Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8 becomes their final offering.

Blogger iIce Universe revealed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 may be the last generation of the small foldable phone series, and the device will be officially released on July 22nd. If this news is true, the Galaxy Z Flip8 will be the final product in Samsung’s small foldable product line, marking the complete exit of the small foldable screen market from the top 5 Android manufacturers.

Prior to this, Huang Tao, Vice President of Product at vivo, had explicitly hinted in an interview that the company would no longer pursue small foldable screen products. He believed that small foldable screens would struggle to achieve sufficiently outstanding performance in terms of battery life and imaging.

Judging from current market trends, small foldable screen phones are experiencing an unprecedented retreat. This is due to a combination of factors, including market conditions, product development, and strategic considerations. Market data shows that sales of small foldable phones are already in a red zone.

Data shows that sales of small foldable phones declined by 30% year-on-year in 2025, while large foldable screens achieved a 50% increase during the same period, showing a clear polarization trend. Even Samsung, the leading player in this category, saw its Galaxy Z Flip series sales fall short of expectations.

At the product level, the small folding physical form means that the internal space is largely occupied by the precision hinge structure, which forces many compromises in the user experience: the battery capacity is difficult to increase, the heat dissipation module is inadequate, and the imaging system, especially the telephoto lens, is forced to be downgraded.

More importantly, in terms of software interaction and usage scenarios, it is not fundamentally different from a candybar phone. The folding experience that users pay a high price for is highly similar to that of a candybar phone, which is why many netizens jokingly call it a “beautiful little piece of junk”.

At the same time, manufacturers’ strategic focus has shifted. With the continuous breakthroughs in thinness and versatility of large foldable screens, and the emergence of new “wide foldable” forms, mobile phone manufacturers are more willing to invest resources in these areas where they can establish clear differentiated value.

Against this backdrop, it’s not hard to understand why small foldable screens have been marginalized in the mainstream market.