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Samsung's next clamshell foldable is close enough to touch.

Samsung has released a new Galaxy Z Flip phone every year since debuting the line in 2020, and the pattern looks set to continue. The company has scheduled an Unpacked event for July 22, 2026, where the Galaxy Z Flip 8 is expected to launch alongside the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Galaxy Watch 9, and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2.

With the announcement just weeks away, leaks covering the phone's design, colors, and internals have been piling up. Here's a roundup of the most notable ones.

Z Flip 8 Release Date

Samsung has already confirmed the timing: its Unpacked event lands on July 22, 2026. That's where the Z Flip 8 is expected to debut alongside the rest of the summer foldable lineup.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. Z Flip 8 Design

Multiple leaks, including CAD-style renders and official-looking product images obtained by Android Headlines and republished by PhoneArena and Engadget, point to a Z Flip 8 that looks very close to its predecessor. The main internal display, the hole-punch selfie camera, the side-mounted power and volume buttons, and the horizontally arranged rear cameras wrapped by the external cover screen all appear to carry over largely unchanged.

Engadget noted that the biggest recent design leap for the line came last year, when the cover screen grew to wrap edge-to-edge around the main cameras. Sourcing rumors about a redesigned hinge and a lighter chassis, Engadget cautioned that a major hardware overhaul is unlikely this generation, tying that partly to industry-wide memory chip shortages.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Everything we know so far

PhoneArena's Mariyan Slavov, reviewing the leaked renders, described the design similarities to the Z Flip 7 as unsurprising given earlier CAD leaks, and characterized recent updates to the line as incremental — new chipsets, new AI features, and new colors rather than structural changes.

Z Flip 8 Colors

Leaked renders obtained by Android Headlines show the Galaxy Z Flip 8 in three main colorways. The leak identified them as Cream, Graphite, and Pink, noting that the pink shade is lighter and more pastel than last year's Coral Red option. Engadget's description of the same leaked images referred to the trio as white, gray, and pink.

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PhoneArena also reported that a fourth color, Mint, is expected to return as a Samsung.com-exclusive shade, following the same pattern as the previous generation.

Z Flip 8 Specs

Leaks about the Z Flip 8's internals have been fairly consistent across outlets. Citing rumors, PhoneArena, SamMobile, and Engadget all point to two chipset variants: Samsung's own Exynos 2600 for global markets and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for the U.S. version — mirroring last year's regional split.

PhoneArena laid out a fuller rumored spec sheet:

• Chipset: Exynos 2600 (2nm) or Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

• RAM: 12GB

• Display: 6.9-inch foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X main panel at 120Hz; 4.1-inch external cover screen, also 120Hz

• Battery: 4,300mAh with 25W wired charging and wireless support

• Storage: 256GB or 512GB

• Cameras: 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 10MP selfie

PhoneArena noted the rear camera setup is expected to be carried over from the previous generation rather than upgraded.

Is this the last Galaxy Z Flip?

Perhaps the most striking rumor doesn't concern hardware at all. SamMobile reported that a second leak, from X account @fireuniverse8, claims the Galaxy Z Flip 8 could be the final phone in the Z Flip line, with Samsung allegedly planning to discontinue the clamshell series to focus on the Galaxy Z Fold family instead.

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SamMobile noted this echoes an earlier, similarly unconfirmed report, and that if accurate, the Z Flip would become the second major Samsung smartphone lineup to be discontinued, after the Galaxy Note series.

It's worth stressing that this claim comes from an unverified social media source, and Samsung has not commented on its product roadmap beyond the July 22 event. PhoneArena's coverage, by contrast, treated the Z Flip 8 as a continuation of an ongoing yearly cadence rather than a farewell entry, while pointing out that market data shows consumers currently favor book-style foldables like the Z Fold over flip phones — a dynamic Engadget's reporting also touched on indirectly when discussing Samsung's marketing push around the Z Fold 8.

