The Galaxy Z series has set the standard for foldable phones from its very first launch, with a new release every year. Now in its seventh chapter, the latest design revisits where it all started. The Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 are the result of refinements made over each year of innovation. Samsung Newsroom spoke with Hubert Lee, Head of the Design Team and Huichul Yang, Head of the UX (User eXperience) Team, both part of the Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics, to discover the story behind the products and the designers’ persistent pursuit of incredible design.

* Content images simulated for illustrative purposes only and may differ from the actual product. Product specifications may vary by country, region, model and carrier.

Hubert Lee

Executive Vice President, MX Business, Samsung Electronics

Since joining as Head of the MX Design Team in late 2022, Lee has overseen the design direction for all MX product launches. With the launch of the new Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7, Lee showcases Galaxy’s ultimate pursuit of ultra-sleek and modern design.

Huichul Yang

Vice President, MX Business, Samsung Electronics

Since joining Samsung in 2005, Yang has played a pivotal role in advancing mobile UX innovation as an HCI (Human Computer Interaction) expert. Since late 2023, Yang has led the UX Team in the MX Business, crafting the mobile experiences powered by Galaxy AI.

The Essence of Foldable Design

Q: The Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 have finally been unveiled. As the heads of the Design and UX teams, it must mean a lot to both of you.

Lee: Among the products I’ve designed at Samsung, the Galaxy Z Fold7 stands out as the one I am most proud of. Most people said, “Wow!” as soon as they saw it. It’s the thinnest, lightest Galaxy Z Fold series model yet. I believe it captures the essence of what a foldable phone can be. It’s only just been unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked 2025 in New York, but I’m confident that customers will understand its true value as they see it up close and get a feel for it in their hands.

Yang: Alongside the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7, we also introduced One UI 8, an interface optimised for the AI experience. I believe that a sleek, modern design — paired with an intuitive interface — can really resonate with users seeking a more elevated mobile experience in this age of AI.

“The Galaxy Z series isn’t just well-made — it reaffirms our position as a pioneer and benchmark in the foldable phone market.”

— Hubert Lee, EVP, Samsung Electronics

Q: It’s clear you’re both really proud of the products. It must have taken a lot of work to get it out into the world.

Lee: The Galaxy Z series marked the very beginning of foldable phones. To solidify that symbolism, we knew we had to create a product that felt truly impressive to anyone who saw it. There was a shared understanding within the team that simply repeating what we had done in the past wouldn’t be enough to meet customer expectations. Change wasn’t a choice; it was a must. That’s why with the seventh models of the Galaxy Z series, we didn’t approach it as a refinement — we approached it as a redesign from the ground up. We approached it as if we were starting completely from scratch.

We design lifestyle products. To be part of people’s daily lives, portability is essential and reducing weight was key to achieving that. Our mobile R&D office put in a huge amount of effort in that respect. The nature of the hardware meant there was a certain weight we had to carry, but we kept wondering if we could make it just a little bit lighter. That led to a lot of research and testing. As it became lighter, it became thinner and the display larger, until we arrived at the sleek, modern form we had envisioned. The product you see is the result of countless hours of deliberation, passion and engineering.

Q: How did changes to the design of products affect the user interface?

Yang: Since One UI 6, we’ve been introducing a range of AI features as an AI companion. With One UI 8, we focused on meaningful productivity. We took advantage of the Galaxy Z Fold7’s large-screen form factor to enable users to easily compare original and AI-generated content side by side and move it seamlessly between apps.

Q: What are the changes to the Galaxy Z Flip7 UX?

Yang: One of the standout features of the Z Flip7 is its full-front FlexWindow. Gemini is now optimised for the FlexWindow, enabling quick and seamless interaction with AI — anytime you need it. It’s our new take on an AI companion — one that unfolds right in the palm of your hand. Notably, the form factor is such that the main camera faces you when folded, so now you can launch Gemini Live from the FlexWindow and ask about everyday things, like if your outfit is appropriate for the weather or your schedule for the day.

“We envisioned a new future with One UI 8 on the Galaxy Z Flip7 as an AI companion in your hand.”

 — Huichul Yang, VP, Samsung Electronics

* This background image has been created by generative AI (Macnific AI, Midjourney).

