's next

With leaks relating to Samsung’s Galaxy Fold 7 appearing thick and fast ahead of July’s rumored Galaxy Unpacked event, expect more news to follow on this device in the coming days as we get closer to the official reveal.

These rumored changes to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 suggest a device even more premium, durable, and attractive than before. Samsung has confirmed in a May 2025 post that One UI 8 “will debut on Samsung’s newest foldables this summer,” making the Z Fold 7 one of the first devices to use the new customized Android 16 UI.

It’s also been suggested that owners of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could get free access (for an unknown amount of time) to Google’s AI Pro subscription service (typically costing $19.99 per month).

For a full look at what the Z Fold 7 will be capable of, we’ll need to wait to hear it directly from Samsung during next week's Galaxy Unpacked event. But until then, there’s plenty of information here to digest, and the Galaxy Fold is looking stronger than ever based on these early reports.

More from Laptop Mag

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• MWC Shanghai 2025 will actually be a pressure test for the next generation of tech
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I have reviewed a horde of gaming headsets over the years, and yet no matter how good they were, I clung dearly to my Sony WH-1000XM3 for seven years (yes, they launched all the way back in 2018). To say my expectations for the Sony WH-1000XM6 were high is a criminal understatement.

The jump in audio quality I experienced with the Sony WH-1000XM6 reminded me of putting on a new pair of glasses for the first time — I could see (hear) everything. The XM6’s soundstage is grand and epic, the earcups are snug, the dual Bluetooth-connectivity is so convenient, and the battery life is long.

However, as much as I love the Sony WH-1000XM6, they aren't without some problems. The earcups are snug, which may be uncomfortable for some folks. If you’re app-averse for some reason, you need to download the phone app to disable ANC. I wish the Ambient mode took in more sound at higher volumes, and I would have liked the microphone to sound better, although it’s not terrible.

Yet, like Sony's other mythically excellent creation, Kratos with his Leviathan axe, my ears wield the Sony WH-1000XM6 as their daily weapon. I imagine the XM6 will be my companion for quite a long time, at least until it's dethroned by the XM9. There's no question that the XM6s are one of the best headphones out there, but are they good enough to drop $450? Let’s jump into that Yggdrasil rift together.

Sony WH-1000XM6: Price and value

I reviewed the Black model of the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, but you can also get them in Midnight Blue or Platinum Silver, all of which cost the same $449. I’m partial to the Midnight Blue colorway — they are the only ones with actual color. The XM6s also come with a neat magnetic carrying case, which is a dark gray color and includes a 3.5mm headphone jack and a very short USB Type-A to Type-C cable. You can get the Sony WH-1000XM6 directly from Sony’s website, Best Buy, or Amazon.

The real question is: Are they worth it? Well, that depends on you. What I can say is that the pricing is competitive, especially when compared to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones (also $449). And this is too much for you to spend on headphones, no matter how good they are; I completely understand. You can easily get the XM4 for $280 (at the time of writing).

If you really want the XM6 model and aren’t swimming in cash, I’d wait for a sale. But if you have the disposable income, they're worth it.

Sony WH-1000XM6: Design

The Sony WH-1000XM6 looks like an alien carved them out of a block of obsidian… and then blasted them with soft paint. Sony took the revamped design language of the XM5 headphones and threw a couple of curves in there. The design isn’t drastically different, but just enough to take a slightly basic design and add a more premium flair.

The cups feature an off-center circle that allows access to the touch controls, and they curve downward from there into an oblong shape. Around the edges of those cups are a slew of black microphone vents that blend in. The leatherette cups also feature a seamless transition, without the typical puffy protrusion on the outer layer.

My favorite part of the design is the hinges, where the cups meet the headband. It’s a diagonally carved cylinder with the classic gold Sony logo painted on it. Company logos are hit or miss, but Sony is iconic for its stylish logo on vintage and now future tech. And between the hinge and the headband is another thinly carved piece, which adds to the flair. The headband itself starts thin and then expands slightly.

On the left cup, you’ll find the power button, headphone jack, and the ANC button, while the right features the Type-C charging port.

Out of the previous XM-series headphones, the XM6 offer the most modern and sleek design, making them worthy of their premium price (in this regard, at least).

Sony WH-1000XM6: Comfort

Imagine a pillow with arms that could give you a little squeeze — that's the Sony WH-1000XM6. I like it, but they are pretty snug, so it might not be comfortable for some people.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 weigh 254 grams, which is unnoticeably heavier than their competitor, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (252 grams).

From dusk till dawn, I played Elden Ring Nightreign. I'm not ashamed — those Nightlords needed to die. But after a short adjustment period from my looser XM3 headphones, the XM6 felt like the familiar yet satisfying pillow you'd flip over in the middle of the night. The cushions are soft yet firm. I still felt them squeeze my head, which may bother some folks, but I liked it because it offers some passive noise cancelling.