Last year, I said the ultra-thin Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 was the best foldable we've ever tested. That means the rumored successor device has big shoes to fill.

After months of speculation, Samsung finally confirmed that it will hold a Galaxy Unpacked event in London on July 22, where it will presumably announce its newest batch of foldable devices, among other things. While this means we haven't yet seen the follow-up to the Z Fold 7 in an official capacity, there's been enough reporting online to build a decent profile of the phone before its unveiling.

Here's everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra so far.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Health app gets big refresh ahead of Galaxy Watch 9 release Latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra rumors: Price and release date

As mentioned previously, everyone expects Samsung to show off the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra in London on July 22. That means the phone will most likely launch shortly after that, as per usual. As for its price, last year Samsung charged $1,999 for the Z Fold 7, which was itself a $100 price increase over the previous model.

There haven't been any concrete reports about the price of the new Z Fold just yet, but based on the way things are going in the tech world, thanks to RAMageddon, it might be reasonable to expect an even higher price this year. If we're lucky, it might "only" be another $100 price hike. It's just hard to see it staying the same considering the market conditions right now.

Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold Wide, or Fold Ultra: Will the name change?

This is where things start getting a little confusing regarding the Z Fold series.

Multiple reports have suggested that the device will be called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, with the regular Z Fold 8 name going instead to a rumored third foldable that Samsung is allegedly going to announce at the show. More on that in a bit. Given that there have now been multiple official certifications referring to the device as "Z Fold 8 Ultra," we're going to stick with that name for the duration of this article, even though Samsung hasn't confirmed it yet.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Design This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

There have been a bevy of leaks all but confirming the existence of the new "Wide Fold" phone, alongside the Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Z Flip 8. Prominent leaker Sonny Dickson, for example, posted photos of some dummy units that very clearly show a new device that looks a lot like the Z Fold 7 next to one that looks like the Z Flip 7, and one that doesn't look like any Samsung foldable we've seen before.

Last year, the Z Fold 7 had a 6.5-inch outer display and an 8-inch unfolded inner display, and all signs point to Samsung maintaining a size profile similar to that for the Z Fold 8. What differentiates it from the "Wide Fold" phone is that the latter would have a smaller 5.4-inch outer display alongside a 7.6-inch inner display with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

You might wonder why Samsung is doing that. Well, that would be because Apple is reportedly working on an iPhone Fold to launch late this year with a wider design than book-style foldables like the Z Fold 7 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. Thus, Samsung's "Wide Fold" device is clearly gearing up to compete with Apple's handset. There have been leaked images of an iPhone Fold dummy case, and it does look a lot like the wide phone in the earlier Samsung dummy image.

So, expect a head-to-head battle between the Z Fold 8 Wide and the iPhone Fold Ultra later this year.

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The Z Fold 7 was impressive last year because of its incredibly svelte size for a foldable; it measured in at just 8.9mm when folded and merely 4.2mm when unfolded, with a light weight of 215g. We don't yet know how much smaller the Z Fold 8 Ultra will be, if at all, but one Korean news report suggested it could be even lighter, coming in at 200g. That would be very exciting, as the thinness of last year's model was a huge reason it stood (and continues to stand) above most of the competition.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Specs

We don't yet know a lot about what will be inside the Z Fold 8 Ultra, unfortunately. But there is a little bit of info we can chew on for now.

Namely, the same Korean news report with the weight information also suggested Samsung could upgrade the battery cell from 4,400mAh to 5,000mAh. The battery life in the Z Fold 7 was really the only disappointing aspect of the device, so this would be a hugely welcome change. It could work in tandem with a new chipset, most likely a Snapdragon chip like the powerful ones seen in the Galaxy S26 line earlier this year.

