I’m going on holiday, and my Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn’t coming with me

After what seems like an eternity, I’m finally going on holiday. Like most people, I will be spending a good part of this holiday capturing photos and videos, both of things I see and of myself and the people I’m going with.

When I was booking tickets for the trip, I began to wonder: what phone would I take with me? Except for bouts with the Galaxy S26 FE, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8 in recent weeks, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has been my primary smartphone since I got my hands on one. And from the very beginning, its limitations as a camera phone have been on my mind.

And here’s the problem: I’ve decided the Galaxy Z Fold 8 cannot come on this trip with me. One reason is that it has no zoom camera at the back. But perhaps the more critical limitation is its lack of Flex Mode, or the ability to stay open at various angles.

Flex Mode has been one of the most useful features of Samsung’s foldable phones for photography. You can unfold the phone partially and set it down anywhere to take hands-free photos and videos.

It’s particularly useful when you’re travelling. If everyone in your group wants to be in the photo, you don’t have to ask a stranger to capture it for you or carry a tripod or selfie stick.

The Fold 8’s hinge is designed to make the phone easier to open. Whether that’s the reason Flex Mode is missing, or Samsung simply wanted to keep the feature exclusive to the Fold 8 Ultra to make the two models stand apart, the result is the same: the Fold 8 doesn’t support Flex Mode.

For everyday use, I haven’t missed Flex Mode all that much, especially since the Fold 8 does support tent mode, which lets me watch videos hands-free on the cover screen. But as soon as I started thinking about taking the Fold 8 on holiday, its absence became a much bigger deal.

As mentioned, Flex Mode isn’t the only reason I’m not taking the Fold 8 on holiday. The lack of a dedicated zoom camera is another.

I can live without one in day-to-day life, especially when I’m at home and can have a second phone like the S26 Ultra lying around for those times when I do need to take zoom photos (which is pretty often when you’re a dog parent).

But I wouldn’t want to carry two phones when I’m travelling, so I need to make sure the one phone I do carry can do it all.

The Fold 8 Ultra doesn’t tick all the boxes either. It has just a 3x 10MP zoom camera, which isn’t particularly versatile. But at least it supports Flex Mode. Heck, even the iPhone Duo supports it, despite being Apple’s first foldable phone.

The Fold 8 is limited on two fronts when it comes to capturing photos and videos on a trip, and I think that’s something people should consider if they’re thinking of picking one up.

I’m lucky that I can even have this conversation with myself because having multiple phones is a perk of my job. Most people don’t have the luxury of owning two smartphones, especially two expensive ones.

So, as much as I enjoy using the Fold 8, it will be staying home for this holiday. When I’m travelling and only want to carry one phone, I need that phone to cover all the bases, and the Fold 8 simply doesn’t.