I didn’t even notice the headband until I paid attention to it. It’s soft and doesn’t crush my head like the earcups do, so I count that as a win.

Sony WH-1000XM6: Audio

I jumped from the XM3 to the XM6, and the best way to describe the jump is like watching a flower finally bloom. The 30mm neodymium drivers delivered a wide, immersive soundstage that kept me engaged in all of the content I played.

I listened to all of Epic: The Musical on the Sony WH-1000XM6. In “Full Speed Ahead,” the XM6 captured the subtle rumbling drums that open the song, accompanied by solid bass, and it stood out among the following soft piano and warm strings.

I jumped to “Keep Your Friends Close,” which opens with a melodic string of wind instruments, and I noticed that there were many more distinct notes than usual, none of which detracted from the smooth vocals. Then I moved to the more sinister “Get in the Water,” and the XM6 did struggle a bit with the opening synths, but it captured the subtle horns and synths during the vocals, amplifying the suspense of the track.

One of the issues I’ve had with Epic: The Musical is that when the creator, Jorge Rivera-Herrans, discusses how he developed the motifs for each character, I never really noticed it because the vocals often overpower the instruments. However, with the XM6, I got to experience everything he talked about, and it made me appreciate the sound design that much more. My heart actually broke when listening to “Love in Paradise.” I never heard Polites’ voice during Odysseus’ final scream to Athena, where he says, “We can light up the world, here’s how to start.” (I’m not crying, you’re crying.)

Of course, I simply had to game with the XM6, so I decided to get bodied in Elden Ring Nightreign. I had previously played with the XM3, so the soundstage changed completely once again. It expanded noticeably. Similar to my issue with Epic, some boss music filters through my ears because they could not match the level of intensity you’ve got to lock in to win.

However, when facing off against The Shape of Night, the strings were empowering. Every slash and spell still sounded sharp and impactful against the weight of the strings, making for a truly epic fight (pun intended). I don't think I’ve ever been as locked into a boss fight’s sound design before, and I’m honestly sad that I haven’t played so many of my favorite games with the XM6. For Duchess' sake, I could even hear this boss’ sword grinding through the sand in the opening shot.

There’s an equalizer on the Sound Connect app. I enjoyed the default sound the most at first, but one of the coolest features is the Find Your Equalizer setting. This is something that more audio apps need. It asks you to play some content, and then, similar to when you’re at the eye doctor, you get to choose between a set of numbers to see (hear) which sounds better. I’ll admit, the implementation isn’t the best. I’d prefer it if it offered a repetitive example with only two choices at a time, but I think this feature is pretty vital for non-audiophiles.

I also tried different listening modes, like Background Music and Cinema. The former is what you’d expect, which is fine if that’s what you want. Meanwhile, Cinema captured a more 360-degree soundstage to increase immersion, but I didn’t really vibe with it. This more so stretched out the soundstage, which made everything sound a little messy and distant. I’ll say that it does kind of give off a movie-theater experience, but maybe not the one you’d want.

Sony WH-1000XM6: ANC

The Sony WH-1000XM6 are outfitted with Sony’s latest HD Noise Canceling Processor QN3, which introduces 12 microphones to deliver improved noise canceling over the previous generation (with a measly 8 microphones — kidding).

With ANC enabled, my office got eerily quiet. The rumbling from the fan and the bass of my keyboard completely drowned out, but I could still hear the sharper sounds that they made — it doesn’t completely make your surroundings quiet. ANC is excellent for use during commutes. Traveling from New Jersey to NYC, I’m cursed with the annoyingly expensive NJ Transit, which features the loudest trains. However, with ANC on, I could fully focus on watching my favorite shows. I can still hear the train, but the sound is dramatically reduced and filters out to ambient background noise, equivalent to the fan in my room.

Ambient mode allows for external sounds to pass through. This is great for when you're walking through a bustling city and trying to avoid an expedition to the beyond by car. However, at home, I found myself just removing one ear cup from my head instead of using Ambient mode. When listening to music or playing a game at 50%, I could not hear my child asking me to open her applesauce pouch until she yelled at me. I tinkered with the app a little bit, and there's no way to increase the ambient sound filtered in (because it was already at a max of 20 out of 20). You can enable voice passthrough to focus voices, which helps a little bit. There’s also an Auto Ambient Sound setting, which adjusts the sensitivity based on your surroundings, but that operates within the slider that you can already manually use. It could be useful, but not in this context for me.

Despite that, there's a feature called Speak-to-Chat, which can detect when you're speaking and dramatically reduces the volume of the content you're listening to, remaining active until it stops detecting your voice. However, this doesn't trigger when people are speaking to you. I tested this with my daughter, and it registered her voice only when I was a foot or two away from her. This is also available for any mode, which is a nice feature.

The biggest issue with the Sony WH-1000XM6’s ANC is that I couldn't turn it off. There are two modes enabled out of the box: ANC and Ambient mode. There's no way to disable it. That's when I had to download the app, and sure enough, you can add a disable setting to that same ANC button. You don't just turn it off via the app; the headphones already have that setting programmed into the ANC button, but for some reason, you need to download the app just to enable the disable button.

