The Samsung Galaxy Z8 series of foldables launched about a month ago and we’re already seeing the first big discounts for the Z Fold8 Ultra and the Z Flip8. They are still not cheap – flagship foldables never are – but the price drop is tangible.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is $300 off. This is a great discount and it makes the Ultra $100 cheaper than the wide Galaxy Z Fold8. Ideally, the choice between these two would come down to form factor preference – the multitasking-friendly Ultra vs. the media-friendly Z Fold8 – but price is a factor that is hard to ignore. The Ultra also has superior cameras, a 200MP 1/1.3” main, a 10MP 3x/67mm telephoto and a 50MP ultra-wide, compared to Z Fold8’s 50MP 1/1.56” main and 50MP ultra-wide (no tele).
For a more in-depth comparison between the two, read our Galaxy Z Fold8 and Z Fold8 Ultra versus article.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 has a more modest $150 discount, but the phone is cheaper to begin with. At $1,050 for the base model, it costs the same as the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Of course, the S26 Ultra has much better cameras (better than the Z Fold8 Ultra, in fact), plus it has the Privacy Screen feature and the S Pen. However, the Z Flip8 folds and the S26 Ultra doesn’t, so these two target different consumers.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 price is at MSRP and you don’t even get a gift card anymore. Amazon only offers a $200 bonus when trading in an old phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE went on sale this week and while there is no discount for it yet, Amazon does throw in a $200 gift card, which is almost as good. This gift card is crucial for the S26 FE not to be completely overshadowed by its S26 peers.
The Samsung Galaxy S26+, for example, is $100 more if you are looking at the 256GB variants. And this isn’t even the lowest price we’ve seen recently – a couple of weeks ago it was $50 lower. Note that the Plus model has 4 extra gigs of RAM compared to the FE, so it’s not just about the storage.
The Galaxy S26+ is easily the better phone overall. It has the better 6.7” screen (1440p+ LTPO vs. 1080p+ LTPS), the better chipset (Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy vs. Exynos 2500) and better connectivity (including USB-C 3.2 vs. USB-C 2.0). The cameras and battery are similar or identical. If it wasn’t for the $200 gift card, we’d tell you to not even consider the S26 FE. With the gift card, however, both phones are worth thinking about.
We already mentioned the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – it starts at $1,050 right now, but we’ve seen it under $1,000. Anyway, this is Samsung’s top camera phone with a 200MP 1/1.3” main, a 10MP 3x/67mm telephoto and a 50MP 5x/111mm periscope, plus a 50MP ultra-wide. This is the only phone with a Privacy Display and an S Pen stylus. And it’s the only Galaxy with 60W wired and 25W wireless charging (the S26+ and S26 FE have 45W wired and 20W/15W wireless).
Of course, the cheapest S26 model is the vanilla Galaxy S26 – the base 12/256GB model is just north of $700 right now. If you squint a little, it costs the same as an 8/128GB S26 FE. Now, the vanilla model is smaller – it has a 6.3” display (1080p+ LTPO) and a 4,300mAh battery (with slow 25W wired and 15W wireless charging), but in the US it does offer the top Snapdragon chipset instead of last year’s Exynos. So, if you can live with the smaller screen – or even better, if you prefer it – the vanilla S26 is the better deal.
The Samsung Galaxy A57 shares a lot of similarities with the S26 FE. That said, it’s an A-series mid-ranger instead of an S-series (near) flagship, so it’s missing out on quite a few things. These are things like a 3nm class chipset, a telephoto camera and wireless charging. Naturally, the A57 is the cheaper model – right now, its price is $250 lower than S26 FE’s MSRP. If you subtract the $200 gift card, however, the price gap drops to just $50, which makes the S26 FE the clear winner. Unless you buy an S26+ or find an S25+, anyway.
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