Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 camera: All you need to know

Summer, at least in the northern hemisphere, is rapidly closing in, and along with it, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is also set to arrive. We're expecting a July release date for Samsung's large foldable phone.

And unlike previous years, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 might not be yet another iterative follow-up, but finally a majorly upgraded foldable with key improvements in the design section. But what's most intriguing here is the potential for some excellent enhancements to one of the essential pillars of a modern phone––the camera. 

While it's true that few foldables (if any at all) have put serious emphasis on the camera experience, rumors claim that we might finally get a super competitive and quite intriguing set of upgrades that will hit the Galaxy Z Fold 7 camera like there's no tomorrow.

How many cameras will the Galaxy Z Fold 7 have?

Like its predecessor and most standard Galaxy flagships, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 will feature a triple camera system at the rear, as well as the standard for the model two selfie cameras, one situated on the outer screen and an under-screen one on the internal display.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 camera upgrades: What we expect

As mentioned, we expect few but rather important improvements to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 camera system. The chief one is the upgrade to a new main camera sensor, which was a long-time coming. 

Galaxy Z Fold 7 main camera: Finally a major upgrade in the pipeline

the rumor mill agrees we will be seeing the same high-res 200MP camera that was used on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 Special Edition. That's finally some good news for Galaxy Z Fold fans, who have been clamoring about the lack of real camera upgrades with most previous Galaxy Z Fold releases.

One of the main benefits of having such a large main camera sensor is being able to crop it and achieve a mostly lossless optical zoom with the same camera. That's what most proper flagships these days are doing, and it could unlock a major increase in zoom quality for the Galaxy Z Fold 7. 

However, the fact that a dedicated telephoto (albeit a 3X one) will exist on the device means that the main camera will most probably not be used for digital zoom. 

Galaxy Z Fold 7 ultrawide & telephoto cameras: A familiar sight, but we'll take it

The rest of the cameras will most likely remain identical to the ones found on the Galaxy Z Fold 6, but the new higher-res main camera definitely softens the blow. 

This means we're likely getting a 12MP ultrawide camera with a familiar 13mm/123º field-of-view, as well as the good ol' 10MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom. The latter is fairly short by today's standards, even with foldable phones. 

It will probably take a few generations before we get higher-res ultrawide and periscope cameras on Samsung's foldable phones, and those days can't come soon enough.

Galaxy Z Fold 7 selfie cameras: No changes, probably

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 will have two selfie cameras, just like all of its predecessors. Once again, the device will feature one external 10MP selfie camera on the outer "cover" screen, and another 4MP under-display one that takes over when you unfold the phone. 

We are unlikely to be getting any upgrades here, though the image quality of the internal camera definitely leaves a lot to be desired in terms of image quality. However, it being an under-display one certainly complicates things and doesn't provide a lot of leeway for many potential upgrades. 

Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the PhoneArena Camera Score test: Our expectations

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 performed very well in our dedicated PhoneArena Camera Score test, but given the potential improvements with the main camera of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, we certainly have high expectations of the upcoming device. 

Previous Galaxy Z Fold phones mostly relied on software enhancements and image-processing tune-ups to achieve better image quality, but Samsung could be finally improving the core hardware foundation for the camera, which could have a big effect on both the image quality itself and the phone's performance in our camera test. 

Or, as wiser men have put it, there's no replacement for displacement.