That increased battery size might also come with up to 45W charging speeds, which would be lovely. Other than that, we don't know what to expect from the Z Fold 8 Ultra in terms of everyday performance. That said, the Z Fold 7 was quite a nice phone to use, so Samsung doesn't need to fix what isn't broken in that regard.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra: Cameras The camera array on the Z Fold 7. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Lastly, an intriguing update from Dutch outlet Galaxy Club suggested that Samsung could somewhat dramatically improve the rear camera array on the Z Fold 8 Ultra. For reference, the Z Fold 7 had a 200MP main shooter to go with a 12MP ultrawide lens and a 10MP telephoto lens.

If this report is to be believed, Samsung is keeping the 200MP lens, but upping the ultrawide lens from 12MP to 50MP, and the telephoto from 10MP to 12MP. It's hard to say without doing any testing how much of an effect that will have, but these new lenses should produce sharper images, at least in theory. You can probably also expect at least a few new AI image editing tricks this year, to go along with better hardware.

The reveal of the Z Fold 8 Ultra is still a couple of weeks away, but at least now we have a basic idea of what to expect from the phone, even if its name is confusing.

Apple's flagship smartphone hasn't taken a year off from its updates since 2007, and barring a massive surprise, 2026 won't be different – but there will be a twist.

The Cupertino-based tech giant is widely expected to launch a new lineup of iPhones later this year, including the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and the rumored iPhone Ultra, the company's first-ever foldable. The regular iPhone 18, the 18e, and the new iPhone Air are likely to arrive early next year.

Our big Guessing Game is back! Enter now for a chance to win an Apple Watch.

As we await the iPhone 18 — and its updated operating system, iOS 27 — tidbits of news and rumors continue to trickle out. The pace of leaks on the iPhone 18 Pro in particular is likely to increase after a massive hack exposed thousands of Apple's internal documents, reportedly including iPhone 18 Pro suppliers and tests.

We won't see any of the new Apple phones in the wild for months — but we can bring you the most substantiated and most likely updates in one place.

SEE ALSO: Apple reportedly working on anti-phone snatching security feature iPhone 18 lineup pricing

If you're in the market for a new iPhone, you should circle September in your calendar. That has been the month for Apple's big showcase event for a very long time, and there's no reason to believe Apple will change that in 2026.

Expect to see new Apple CEO John Ternus take the stage to introduce it; his term of office officially begins Sept. 1.

What he'll be introducing, alas, may put more of a dent in your wallet. Thanks to the ongoing RAM shortage caused by the AI industry (also known as RAMageddon), tons of smartphones, laptops, and gaming consoles are seeing huge price hikes. Experts who've spoken to Mashable say that trend isn't going to stop anytime soon.

As the world's number one smartphone maker, Apple has some advantages over its rivals, but a price increase is definitely coming. We had hoped otherwise — Apple raised prices on its new MacBooks earlier this year, while also introducing a low-cost $599 laptop that put big pressure on its Windows rivals.

But then outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook took the unusual step of preparing us for a pricier iPhone. "Price increases are unavoidable," Cook told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. The Journal quoted an analysis showing that the memory chip components in the iPhone 18 Pro will cost Apple $150 more than those in the iPhone 17 Pro.

So should you expect the phones to cost just $150 more than their predecessors (see the iPhone 17 prices here)? You wish. There's the pesky fact that Apple is a for-profit company, and the iPhone is the #1 smartphone in the world for a reason, even though it's already pricier than Samsung's.

How much of an increase will Apple fans bear? We may be about to find out, but the Journal estimated $1,299 for the iPhone 18 Pro ($200 more than last year).

iPhone 18, 18 Pro, and 18 Ultra launch dates

Barring a huge turn under Ternus, Apple will release the iPhone 18 Pro, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the foldable iPhone Ultra in early September. Obviously Apple's first foldable iPhone is the biggest headline here, but the Pro models will bring numerous improvements too.

