Samsung Interview: Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 product manager talks new designs, more AI — and that missing S Pen
Kadesh Beckford is Smartphone Specialist Product Manager at Samsung UK, and one of the first people to use these devices over a long period of time. So since he's had more of an opportunity than almost anyone else in the world right now to try out the new Samsung foldables and smartwatch, we thought we'd ask him our most pressing questions about the lineup.
"To be honest and transparent, I've experienced the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a couple of weeks now," Beckford admitted during our interview. "I've been very knowledgeable about the product for a little while, obviously while having it under lock and key. But then I've seen every single time I pick it up and have the capability of looking at it, it blows me away."
Why does it blow him away? That has a lot to with the big design upgrade the new Z Fold has seen from previous generations. "Every single time I picked it up, I completely forgot it was a Fold. It screams out a normal phone, but when you open it, I'm like, "Okay, this is great."
While Beckford's more of a Z Fold fan, he still gets the appeal of the smaller Galaxy Z Flip 7.
"With the Z Flip series, the customers love the portability, the practicality of the device and its design. And the fact is we've made improvements on that: stronger, thinner, a bigger battery. Our R&D guys, our engineers, are amazing."
There are plenty of hardware changes to talk about, but Galaxy AI still looms in the background as a big part of Samsung's mobile device plan. A few new features are debuting on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, so I asked Beckford what he liked best out of the fresh additions.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
"My favorite one probably is Suggest Erases. Last week, my colleague, Tom, actually, we were in our office, I was taking a few pictures around and I'm taking a picture of Tom. And I'm in the background because there's a mirror in front of us.
'I thought I looked pretty good in the picture at the time, but just the fact that AI picked me out, literally drew a line around me, and I then could literally just press a button and erase. It wasn't me going in to erase it, it made the suggestion at an instant and it removed me."
Beckford also named the Now Bar as another favorite. The live app notification feature was introduced with the Galaxy S25, but it takes on new life on the cover screen of the Z Flip 7, where it's visible without opening the phone.
'I use Uber now and then. So now with the Now Bar, you'll get your Uber notifications.. I can now look at that on the Z Flip, just on the left-hand side. For me, that's fantastic.'
The Now Brief summary has also proven beneficial for Beckford's fitness goals. 'I wouldn't say I'm a great runner, but I recently committed to not driving to the gym. I either walk or get a [dockless hire] bike. And what I'm finding is that with my device, I'm able to view all my metrics. I do wear a Galaxy Ring. I do wear a Galaxy Watch, but the fact is in my Now Brief, I'll get all of my weekly health insights."
This data is important for Beckford, who has set himself the goal of running a marathon distance by September this year ("I haven't said in what time I'll complete it in," he adds). This follows his completion of the popular "75 Hard" fitness plan earlier this year. And he gives Galaxy AI a good amount of credit for helping him.
"75 Hard is… hard! But with [Galaxy AI] what I was able to say okay, Monday's scheduling is chest and bicep day, then it's going to be back and tricep day, then it's going to be shoulders and abs day, and legs and abs day. I was able to just say it [to Galaxy AI] and then ask it to repeat this for X time frame and it kept me true to form.
"Even at lunch breaks… because Bixby Routines knows I've got into the office, and it's coming up to around lunch time, it will make the suggestion of going for a walk. So these are small little things that I was able to implement. And especially when we pair it up with the improvements to Now Brief and Galaxy Watch.
Yes, we must not forget about the other strand of Galaxy Unpacked — the new Galaxy Watch 8 series. "The watch is definitely a complementary factor when it comes to these devices. It looks sleek, it looks sexy as far as I'm concerned, with the stainless steel finish on the Watch 8 Classic. when I partner that up with probably a Silver Shadow Fold 7. It's going to look complete."
For as much as the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has improved on its predecessors, it's taken a step back by losing S Pen compatibility.
But Beckford explained the reasoning: "When we look at the insights from what our customers were using on the Galaxy Z Fold series and what they wanted, fundamentally they wanted a thinner and lighter device. And with us we definitely pay attention and listen to our customers. So with those insights, we implemented what they asked."
Now that he can talk about the phone openly, the last thing I wanted to know from Beckford was the first thing he'll show off once he's moved on to the Z Fold 7 from his current Galaxy S25 Edge.
"I'll just show [people] the design. Fundamentally, it will be to put the phone in the palm of the hands of everyone. And I want their opinion and their reaction. It's easy for me to talk about all of the plus points on this device."
"But I truly believe once people get it in the palm of their hands and they compare it year on year or even since 2019… they are going to be like, "Yeah, this is epic.""
