When Samsung was gearing up to launch the Galaxy Z Fold 7, it teased that this would be the brand’s first ‘Ultra’ foldable. With the same chipset and main camera as the brand’s top-of-the-line bar phone, that seems like a fair claim.
However, foldable phones have never quite matched their non-folding siblings in the camera department. The concept of a book-style foldable requires slimness; otherwise, no one would be keen on carrying one. As a result, you typically get smaller sensors and condensed optics compared to traditional phones, and that means worse camera performance.
With the Z Fold 7 (it didn’t get Ultra in the model name in the end), though, the specs are closer than ever. I wanted to find out exactly how the two phones compare, so I put them head-to-head in a variety of conditions. Here’s what I learned and which one you should buy for the best cameras.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Camera specs
To start, here’s a reminder of the core camera specs you get with each phone.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Main camera
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 7 share the same 200Mp camera sensor, but the optics aren’t exactly the same when you dig deeper.
Samsung has used a slimmed-down version of the main camera lens for the Fold, likely the same one that featured on the S25 Edge. This means that, while the photos should be very similar, they aren’t likely to be identical.
When shooting wide landscape shots, I could barely see a difference in most of my photos. Colours are extremely similar, the level of sharpness is similar, and if it wasn’t for the watermark, I could easily get them mixed up.
It’s only when you really zoom in and pixel-peep that you can see differences. The S25 Ultra, with its larger lens array, shows slightly sharper details at the very edges of the frame. You can see what I’m talking about in the cropped-in example below.
But honestly, it requires quite a large zoom to even be visible, so unless you’re printing your photos the size of billboards, you can expect the photos to look essentially identical.
If you get up close for a macro shot with the main lens, the difference between these two lenses becomes more apparent.
With the S25 Ultra, you can get a few centimetres closer to your subject and maintain focus, while the Z Fold 7 requires you to back up a little.
How much this matters is entirely up to you. Personally, I like to get close-up main camera shots with things like food and flowers, so I prefer the S25 Ultra lens, but it’s certainly not a deal breaker.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide cameras on each phone have fairly different specifications. The S25 Ultra has a 50Mp ultrawide with a f/1.9 aperture, while the Z Fold 7 has a 12Mp unit with an f/2.2 aperture and a smaller sensor.
While the Z Fold 7 ultrawide specs don’t sound too impressive on paper, it’s worth noting that it has been upgraded with macro focusing capabilities, so it’s far more capable than previous generations of Samsung foldables.
Comparing the photos side-by-side, I was surprised by how similar the ultrawide cameras look.
In daylight conditions, the cameras deliver nigh-on identical results, and both can focus extremely close for macro shots. At night, the S25 Ultra pulls ahead slightly with detail retention, but it’s still closer than you might expect.
The only meaningful difference is that you can shoot in high-res mode with the S25 Ultra ultrawide, while the Z Fold 7 is stuck at 12Mp.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Telephoto camera
The biggest difference between these two camera systems is the fact that the S25 Ultra has two telephoto cameras, while the Z Fold 7 only has one.
The Z Fold 7’s telephoto has almost the exact same specifications as the S25 Ultra’s 3x telephoto. Both are 10Mp units with an f/2.4 aperture. And, as you might expect, the cameras look extremely similar in most scenarios – even when it gets dark.
However, if you use the telephoto for close-up macro shots, you’ll notice a massive difference.
The S25 Ultra can focus much, much closer than the Z Fold 7. So, if you like to get up close, there’s no contest; the S25 Ultra is much more suitable.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Longer zooms
The S25 Ultra has advantages on the other end of the scale, too. It has a dedicated 50Mp 5x periscope telephoto, and if we compare the two phones at 5x zoom, the difference is plain to see. The S25 Ultra photos are significantly more detailed than the Z Fold 7.
If we push the zoom further, the difference becomes even more noticeable. Plus, the S25 Ultra can digitally zoom a lot further. The Z Fold 7 maxes out at 30x zoom, while the S25 Ultra goes to 100x.
Of course, neither phone takes great photos at its maximum zoom level, but at 30x, the S25 Ultra is a lot cleaner than the Z Fold 7. So, if you’re a zoom addict, Samsung’s non-folding flagship certainly has the upper hand.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Selfies
The Z Fold 7 has two selfie cameras, one for the cover screen and one inside on the folding display. Both have the same specifications, aside from the fact that the interior camera has a wider field of view.
However, neither of these cameras are quite as good as the selfie camera on the S25 Ultra. They’re only 10Mp, while the S25 Ultra gets 12Mp, and they don’t have autofocus, but the S25 Ultra selfie camera does.
Comparing them side by side, the S25 Ultra’s selfies are much sharper and more detailed than the Z Fold 7’s. This is mainly due to the autofocus, which ensures that your face is tack-sharp, no matter how far you are from the lens.
Of course, this only matters if you actually use the selfie cameras. The Z Fold 7’s folding design makes it very easy to use the rear cameras for selfies, and you’ll get much better results if you do.
Galaxy Z Fold 7 vs S25 Ultra: Conclusion
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is by far the most capable folding camera phone Samsung has produced to date, and in a lot of cases, the photos look identical to those shot with the S25 Ultra.
It’s only when you dig a little deeper that the differences become more apparent. The main differentiator is long-range zooms, at 5x and above; the S25 Ultra is in a different league. And on the other end of the scale, the 3x telephoto on the S25 Ultra is far superior for macro shooting.
The folding design of the Z Fold 7 does make it more versatile (including using the main cameras) for selfies.
For everything in between, the phones offer very similar performance which, unless you look extremely closely, are effectively the same.
Of course, a phone is more than just a set of cameras, and the experience of using the Z Fold 7 with its massive folding display is hard to beat. There are still camera compromises when choosing a foldable over a bar phone, but with this latest release, there are fewer than ever.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Author: Luke Baker, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Luke is a freelance journalist who has been working in consumer electronics for over a decade. Previously Features Editor at Pocket-lint, Luke can now be found contributing reviews and features to a variety of publications, as well as running a YouTube channel called Neon Airship in his spare time. Luke loves anything that takes pictures, whether it’s a smartphone, camera or drone, and he also gets very excited about the latest VR and AR tech.
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