The iPhone 18, however, alongside the cheaper iPhone 18e, and the next-gen iPhone Air, are rumored to come next year, likely in March 2027.

iPhone 18 and iPhone 18 Pro design

Again, Apple has not released any official teasers or other imagery for the iPhone 18 lineup yet, so anything reported to date could be wrong. Still, from the sum total of all reports, it sounds like Apple isn't really reinventing the wheel, design-wise. But Ternus, a hardware guy, is reportedly bringing the company's industrial design group into the center of the Apple fold.

Looking further into the future, the iPhone 20 is said to bring big changes, including a curved waterfall display.

Per our friends at CNET (Mashable and CNET are both owned by Ziff Davis), the display sizes will be roughly the same as last year:

• iPhone 18: 6.3 inches

• iPhone 18 Pro: 6.3 inches

• iPhone 18 Pro Max: 6.9 inches

However, the display quality might be a little different this year. Prominent leaker Instant Digital shared on Chinese social media that Apple's brightness demands are unusually high this year, so it would be reasonable to expect much brighter displays than in previous years.

Some iPhone 18 models could also have a smaller camera bump compared to previous models. There are reports of a slightly redesigned Dynamic Island on the screen itself, with the pill-shaped notification hub potentially being made smaller in the iPhone 18 Pro models. One alleged leaked image purports to show an iPhone 18 Pro with a downsized Dynamic Island cutout.

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Wondering about the iPhone 18 color options? For the iPhone 18 Pro, at least, it seems the color options have already leaked. Previous rumors indicated Apple was experimenting with a "deep red" color for the iPhone 18 Pro, and a new report from MacWorld backs that up. According to their reporting, the color lineup for the iPhone 18 Pro will be silver, gray, light blue, and a color called "dark cherry" — likely the deep red previously reported.

Sadly, we think fans of black iPhones are out of luck again.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. iPhone 18: rumored hardware features

So we know the software the iPhone 18 will run: iOS 27, introduced at WWDC 2026. Time to start talking about some of the internal hardware changes Apple is reportedly making to the iPhone 18 lineup.

For starters, it sounds like the lineup will have a standardized 12GB RAM count across the board. In previous years, the Pro models had 12GB of RAM, while the base model had only 8GB. According to Korean outlet The Bell, Apple will be upgrading the base model so that it matches the Pro models in that regard. It's also widely expected that Apple will adopt new A20 and A20 Pro chips for the base and Pro models, respectively.

It's also expected that the new iPhones will have a new C2 modem for improved cellular connectivity, and they may also have 5G satellite support. Also reported: a new N2 chip for better WiFi performance.

Latest iPhone 18 Pro rumors

For the iPhone 18 Pro, the current expectation is that Apple will improve the battery size in the premium iPhone 18 models this year.

Leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo reported that the batteries could exceed 5,000mAh, which would be an improvement over the iPhone 17 Pro.

Instant Digital posted in a separate Weibo leak that the back glass of the iPhone 18 Pro has been altered, resulting in a new unified look, as opposed to the two-tone look of the iPhone 17 Pro. Whether that change will affect durability (or if it's just an aesthetic difference) remains to be seen.

Other differences include Apple's new A20 Pro chip inside, improved LTPO+ display, Apple's new C2 modem, 5G via satellite connectivity, and the improved N2 chip which should improve hotspot and AirDrop reliability.

What about the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Several reports out of China say the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a much larger battery — and be a bit of a chunky boy as a result.

We're not talking about a huge increase in weight and width: a quarter of a millimeter thickness and 7 grams more respectively. Still, every gram counts on the heftiest iPhone model you can get — so iPhone 17 Pro Max upgraders may want to check that their pocket linings can bear the larger bulk of the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

The iPhone 17 Pro has helped Apple break sales records in 2026. Credit: Stan Schroeder / Mashable

Are you an Apple superfan? Enter Mashable’s Big Guessing Game to win prizes.

iPhone 18 camera rumors

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a source of many spot-on iPhone reports, says the iPhone 18 Pro, in particular, will have "some of the biggest camera hardware upgrades in the lineup's history."