Sony WH-1000XM6: Microphone

Despite the absurd number of microphones packed into the Sony WH-1000XM6 (there are 12), the microphone quality is a certified “meh.”

The quality of my voice sounded slightly better than how I'd normally speak through my phone, and that's the nicest way I can paraphrase what my friends said when I joined a group Discord call. In other words, my voice sounded muffled but audible.

However, overall quality is not necessarily the point of the XM6’s microphone. Headphone mics aren't going to sound as good as a $550 Shure SM7dB. What the XM6 delivers on is noise-cancelling. Similar to ANC, this doesn’t completely cut out all the sounds around you, but it does significantly drown it out. While on said terrible train, I got on a call, and my friends could hear me clearly. I tested this at my desk too, and the microphone could still pick up me knocking on the desk, but again, it sounded muted.

Sony WH-1000XM6: Battery life

I played Elden Ring Nightreign for several hours straight and the Sony WH-1000XM6 told me they had a 90% charge. Even if it was closer to 80%, that’s still pretty impressive. Sony claims that the XM6 can get up to 30 hours of battery life with ANC on and 40 hours with ANC off, and I’m inclined to believe that. (When communicating, you’ll get 24 hours with ANC on and 28 hours with ANC off.)

You can go at least a couple of days before you need to charge the Sony WH-1000XM6. And according to Sony, you can charge the headphones for 3 minutes and get 3 hours of playback (with an optional USB-PD compatible AC adapter). That’s pretty convenient for someone who constantly forgets to charge their headphones (it’s me, I’m the problem).

Sony WH-1000XM6: App and features

Keep in mind that if you get the Sony WH-1000XM6, you’re practically forced to use the app, at least if you want any of the valuable functions (you know, like turning off ANC). Sony’s Sound Connect app features the aforementioned settings for the equalizer, listening mode, and ANC and Ambient modes. If you care about spatial sound, head tracking, and 360 reality audio, there are settings to set those up as well. You can also enable DSEE Extreme, which improves the sound of compressed audio files.

One of my favorite features is the dual Bluetooth connectivity, so I can connect to my PC to play games while also connected to my phone to take phone calls. The coolest part is that I can tinker with audio settings on my phone and get immediate changes to the content I’m listening to on my PC. (Do you realize how much of a pain it is to jump from a phone app back to your PC and be able to tell the difference between audio settings?). If you’re having some connectivity issues, you can prioritize your Bluetooth connection over the sound quality.

In the System settings, you can enable voice assistants, add the Off setting to the ANC/AMB button, and assign shortcuts to the same button to pull up said voice assistants. There’s also a setting to enable head gestures, which I don’t think anyone is using (listen, my knees already ache, I’m not pulling a muscle to decline a call). You can also enable a microphone mute shortcut, which, again, why isn’t that enabled by default? Another cool feature is that the headphones will turn off after a certain amount of time if you’re not wearing them (I forget to turn my headphones off all the time).

Then there’s the touch controls, which I rarely use, but they’re convenient if you don’t have quick access to your device. If you’ve ever used a headphone with touch controls, the XM6 works generally the same. Tap twice to play/pause, swipe forward to skip, swipe backward to rewind, swipe up or down to raise or lower the volume, respectively. You can also swipe up or down and hold to continuously raise or lower the volume, which is great because I’d rather not have to swipe my headset over and over.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 comes with a one-year limited warranty.

Bottom line

I’m quite critical about tech, especially when it costs an absurd amount of money. However, I couldn’t help but be wowed by the XM6’s incredible range, sleek design, comfortable fit, and long battery life.

No, they aren't perfect. The Ambient mode and microphone could be better. It’ll certainly deter folks who don’t like snug headphones. And I hate anything that forces you to download an app for the most basic functions. Not to mention, they cost over $400, which is enough to make most people carefully consider the purchase.

Yet, while the Sony WH-1000XM6 might cost a whopping $450, it offers an unbeatable immersion for my favorite content. There’s a reason why it’s a premium headphone, just like there’s a reason why Kratos prefers his Leviathan axe — it’s just better.

This deal sounds too good to be true — you can stop thinking about your phone bill until mid-2027, and you've got one of the best flagship Android phones with the Pixel 9 .

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The Pixel 9 features a 6.3-inch OLED display, the Tensor G4 chip powering its Gemini AI features, and a dual rear camera setup with a 50MP main sensor and 48MP ultra-wide. You also get advanced Pixel software features, such as Magic Eraser, Live Translate, and Call Screen, along with the promise of 7 years of software and security updates.

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Whether you’re due for a phone upgrade or just want to lock in two years of service, this deal is an absolute no-brainer. Not a Pixel fan? Head to the Mint Mobile deals page for similar savings on Samsung Galaxy S25 models. But don’t wait, this offer may not last long.

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