Q: The products come in a range of colours. Which one is your favourite?

Lee: I love them all but if I had to choose one, it would have to be Silver Shadow. It’s the most straightforward and simple one, but I think it represents Galaxy’s “Ultra Sleek, Ultra Modern” concept really well.

When customers buy premium products like the Galaxy Z Fold7, they tend to prefer values that feel timeless, so we really took that into consideration when choosing the colours for this series. We leveraged the metallic material to bring the colours to life in a way that expresses our design intent and complements the foldable form factor. One of the standout colours of this series is Blue Shadow. As you move the product around, the shine and sophistication are noticeable from all angles.

▲ (From left) Hubert Lee and Huichul Yang

Let’s Design Together!

Q: Even though you’re on different teams, you’ve been working on the same product. How did the Design and UX teams get connected?

Yang: Wallpaper design is where we really tend to collaborate closely. We work together to make sure the message the Design team wants to convey is properly communicated through the wallpaper, the face of the product. For One UI 7, we aligned the product’s corner radius with the One UI icon geometry. We’ll continue to align the GUI (Graphic user interface) with the underlying style of the product for future releases, too.

“Designing with the authentic mindset that we are all one team — this, I believe, is the most important attitude we need to break silos and grow together.”

 — Hubert Lee, EVP, Samsung Electronics

Q: How do the team members collaborate?

Lee: The Design team holds a session called Design Clinic. Group leaders and managers come together to share ongoing projects and insights. It’s not a formal meeting, but rather a relaxed gathering to share ideas over coffee and dessert. It’s an open discussion where even criticism is seen as a way to make our products better and support each other. In the MX Business’s Design team, we cover everything from smartphones and wearables to PCs, tablets, CMF (Colour, material and finish) and packaging, each item with its own functions. The Design Clinic helps us gain insights from other fields or discover early-stage ideas.

Q: How do you encourage synergy between designers on the team?

Lee: I often emphasise the phrase, “Let’s Design Together.” Rather than just holding onto what they’ve been assigned, I encourage the team to think collectively about what we’re making and how we can improve it. If feedback or advice isn’t sincere, it just leads to silos between teams. Designing together as one team with an authentic, shared mindset is what I emphasise most within the organisation.

Reframing the Future

Q: Aside from designers’ intuition, sensibilities and qualitative insights, do you also incorporate user testing or quantitative validation during the design planning phase?

Lee: The Design team has established a Galaxy Design principle called “Essential Design,” aimed at focusing on core value and removing unnecessary elements. It’s based on three key elements: Simple, Impactful and Emotive. We believe that when these three elements come together in harmony, they create a truly aspirational product. We use the principle and its key elements as evaluation tools during the design planning stage; through a process we call Design Analytics. We conduct evaluations with internal employees to make sure our design intent is being communicated to users effectively. We use the data and insights from this to refine current designs and even identify future products. It’s how we strengthen our design identity, and it’s an integral part of the Galaxy design process.

Q: Do you use AI in your work?

Yang: We refer to AI tools during the testing process. We’ve observed that results from AI-based virtual user testing are fairly close to tests done by recruiting actual users. This leads us to expect that AI can play a significant role in UX evaluation going forward. We’re also experimenting with AI in other ways, like testing multiple versions of motion or animation effects, or turning 2D assets into 3D or animated formats. In this way, we’re continuously learning more about how to enhance our designs with AI.

“Amid the momentum of AI, the ability to direct design will become one of the most valuable assets in making your work truly meaningful.”

 — Huichul Yang, VP, Samsung Electronics

▲ (From left) Huichul Yang and Hubert Lee

Q: The age we live in is constantly changing. What kind of mindset and vision should guide designers today?

Yang: AI is a new momentum for designers. There are more and more of us thinking about how to use AI to make our work more meaningful. I believe those who show interest in how the world is changing and make new tools their own will be the ones leading in the age of AI. Some say designers will fade away as AI advances, but I see it differently. Design direction, the ability to guide AI creations and enrich them, is bound to become even more essential.

Lee: When it comes to new devices like foldable products, we’re not designing features. We’re designing the entire experience. I believe it’s our role as designers to deeply consider why a device folds, why it unfolds and what kind of value and convenience those actions should provide. That’s because we’re not just product designers, we’re lifestyle designers, and in the end, the user is the most important part of all. We have to read the trends constantly and keep asking ourselves what users truly need. To me, design that makes their lives better is design that’s truly meaningful.

