Founded in 1938, Samsung is the largest chaebol in South Korea. The myriad of companies under its brand are some of the biggest in their respective industries, but Samsung Electronics is the most notable. It makes some of the most popular phones in use today, and its flagship portfolio includes the Galaxy S-series and foldable Z-series devices. It also makes televisions, tablets, computers, headphones, and many of the displays, chips, and batteries found in devices from Apple, Sony, and others.
It’s a slippery slope between AI photo editing tools and a full-on slop machine.
The Z Fold 8 looks unusual at first, but you get used to it fast.
I’ve accepted that Samsung’s Ballie robot may never come out after disappearing from CES 2026. It was one of the cutest and most exciting robots ever… as of six years ago. SammyGuru has a look today at some “early UI design sketches” reminding us of what could have been.
Samsung Electronic’s memory chip business is killing it, hitting $49.64 billion for the quarter and driving over 99 percent of its operating profit. But the price gouging created by the AI hype caused its smartphone and home-appliance businesses to post modest operating losses due to the higher cost of chips and other components.
The wide foldable is here, and it’s glorious. The Verge’s Dominic Preston has been reviewing Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, and joins the show to explain what this shorter, wider device gets right, what it’s still missing, and why this looks like the right kind of foldable for most people. (Once the price comes down, anyway.) With a similar foldable iPhone likely coming soon, it’s shaping up to be a fun year of foldables.
Watch | Listen | Get ad-free
As we trudge through RAMageddon, Samsung is allegedly rushing to create new production lines, at least in part, to keep Apple from pursuing other vendors. Just yesterday, Chinese memory company CXMT became the most valuable company on Shanghai’s STAR market, and Tim Cook has reportedly been asking for permission to buy memory from the company amid the shortage.
Plus the first specs, including a battery life better than Meta’s.
If you missed Samsung’s event today, you can watch all the highlights here, including the redesigned Galaxy Z Fold 8, the new Z Fold 8 Ultra, and an updated Z Flip 8. You can also check out today’s episode of The Vergecast to hear more about everything Samsung announced.
It’s been in beta for a little while, but Samsung’s new foldables mark the official launch, together with an expansion to more than 40 apps.
Samsung Smart Switch will make it easier to jump from iOS to a Galaxy Z Flip 8 or Fold 8, sharing photos, videos, contacts and more with just a QR code, no iOS app install required. Similar features are already rolling out on some Pixels with Android 17.
A fancy person detection algorithm picks subjects to focus on, and crops video to track your favorite. Samsung is pitching it for fans and stans, but I suspect it’ll get more use at kids’ ballet recitals.
For the first time, Samsung’s three new foldables use silicon-carbon batteries, meaning higher capacity in a smaller space. Samsung says it’s focused on maintaining longevity and stability, sometimes worse with silicon cells, but that’s stopped it hitting the enormous capacities of rivals like Oppo and Honor.
The smart glasses come with Google’s Gemini AI on board and will debut this fall with the designs we first saw in May — plus these two new ones from Gentle Monster and Warby Parker.
The watches sport a new chip, bigger batteries, and new health metrics. But the updates come with another price hike.
But $1,900 is a hell of a lot for a phone with no telephoto camera.
One small step for phones, one giant leap for foldables.
We’ll be live shortly after the event ends, talking phones and watches and foldables and flippables and AI and everything else Samsung has to share today. Come hang, bring thoughts and questions, tell us whether wide fold or tall fold is the way. See you there!
By leveraging data sourced from a Galaxy smartphone, smartwatch, or smart ring, the new Samsung Health Assistant can help users better understand their health while also providing guidance and recommendations on how they can improve it through “meaningful changes in their lifestyle.” The assistant is now in beta for eligible users in the US.
So far it’s mostly teasing novel ways of slicing pizza, but presumably it’ll all make sense soon.
Android Authority spotted that a new version of the Galaxy Wearable app is rolling out with a simplified three-tab layout, refined UI, and new home tab with useful shortcuts to key watch settings. It’s presumably no coincidence that it lands the same day Samsung is due to launch new Galaxy Watches at Unpacked.
We’re just hours away from Samsung Unpacked and the leaks keep coming. The Z Fold 8 Ultra retains the Z Fold 7’s slim and tall design, but is said to come with an upgraded 5,000mAh battery promising up to 27 hours of video playback.
Reports of a new wider foldable phone suggest Samsung is ready to take a risk.
The Samsung Galaxy Card is issued on Visa by Barclays US Consumer Bank, with applications opening on July 22nd. Samsung says the card is available as both virtual and physical, metal cards, and that users can earn “a host of cash rewards and other benefits.” It’s essentially an Apple Card — launched seven years ago — but for people loyal to Samsung products.
A story posted to Instagram showed the BTS member holding a passport-shaped device that resembles recent Galaxy Z Fold 8 leaks, as spotted earlier by SamMobile. Samsung is expected to reveal this rumored device, alongside its other newest foldables, during Galaxy Unpacked on July 22nd.
Marketing materials for the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 have been shared online by leaker Evan Blass. The Galaxy Watch 9 reportedly features a Snapdragon Wear Elite chip, and is shown in three color options. The Watch Ultra 2 upgrades reportedly include a 800mAh battery and up to 5,000 nits of peak brightness.
First announced at CES, the latest version of Samsung’s all-in-one home theater solution is finally available through Samsung’s online store for $1,199.99. That’s a bit steep for 430 ISO lumens and a 1080P resolution when Xgimi’s latest portable does 1,600 ISO lumens for $799, but Samsung’s can correct for distortions on uneven projection surfaces like curtains.
Caviar is back with yet another ridiculously expensive device, and this time, it’s a Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra with 24-karat gold plating, which is expected to appear at Galaxy Unpacked next week (sans the gold). As spotted by Engadget, Caviar doesn’t list any tech specs, but notes that its device starts with 256GB of storage.
Memory chip demand by AI datacenters continues to be very good for Samsung, and some of its workers who are eligible for average annual bonuses of $340,000 this year. Per Reuters:
Samsung Electronics on Tuesday flagged a 19-fold jump in second-quarter operating profit, surpassing its combined earnings over the past three years.
All signs point to Samsung launching a wide version of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 this month, and now the company has released its first teaser. There are video versions too, all along similar lines teasing a “new shape” from the company.
