AI Summary
5 min readThe 2025 Samsung Unpacked event was an hour and a half of "vertical AI generated ads" and product announcements that left the Waveform hosts with a lot to unpack. The biggest story wasn't just the new foldables themselves, but how Samsung reorganized its entire folding phone lineup, introducing a new shape that sits below a newly-minted "Ultra" model. The result is a lineup with confusing names but genuinely interesting hardware, alongside a few other gadgets that felt more like placeholders than finished products.
The Foldable Reorganization: Ultra, Fold, and the "Passport" Returns
Samsung unveiled three phones in its foldable line. The Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 received spec bumps and higher prices, but the main event was the foldables. The new top-tier device is the Galaxy Fold 8 Ultra, a $2,100 candy-bar-style foldable with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, a 5,000 milliamp hour battery, and a titanium flex hinge. It starts at 256 gigabytes of storage. The hosts were annoyed by the "Ultra" naming, arguing it wasn't earned by any new functionality—the camera was the same as last year's—and was simply a way to position a lesser model underneath it. "That sucks," was the blunt assessment.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:32) **Show Intro & Trivia Reset** - The hosts welcome back, recap the trivia extravaganza episode, and announce the season reset.
- 2 (02:51) **Pet Peeve: Apple Weather App** - Marquez rants about the Apple Weather app's misleading daily icon.
- 3 (08:41) **Garmin’s Screenless Tracker (CIRQA)** - The crew discusses the new Garmin CIRQA, a screenless activity tracker.
- 4 (22:36) **Buzz: The Decentralized Group Chat** - David explains Jack Dorsey's new open-source Slack competitor, Buzz.
- 5 (27:28) **Light Phone Flip (Light Flip)** - The hosts react to the new $300 Light Flip phone.
- 6 (45:33) **Samsung Unpacked Overview** - The crew dives into the massive Samsung Unpacked event.
- 7 (46:56) **The New Foldables: Ultra vs. Standard** - Samsung splits its foldable line into the Fold 8 Ultra and the smaller, squatter Fold 8.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Finally, a classic gadget week! First, it's all about the Garmin Cirqa, the newest Whoop competitor to enter the fray. Then Marques, Andrew, and David debate whether the new Lite Flip minimal phone is worth the asking price. Once the dust settles, it's all about the newest Samsung Z Flip 8, Z Fold 8, and Z Fold 8 Ultra. After that, Marques tries to explain something in tech terms, David talks about the new Peak Design field bracket, and the crew discusses new reporting that Apple is going to start a leasing program as early as next week. Of course, we wrap it all up with trivia. Enjoy!
Links:
DC Rainmaker - Garmin CIRQA video
Bloomberg - Apple Leasing Program
This episode brought to you by: Framer: https://www.framer.com/waveform Glaze: https://www.glaze.app/waveform Follow us on socials: Marques: https://www.threads.net/@mkbhd Andrew: https://www.threads.net/@andrew_manganelli David: https://www.threads.net/@davidimel Adam: https://www.threads.net/@parmesanpapi17 Ellis: https://twitter.com/EllisRovin
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