For more information about Samsung Electronics’ design, please visit the Samsung Design website.

The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 embody modern, sleek design. Through their simple, solid exterior and linear form, these devices express what Galaxy’s design identity is all about. Explore the design story behind the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, where modernity and simplicity converge.

* The images featured in this article are for illustrative purposes only and may differ from the actual product. Product specifications may vary by country, region, model and carrier.

Iconic and Unique

Floating Design, a distinctive and impactful design element newly incorporated into the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6, makes it seem like the foldables’ screens float above their bodies when viewed from the side. When folded, the bold line along the side of the devices not only accentuates their sleek, linear form, but also facilitates easier opening, enhancing overall usability.

Linear form is a core aspect of the Galaxy Z Fold6 design, maximised by its effortlessly sleek and streamlined, yet balanced shape. By reducing the length and increasing the width of the cover screen, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is more user-friendly than ever before with a refreshing new look. The corners on the right-hand side of the device now mirror the shape of those on the left, resulting in an almost symmetrical silhouette when folded.

Through six generations of technological advancements and design expertise, the Galaxy Z Fold6 stands out as the slimmest and lightest among all Galaxy Z Fold models to date. Its balanced design and thin form ensure maximum comfort, adding to the desirability of this premium foldable phone.

One of the Galaxy series’ most defining features is its signature linear camera layout and this design motif takes centre stage on both the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6. The Galaxy Z Fold6 sports a bold camera decoration that further highlights the row of three circles descending vertically from the back top left corner of the device.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Z Flip6’s camera design exudes the vibrant, bubbly spirit of the Galaxy Z Flip series with a new camera decoration designed to match the diverse range of available body colours. The linear camera arrangements are even more prominent than in previous models, making the new Galaxy smartphones instantly recognisable.

Vibrant and Multicolored

* The Navy, Blue, Mint and Yellow images were created by generative AI (Navy, Blue, Yellow: Photoshop AI / Mint: Midjourney)

The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 bring a lively mood with both vivid and subtle colours. Each hue in this series evokes joyful moments connecting with nature. The Galaxy Z Fold6 is available in Silver Shadow, Pink and Navy, reflecting the confidence and sophistication of premium foldable phones. The Galaxy Z Flip6 is also available in the same Silver Shadow as the Galaxy Z Fold6, plus Blue, Mint and Yellow.

Featuring geometric shapes, the wallpapers of the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 seamlessly blend into the devices’ exterior aesthetics. They illustrate a graceful motion of light and shadow that mirrors the light reflecting off the haze glass on the back of the products.

The palette of the wallpaper dynamically adapts to the visual cues conveyed by each device’s colour, bringing it to life. To balance aesthetics and usability, brightness and contrast adjustments optimise the display’s energy consumption. Elegant animations amplify the sense of space created by the arrangement of outwardly extending circles and lines. Additionally, the wallpaper responds interactively depending on the angle of the display, turning the simple act of folding and unfolding into moments of joy.

The Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 herald a new beginning for the Galaxy Z series with designs that focus on the essence of what they are. Encapsulating the very nature of what Galaxy seeks to be with even greater boldness and style, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 are poised to shape the future of foldables.

For more information about Samsung Electronics’ design, please visit the Samsung Design website.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 10 June 2021 – When it comes to eliminating unnecessary elements in design, the first stage in the process is to ascertain what aspects are essential. In designing their TVs, Samsung Electronics pursues a design evolution aesthetic that brings about value through careful elimination – rather than unnecessary addition.

Removing Boundaries

The Infinity Screen, a unique aspect of Samsung’s TV design, maximises immersion by reducing the number of bezels to almost nothing. The boundaries of Samsung Neo QLED 8K have been trimmed to near zero thanks to advanced technologies and design processes. Its 0.8mm stainless steel frame removes the boundary between the screen and its environment, practically giving the illusion that the screen is floating. To further remove any hindrances to a viewer’s experience, the Samsung logo has also been reduced in size so that the product itself, not just its name, stands out as the icon.