Why? First, the telephoto camera has a larger aperture. But more important is the variable aperture.

First reported by Digital Chat Station on Weibo, variable aperture is a huge deal. It would let the iPhone 18 Pro camera capture different amounts of light for different situations — potentially leading to a huge leap in photo quality, if you know what you're doing.

For instance, the bokeh effect famously associated with portrait mode on iPhones would be possible in-camera rather than through software processing, resulting in more natural and generally better-looking shots.

What about AI Siri?

Of course, one of the first things many users will want to know about the iPhone 18 when they get their hands on one: what is the new, revamped, AI-upgraded Siri experience like?

If you're feeling adventurous, you can try it yourself by installing the iOS 27 beta.

The new features include Siri becoming an actual chatbot with its own app. It's also able to understand what's on your screen, and it can help you write, create images, and edit photos.

For an overview of some of the best features Siri AI has to offer, go here. And for the best new features in Apple's iOS 27 public beta, check our roundup here.

Substack is introducing a new tool to help readers figure out whether content was written by a human or generated by AI. Announced in a blog post on Tuesday, the self-publishing platform's new feature is powered by AI detection tool Pangram, and is available on Substack posts, notes, replies, and comments.

SEE ALSO: Substack gives creators control of the conversation with new Reply Rules

"Not everything made with AI is slop, and not all slop is made with AI," wrote Substack co-founder and CEO Chris Best. "The problem is when there is a mismatch between a reader’s expectation and reality, especially when they unwittingly invest their attention in something with no human thought on the other end."

Substack's AI detection tool is available now on web and in the iOS app, with Android to follow. To scan Substack content for AI contributions, simply click or tap on the "..." meatball menu, then select "Scan for AI text." A popup will then appear stating what percentage of the text Pangram has determined is AI-generated, AI-assisted, or human.

Substack's new AI detection feature does have some restrictions. Specifically, it will only work on Substack text passages longer than 100 words, and only those published after 8:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m. on July 21. Attempting to scan Substack content published prior to this results in a popup stating that it's ineligible for AI detection. 

Trying to check passages that are shorter than 100 words also surfaces a popup explaining that there isn't enough text for accurate AI detection. The popup on Best's own posts also offers an additional message: "I'm still figuring all of this out. (In the meantime these words are mine, for better or worse.)"

Pengram will only scan text for any AI authorship if the reader requests it. As such, it's up to users to take the initiative and investigate the provenance of what they're reading to the best of their ability. Best notes that the tool cannot detect if, for example, a human used AI to do research before writing a post.

Substack's AI-detection tool adds some new features for authors as well. Writers are now able to add a statement explaining how they wrote content, which will appear when readers use the AI detection tool on their posts. Authors can run Pengram's AI detection tool on their drafts and submit a report if they believe it has classified their content incorrectly. Interestingly, writers can also remove the flag themselves by completely disabling AI detection on their content, regardless of whether or not Pengram's detection was correct.

Credit: Substack

Pangram itself uses AI to detect AI-generated text. However, rather than generative AI, it deploys a classifier neural network model trained to recognise and distinguish between human and AI-generated text. The company states that its algorithm's dataset of human authored text was gathered from sources published prior to 2021, before generative AI was widely used on the internet, to ensure no AI-generated text snuck its way in.

Best stated that Substack is looking into adding more AI-focused features in the future, depending upon user interest and feedback. This includes allowing users to set preferences for the content Substack recommends to them, suggesting that we may eventually see the option to filter out AI-generated content altogether.

A recent study by digital marketing firm Graphite found that the number of online articles that are primarily AI-generated is now equal to the number written by humans. Multiple publications have been called out for using AI to generate articles over the last few years, several of which were laden with errors. In some instances, these AI-generated articles were attributed to fake, AI-generated authors or the publication's "staff."