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
12 minutes ago
- Axios
Communicator Spotlight: Nairi Hourdajian of Figma
Nairi Hourdajian serves as chief communications officer at the collaborative design software company, Figma. Why it matters: Figma recently filed to go public, becoming the first U.S. unicorn to break the dam for post-Labor Day IPOs, Axios' Dan Primack points out. Catch up quick: Hourdajian got her start working on Capitol Hill and for political campaigns before joining Uber in 2013 as head of global communications. She then ran marketing and communications for early-stage venture capital firm Canaan before joining Figma in 2020. What she's saying: "I love working for founder-led companies because it reminds me a lot of working for political campaigns," she told Axios. "The politician's brand and the message of the campaign are inexorably linked. And that passion and care that a politician has for every detail of their campaign is very similar to how a founder cares for every detail of how their company is run." Plus, both rely on finding and engaging with the most dedicated user bases, she added. "One of the things that I really believe, that I learned from politics, is that the intensity of sentiment is the most important thing that you can have," Hourdajian said. "So when you're doing that first poll about a potential candidate, all you need to see is that there is a really passionate sentiment about that person, even if the number of people who know them is small, because then you know that once they get to know the candidate, that that can potentially spread." "The same is true for products or for any brand or company. When you're building a brand, you need to inspire that kind of passion." State of play: Hourdajian sits on the senior leadership team and reports to Figma chief marketing officer Sheila Vashee. She oversees the team responsible for communications, corporate affairs, brand marketing and community and experiential marketing. "I think of comms as a brand strategy function," she said. "You're essentially showing the world who you are through your actions. And so, how are you advising the business? How are you driving ideas, messages, stories and tactical executions that tell the story that is important to tell for your business?" Zoom in: Her team just executed their sixth Config — an annual conference for Figma users and community members — and supported the launch of four new products. The company is also focused on growing internationally, Hourdajian says, with offices now in Berlin, London, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. What to watch: Communicating with a consumer lens. "We're a brand that mostly makes money B2B but we have a very strong consumer patina to our brand [because] enterprise buyers are people too," she said. "There's no reason that the language, the tactics, the execution, the visuals need to be worse or archaic or boring just because you happen to be a B2B company versus a consumer brand. And bringing a consumer lens to every company, no matter what space you're in, is something I'm really passionate about." She's also paying close attention to the marketing and comms strategies coming out of Oatly, Nike and Peloton. Best career advice: Do not have a five-year plan. "You will limit your option space by accident. Wherever you are, in whatever role, if you're learning, being challenged and enjoying the role then stick with it. If those things start to not feel true anymore, pick up your head. Look around, but be open. You don't know where you could end up."
Gizmodo
12 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Galaxy S25 Is 55% Off at Mint Mobile With 2 Years of Unlimited Plan, Even Cheaper Than Samsung's Website
Phones get a lot of work these days. They are our map, camera, wallet, game console, and late‑night movie screen, all stuffed into a palm‑size slab. The Samsung Galaxy S25 from Mint Mobile steps up for that juggling act with a bright display, lively hardware, and a battery that can keep scrolling long past sunset. It feels good in the hand, looks sharp on the coffee table, and will not punish your budget. Head over to Mint Mobile to get the Samsung Galaxy S25 for just $360, down from its usual price of $800. That's a discount of $440 and 55% off. Even better, Mint is bundling the phone with 2 years of Unlimited service for just $15/month. For a limited time, when you switch to Mint, you'll get 24 months of Unlimited data, talk, and text — plus that fresh new Galaxy S25 — all in one bundle of awesome. See at Mint Mobile Flip on the 6.5 inch AMOLED screen and colors jump off the glass. A buttery 120Hz refresh rate keeps timelines gliding without the usual stutter, and the built‑in fingerprint reader unlocks so fast you may miss the animation. The frame uses aluminum, so the phone feels steady without adding brick‑like heft, and water resistance lets you answer texts in light rain instead of panicking. Under the hood an updated Exynos chip and eight gigabytes of RAM handle everything from video calls to quick rounds of Rocket League. Apps pop open rather than crawl, and you can bounce between a podcast, group chat, and maps without hitting slowdown. You won't have to worry about running out of space either. Storage is enough for vacation photos, offline playlists, and several chunky games before the cloud even crosses your mind. Samsung's triple camera setup covers daily life with confidence. A standard lens grabs sharp family shots, an ultrawide fits the whole skyline, and the zoom brings a distant concert stage closer. Night mode pulls real color out of moody restaurants, and portrait mode separates subjects from backgrounds with a gentle blur instead of a hard cutout. Video looks smooth, too, thanks to optical stabilization that tames shaky hands. Battery life rarely blinks first. Typical use still shows double‑digit percentage the next morning, and 45W wired charging bumps the gauge to roughly halfway while you make coffee. Need to rescue a friend's dead earbuds? Flip on wireless PowerShare and let the S25 play charging pad for a few minutes. Mint Mobile activation is painless. Slide in the included SIM, pick a plan on the website, and you are live. No store visit, no sales pitch. Support for Wi‑Fi 6E at home and nationwide 5G on the road keeps streaming smooth today and ready for tomorrow's faster networks. The Samsung Galaxy S25 is currently $360 at Mint Mobile, a much friendlier number than the usual $800 list price. Deals like this don't come around often. With the Galaxy S25, 24 months of Unlimited, and that $15/month price tag, this Mint Mobile offer is too good to pass up, especially while it lasts. See at Mint Mobile
Bloomberg
13 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
The Battle of the Robotaxis Is Beginning
Conventional wisdom has it that the rise of robotaxis is bad for Uber Technologies Inc. and oh so good for Tesla Inc. But conventional wisdom is the antithesis of disruption, and along comes a deal on Thursday to hammer home the point: Uber's autonomous vehicle partnership with Lucid Group Inc. and Nuro Inc. Tesla, in particular, should watch out. The three companies are teaming up to build a fleet of at least 20,000 robotaxis, using Lucid's Gravity electric SUV fitted with Nuro's AV system, and owned and operated by Uber or third-party partners. They plan to deploy the first ones next year in an unnamed major US city. As part of the deal, Uber will invest in both companies. For Lucid, the funding is to refit its assembly line to incorporate Nuro's technology. But along with the sales pipeline, it refits Lucid's distressed stock: Having fallen by nearly 90% over the past three years, it jumped by more than a third on Thursday morning as an army of shorts got squeezed.