Despite its slim appearance, the TV’s performance is powerful thanks to the inclusion of innovative technologies. The speaker hole and subwoofer systems, precisely implemented in the back of the screen, emit sound quality rich enough to require no additional speaker, and thanks to AI technology, users can enjoy optimised sounds tuned to their content and environments. The Neo QLED 8K offers viewers immersion from both inside and outside of the screen – all wrapped up in a sleek, thin package.

 Reimagining One Connect

One of the main benefits of a large screen TV is the ability to true and vivid immersion in your favourite content, but if the area surrounding the TV is distracting, this enjoyable experience can be interrupted. In designing the Neo QLED 8K, Samsung’s designers took into consideration such scenarios and underwent a re-examination of the way the product fits into its space.

Wall-mounted TVs usually require accessories embedded into both the product and the wall they sit against, while stand-type TVs require tables or other furniture that can quickly become cluttered. To avoid any of these inconveniences, Samsung’s One Connect has been redesigned to fit various usage environments in order to enhance viewer immersion. The optimised size and thickness of the renewed One Connect was determined through careful consideration of different environments, and its plate-type, slim appearance makes installation easy and neat.

Part of this redesign to the existing One Connect led Samsung designers to devise a new accessory: the Attachable Slim One Connect, which can be utilised as a TV stand. While the stand has always been an integral component of TV design, it has not played any role other than that of screen support – until now. The Attachable Slim One Connect has been designed as a stand, too, with a form that interferes neither with function nor shape and effectively disguises the Attachable Slim One Connect as a simple stand.

Further to the space efficiency and aesthetic benefit offered by the Attachable Slim One Connect, elements on the TV itself have been reorganised in order to preserve immersion and prioritise ease-of-use, such as the change of the placement of the cable input module from the back of the TV to the side of the Attachable Slim One Connect stand for seamless access.

How Samsung’s Designers Approach Minimalist Design

1.When designing the Neo QLED 8K, what did you want to carry on from previous Samsung QLED 8K models and what did you want to change?

Jangho Kim: The Infinity One Design has been created with a focus on total integration rather than simple ‘slimness,’ resulting in every element that doesn’t maximise screen immersion being removed. This represents the direction Samsung designers believe that TVs should be moving in. During the design process, I wanted to include the unique identity of the Samsung QLED 8K line and then enhance it through better understanding of users and their spaces. I believe that the combination of advanced technologies with user-centric developments will bring special experiences to our users

2. During the design process, it seems that decisions had to be made about what to keep and what to remove. What were the driving forces behind making these decisions?

Jigwang Kim: While any design refinement process is never easy, the experience of developing the Attachable Slim One Connect design was the most challenging. We wanted to implement the functionality of a TV stand into the One Connect model, a process that brought about many obstacles to overcome in the initial development stages.

Jangho Kim: Although such a dual-function accessory had never existed before, I wanted to be sure that the Attachable Slim One Connect retained its predecessor’s attractive form. This required us to devise a completely new design, and in order to find the optimum size and form factor for the product, all the relevant departments spent countless hours working through different options.

3. The consideration of different types of user environments was at the center of the Neo QLED 8K’s design process. What did you learn from such a process, and which design elements reflect these novel considerations?

Sangyoung Lee: The spaces users are placing their TVs in are becoming more and more diverse. Especially as people spend more time at home, the desire to ensure one’s interior aesthetic matches one’s tastes is becoming of paramount importance. In order to match the lifestyles of today, we analyzed the user’s TV experience on a micro level, down to the smallest aspects. I wanted to provide people with reasonable and simple TV usability, and so the Attachable Slim One Connect’s design was brought about to maximize immersion with its simple yet restrained appearance that can suit any user’s space.

4.What do you hope your legacy is as a designer for Samsung Electronics?

Jinsu Park: I hope that I am able to bring the everyday into product design. The meaning of the word ‘design’ is ambiguous: it can signify ‘innovation,’ and it can also signify ‘simple joy.’ I wish to practice design processes that bring all such values into users’ daily lives.

The evolution of Samsung’s TV design is always geared towards providing users with more immersive viewing experiences. Samsung and its designers will continue to challenge themselves to create products that provide users with leading functionality and a design that captures the true essence of the product.

You can also find more details at Design Samsung website.