It's hard to believe that it's been six years since Samsung first entered the foldable phone market, but the Z Fold 7 bears a level of sophistication and polish that can only be accomplished with experience.

The latest phone-to-tablet foldable features its thinnest and lightest design yet, beating last year's Z Fold 6 by 3.2mm in thickness and 24 g in weight. Pair that with larger cover and main screens -- 6.5 inches and 8 inches, respectively -- and you're looking at a foldable that finally squares evenly (at least at first glance) with competitors like the Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5.

Samsung says it achieved this design feat through strategic material choices, such as opting for thinner advanced armor aluminum to surround the device and a tighter flex-hinge system at the bend. The company also withdrew the display coating that allowed previous Z Fold models to support S Pen inputs, meaning the Z Fold 7 won't register stylus taps and gestures.

Also: I tried Samsung's$2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 7 -- it made my foldable phone look outdated

This year's phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, paired with 12GB of RAM that should be just enough to handle multi-app workflows, AI tasks and intensive gaming. Unfortunately, Samsung has opted for the same 4,400 mAh battery capacity as previous Z Fold models, so don't expect a noticeable bump in endurance this time around.

Where the Z Fold 7 did get a meaningful upgrade is in the camera, with the main sensor now being a 200MP wide lens that Samsung says captures four times more detail and 44% brighter images. The rest of the rear triple-camera setup includes the existing 12MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lens (3