For years, the argument has been simple: a foldable is a phone that opens up, and a tablet is a tablet. Different jobs. Different software. Maybe even different operating systems.
Samsung doesn’t buy it.
After several months with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, it’s hard to disagree. Open it up, set it beside a Samsung Galaxy tablet, and something becomes obvious very quickly…
They’re running the same playbook.
Same home screens. Same multitasking. Same muscle memory. Only one of them fits in your pocket.
A Quick Trip Down Tablet Lane
Tablets have gone through their share of growth spurts — from the early nine-inch slates to the 11-inch size that’s become the sweet spot today, with cheaper eight- and nine-inch models still hanging around.
The appeal has never changed: tons of apps and real portability. Laptops are heavier, and in a lot of ways they don’t have the same app library.
Smartphones grew up right alongside them. Then foldables showed up and started blurring the line.
One of the earliest foldables in this collection is Microsoft’s Surface Duo — two screens joined by a hinge, a little over eight inches of display when opened. It still works well. It still runs all the apps. It still feels like a mini tablet next to an 11-inch slate.
But two screens is a very different animal from what foldables are today.
Enter the Z Fold 8: A Tablet That Folds in Half
Fast-forward several years and here’s the Z Fold 8. Open it next to an 11-inch Samsung tablet and it’s noticeably smaller.
That’s the point.
Samsung’s approach is a phone on the outside and a tablet on the inside — and it does both really, really well. Everything the tablet does, the Fold does in a far more portable package.
And here’s the honest confession: the tablet barely gets used anymore. The Fold took its job.
Maybe that’s exactly why some other companies don’t let their foldables and tablets behave the same way.
Side by Side: Spot the Difference
Put them next to each other and the similarities jump out. Home screens with folders. Widgets everywhere. Customize anything, group anything. A dock along the bottom for favorite apps. Swipe up for the app drawer.
They’re practically twins.
Now the twist: the tablet here is a Galaxy Tab S7. It’s about six years old, it’s a cellular model, and it hasn’t seen a major software update in roughly three years.
That’s not a typo.
And yet it still looks and behaves almost identically to the brand-new Z Fold 8. Open the same browser on both at the same moment and the Fold 8 is quicker, sure… but not by a whole lot.
That’s a big plus for Samsung. The tablet didn’t get left behind. Samsung simply stopped updating it — and the experience held.
Multitasking: The Same Moves on Both
Tap the little bar at the top of an app and you can split the screen. On both devices. Open the Amazon app in the second pane and the Fold 8 is faster — it’s six years newer — but the old tablet still gets the work done.
The three-dot menu between the apps? Same options. Tap the star and you can save that app pair to the taskbar, then launch both apps together from anywhere. Same on both.
Slide up from the bottom, grab a third app — a photo gallery, in this case — and drop it in. Three apps on screen. That’s something you can’t do on some other foldables.
Then there’s the sidebar. Pull out the calculator, drag it onto the screen, and it becomes a floating window you can resize however you like. Do the same on the tablet and you get the same result. Plenty of other tablets — and foldables — can’t pull that off.
Is three apps side by side practical on the Fold? Honestly… not really. Things get cramped, though you can resize the panes to make them fit better. Most people will live with two apps plus the occasional floating window for messages or a quick calculation.
And that combination works beautifully.
Everyday Apps: Practically Identical
YouTube looks the same on both. Tap a video and it starts playing immediately on each. Scroll for more videos the same way. Go full screen on both. Pinch to zoom on both.
The small differences come down to age. On the Fold 8, a quick swipe up brings up the dock and it slips away again. On the older tablet, you press and hold instead. Slightly different gesture, same idea.
The tablet’s wider aspect ratio does give you a bit more to look at in full-screen video.
Otherwise? It’s all the same.
DeX: The One Real Difference
Here’s where they finally part ways.
On the tablet, DeX lives right in the quick panel. Tap it and the tablet boots into a desktop-style interface. Snap on the keyboard cover, add a mouse if you like, and you’ve got a fully functional laptop.
On the Z Fold 8, DeX needs an external display. You have to plug into another screen to use it.
Inside DeX on the tablet, apps act like windows on a computer. Shrink them, drag them, snap them to the side, resize them. Open Edge next to another app, drop Amazon in the middle, add the photo gallery… there’s no three-app ceiling like in the regular interface. Fire up Netflix, go full screen, and you’ve got the full experience.
That’s a genuine benefit of a Samsung tablet: it can stand in for a laptop.
The S Pen Problem
There’s one place Samsung stumbled. Starting with the Z Fold 7 series, and continuing with the Z Fold 8, the S Pen is gone.
The tablet still has it. Write, draw, annotate — everything the S Pen does, right there on the screen.
That might be the last real reason to carry a Samsung tablet around. Maybe that’s deliberate — the S Pen as Samsung’s dividing line between phone and tablet.
If so, it’s a mistake.
So… Is the Z Fold 8 Really a Tablet?
Pretty much, yes.
Samsung built a phone. Samsung built a tablet. Then Samsung built a phone-tablet. Same layout, same multitasking, same ability to work like a laptop.
Other companies keep their foldables and tablets on separate tracks. Samsung gives you the same experience no matter which device is in your hand — and for this content creator, that puts Samsung ahead of the competition on UI, operating system and ecosystem.
If you live in the S Pen, or you want laptop-style DeX without plugging into another screen, a Galaxy tablet still earns its spot in the bag.
If you want one device that does both jobs? The Z Fold 8, starting at $1,899.99, is the one.
A foldable can’t be a tablet? Samsung already proved otherwise.
It’s not a phone pretending to be a tablet.
It’s both.