There’s nothing quite like using a foldable — and while they aren’t for everyone, once you’ve used a large foldable like the Galaxy Z Fold, it’s hard to go back. As someone who regularly cycles through phones, I always find myself reaching for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 during the chaos of trade shows. That massive internal screen feels like having a tablet in my pocket, and when I’m juggling Slack threads, emails, and capturing photos and videos on a show floor, nothing else comes close.
This is the kind of futuristic convenience I dreamed of 15 years ago while lugging around a Motorola Droid and an HP TC1100 2-in-1. Foldables like the Z Fold finally deliver on that vision, but they’re still facing an uphill battle.
Fragility was a massive concern early on, and while it’s largely eliminated now, the perception lingers. And the price? That’s the biggest obstacle by far. It’s tough to justify spending nearly $2,000 on a phone when excellent traditional flagships go for nearly half that.
Unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 isn’t expected to reverse that trend. If anything, we may see the price climb even higher in the U.S. due to new tariffs, as we reported earlier this week.
So what can Samsung do to make the sticker shock more palatable? Load up the preorder freebies and discounts. Based on rumors, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 may include a 6-month subscription to Google AI Pro — Google’s $20/month AI suite — as one of its launch perks.
But is a $120 AI freebie and a trade-in credit enough to sway new buyers to a foldable? Let’s tally up what Samsung might offer and whether that’s finally enough to bring foldables into the mainstream.
What’s half a year of Google AI Pro worth to you?
The latest rumor, uncovered in an APK teardown by Android Authority, suggests that Samsung may include a free six-month subscription to Google AI Pro (formerly Google Gemini Advanced), valued at $120.
If you’ve avoided or only dipped your toe into the AI realm so far, Google’s AI Pro is more than a simple chatbot. Beyond access to Gemini 2.5 Pro and Deep Research for complex AI tasks, it offers image creation, video creation through Veo 3, and even AI filmmaking tools through Flow.
It’s a robust AI offering that should pair well with power users who may gravitate to the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Trade-ins and discounts
Samsung hasn’t announced its next Unpacked event yet, but I expect that when it does, we’ll see the typical $50 incentive if you provide your email, stacked with enhanced trade-in offers, possibly instant credits, and finally, free double storage.
The free AI offer is a nice appetizer, but these are the main course. The $50 is easy for anyone to get and carries no obligation; just make sure to register your interest when the offer pops up.
The trade-in offers are obviously dependent on what phone you have now, but Samsung always bumps up the values at launch. For the Galaxy S25 Ultra launch in January, the top trade-in offer was $900, while it was an astounding $1,200 for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 last year. If you are making the move from another recent flagship, that could take a lot of the sting out of the Galaxy Z Fold 7 price.
The instant credits are more of a wildcard. Sometimes these are only available to those not trading in a phone and can be up to $350. Other times, there are credits towards other Samsung devices.
For example, you may be able to get free Galaxy Buds 3 Pro or discounted offers on a Galaxy Watch or Galaxy Tab. It’s not direct money in your pocket (unless you sell them, of course), but it can be a nice way to save if you’ve been considering any of those other devices.
The last incentive is the double storage offer, which, assuming Samsung keeps the same pricing for storage upgrades, is another $120 value.
So, if we total all of those theoretical offers, that’s a potential $1,840 in value. Heavy asterisks are in order, as this includes a maximum trade-in value and assumes that Samsung offers instant credit to everyone, which isn’t always the case. However, it does provide a picture of the maximum possible offer.
Even dropping to a more common $800 enhanced trade-in and removing the instant credit entirely, the total incentives would still be $1,090, which feels a lot better than staring down that $2,000 price tag.
Not cheap, but a better value.
Let’s not overstate it — Google AI Pro isn’t going to suddenly make the Z Fold 7 affordable. But when you stack it up with all of the other discounts, a free six-month subscription to a $120 AI service is more than just a nice throw-in. It’s a subtle shift in how the value proposition is framed.
Samsung wants you to think of this phone not just as a luxury gadget, but as a legitimate productivity powerhouse. That messaging becomes a lot more convincing when it comes bundled with serious software to boost an already powerful smartphone.
That’s on top of some more significant upgrades than we saw last year. Leaks suggest a redesigned hinge and slimmer profile, which would help address one of the Fold’s lingering issues: bulk. I consider it a fair trade for the versatility, but no one is going to argue against a thinner and lighter Galaxy Z Fold 7.
We’re also hearing buzz about camera upgrades, potentially rocketing to the 200MP sensor previously reserved for the Ultra lineup, a significant bump from the current 50MP sensor. While the Fold cameras have been solid for the last few generations, they’ve never reached flagship-tier, which is hard to stomach at its price.
Combine that with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, faster storage, better multitasking, and tighter AI integration, and the Z Fold 7 starts to feel at least like a better value, even if it isn’t cheap.
Is it enough?
I’ve always believed foldables could offer something truly different, and the Z Fold series has come closest to delivering that vision. But even I’ll admit: the price is a tough sell.
If the Galaxy Z Fold 7 comes with thoughtful hardware refinements, flagship-grade cameras, new software perks like Google AI Pro, stacked on top of other solid discounts and freebies, it will be easier than ever to justify the investment, especially if you’re someone who values productivity and multitasking on the go.
This might not be the foldable that changes everyone’s mind, but it could be the one that finally makes longtime skeptics reconsider. For those of us already onboard, it’s shaping up to be the best Fold yet.
