- Samsung Galaxy Unpacked streams from London on July 22 at 9 AM Eastern, with new foldables expected to dominate proceedings.
- The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked rumor mill points to a wider Fold 8 design, a Flip 8, and a possible Fold 8 Ultra.
- Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 may bring Qualcomm silicon, while the Ultra model could gain an 800mAh battery.
- Samsung could also use its London stage to clarify plans for smart glasses developed alongside Google, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster.
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Samsung Galaxy Unpacked arrives in London on July 22
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is back on July 22, and this one looks set to be a fairly direct test of whether Samsung can keep making foldable phones feel fresh. The company will host the presentation live in London at 9 AM Eastern, 6 AM Pacific, or 2 PM in the UK. Viewers can tune in through Samsung’s official website and the company’s YouTube channel.
July’s timing matters because Samsung already handled its conventional Galaxy S26 business earlier this year. That leaves the event with a narrower and, frankly, more interesting assignment: make the case for foldables and wristwear at a point when both categories risk looking iterative.
The clearest expectation is a new Galaxy Z Fold family alongside a Galaxy Z Flip 8. Samsung has spent years sanding down the old objections to folding phones: they were too thick, too narrow, too crease-prone, too expensive, or some combination of all four. It’s made real progress, particularly with last year’s slim Galaxy Z Fold 7. But the next design decision may be more consequential than shaving off another millimeter.
Samsung’s official event materials have not detailed the hardware ahead of time, so the specifics remain rumors until the company steps on stage. Still, the reports circulating ahead of Samsung Galaxy Unpacked paint a coherent picture of what Samsung wants to change.
A wider Galaxy Z Fold could be the real story
The headline rumor is a new, wider Galaxy Z Fold 8. Rather than the tall, narrow footprint that has defined Samsung’s book-style foldables, this device could use a more passport-like shape. Closed, that may mean less of the feeling that you’re typing on a TV remote. Open, it could give video, web pages and apps a more natural canvas.
That sounds like a small geometric adjustment. It isn’t. Aspect ratio determines whether a foldable behaves like a useful phone that occasionally becomes a tablet, or a compromised tablet that you reluctantly carry as a phone. Samsung has generally favored a narrow outer display, while rivals such as Google and OnePlus have pushed broader, more conventional phone-shaped covers. My read is that Samsung has finally accepted that this is not merely an enthusiast preference.
Leaks suggest the wider Fold could sit alongside a Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra that retains the more familiar Fold 7-style proportions, as well as the clamshell Galaxy Z Flip 8. If that three-device lineup materializes, Samsung would be doing something sensible: offering a genuine design choice rather than treating “Ultra” as corporate shorthand for “the expensive one.”
Reported upgrades include newer Snapdragon processors across the range, while the Ultra could add quicker wireless charging and a subtler display crease. None of that is glamorous, but it addresses the sort of friction owners notice every day. A crease catches the light. Slow charging becomes annoying at an airport. A wider outer screen changes how often you need to unfold the device in the first place.
Price may be the awkward part. Reports have pointed to memory-related component pressure, sometimes dubbed “RAMaggedon,” as a possible reason for higher prices. Foldables were already luxury purchases. If Samsung raises prices without delivering a visibly different experience, it risks replaying a familiar consumer-tech mistake: asking buyers to fund engineering progress they can barely see.
What Samsung Galaxy Unpacked could bring to the wrist
Samsung is also expected to unveil the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. The early chatter suggests both will look broadly similar to their predecessors, which is understandable. Watches are personal objects, and radically reworking the shape every year is usually a shortcut to making straps and accessories obsolete.
The more meaningful update may sit inside. Both watches are rumored to move to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, potentially improving performance and efficiency. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 could also carry an 800mAh battery, a notable figure for a smartwatch if it translates into a less anxious charging routine. Battery life remains the least glamorous and most persuasive smartwatch feature. Nobody brags about it online; everybody notices when it fails.
Samsung has a rare ability to sell a connected stack: phone, watch, earbuds, tablet and television, all tied together through Android and its own software. But that advantage only works if its wearables keep pace with Apple’s Apple Watch and the increasingly capable health-and-fitness lineup from Garmin. Samsung Galaxy Unpacked needs to show more than a chip refresh if it wants the Watch line to feel central to that ecosystem.
Don’t ignore the smart-glasses possibility
The wild card is smart glasses. Samsung has been working with Google, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster on eyewear that Google previewed at I/O 2026. The glasses are not expected to go on sale until the fall, but a London teaser, partner appearance or firmer product roadmap would make sense.
This is where Samsung Galaxy Unpacked could become more than a predictable foldable refresh. Google’s Android XR ambitions need hardware partners with scale, retail reach and an appetite for industrial design. Samsung supplies the scale; Warby Parker and Gentle Monster could help solve the part of smart glasses that has tripped up the industry repeatedly: people need to actually want to wear them in public.
We have seen this movie before, of course. Google Glass became a social punchline long before the technology could justify its price and presence. Meta has had more traction by working with Ray-Ban and emphasizing familiar eyewear. Samsung and Google will need to prove their approach has a reason to exist beyond being another screen that occasionally talks back.
How to watch, and what would count as a win
If you’re watching Samsung Galaxy Unpacked from home, the July 22 stream begins at 9 AM Eastern and 6 AM Pacific. Samsung will carry it online through its website and YouTube presence, with London serving as the in-person backdrop.
A successful event won’t come down to how many specs Samsung can put on a slide. It will come down to whether the rumored wide Fold makes folding phones feel easier to live with, whether the watches solve a practical problem, and whether smart glasses look like a product rather than a lab demo. Samsung has plenty of hardware. What it needs now is a sharper reason to care about the shape of the next device.
