The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 appear to be what Samsung fans and critics alike have been demanding from the company for generations. Slimmer builds, larger displays, and even more powerful chipsets — what’s not to like? But ironically enough, Samsung might be hoping its latest Z-series lineup is enough to convince anyone with an aging Note device to make the plunge, even as S Pen compatibility is ripped away from that big, foldable display.
I spent a good chunk of Unpacked this morning perusing Samsung’s online trade-in tool to find out the exact values the company is offering for its latest foldables. On the whole, they’re about what we’d expect at this point — iPhones and Samsung phones are favored, while Motorola and Google each have a handful of not-so-good offerings to call their own. The newer your device, the more money you’re going to get, so if you’ve soured on your Galaxy S25 Ultra after just a few months, well, you’ll get more for your phone than an S24 Ultra owner.
There is, however, one big exception: Note devices. Samsung hasn’t made a Galaxy Note-branded smartphone since the Galaxy Note 20-series nearly five years ago, but that hasn’t stopped users from holding onto their phablets for as long as humanly possible. This isn’t some new trend, either; Samsung was very deliberate, both in internal blogs and marketing images, in making an attempt to chase Galaxy Note users with the Galaxy S25 Ultra (despite its own S Pen woes), hoping to keep them locked within its ecosystem with a similar smartphone through the rest of this decade. And while most phones within the Galaxy S25 series have seen relatively strong sales, it’s unclear if Note users have been a part of those rushing to upgrade.
I’d hazard to guess, however, that Samsung’s still trying to make in-roads with this crowd. See, while the general rule of thumb for the company’s trade-ins is pretty universal — the older the device, the less it’s worth — legacy Note devices are an exception. When purchasing a Galaxy Z Fold 7, for example, the five-year-old Galaxy Note 20 Ultra will net you the same $600 as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, S23+, and Z Flip 5, despite all three of those devices being just two years old. That means, to Samsung, the Note 20 Ultra is worth more than devices one to five years newer than it, including the Galaxy S22 Ultra and even this year’s Galaxy S25.
It’d be one thing if Samsung was simply trying to get remaining owners of that specific phone to give up the ghost, but this extends further back than you might expect. Every other Note device dating back to 2017’s Note 8 will score you $300 in trade-in value towards a Z Fold 7. For comparison, newer smartphones — the Galaxy S21+, the Galaxy S23 FE, and the Galaxy S22, for example — don’t break that $300 cap, while non-Note smartphones from the late 2010s only earn you the $100 “other Android smartphone” consolation prize.
And yes, the same is true when trading any of these devices in for the Galaxy Z Flip 7, albeit at reduced overall values — after all, Samsung still wants to have you pay some amount of cash towards your new phone.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 lacks what won Galaxy Note fans over in the first place
I think it’s pretty obvious why Samsung is looking to sweeten the deal for Galaxy Note owners. It’s no secret that the company’s original phablet lineup has some pretty devoted followers. Despite receiving one of its final updates back in May, the Galaxy Note 20 subreddit is still filled with troubleshooting questions and strong recommendations for picking up refurbished models at ultra-low costs. Samsung might’ve killed the Note series out of dedication to its burgeoning foldable lineup — not to mention the redundancy of its S Ultra lineup — but it’s clear this is one brand name that retains a lot of meaning for a select group of enthusiasts.
Which is why, frankly, it’s pretty amusing to see Samsung teeing up the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as the replacement to get for Note devices past their prime. A big part of the remaining Note fandom, dwindling as it may be, comes from those old-school features Samsung left behind in the tail end of the last decade.
The Note 8 and Note 9 were the last of their kind, as my former Android Police colleague Stephen Radochia put so succinctly last year. Both rocked expandable storage and 3.5mm headphone jacks, even as both were starting to fade in relevance with general consumers. And even if the Note 10 and 20 series left those attributes behind, the S Pen and every power user tool found in Samsung’s software more than made up for the diminished experience.
Top comment by vexorian
The s-pen is way too useful. And the lack of proper S-pen options is the reason I will never stop using my Note 9. Whenever I think of possibly upgrading my phone, I realize all options with S-pen are ridiculously expensive and decide to stick with the Note 9 for a couple more years.
And now they are even removing it from phones. The truth of the matter is that if my next phone is forcefully not going to have an s-pen, then I will probably just buy a cheap phone so that I don't have to bother with it. And leave my productive tasks for a tablet. And even then I won't be buying a new tablet from Samsung in a while, because my S6 Lite is working just fine. If they keep removing S-pen support, I will probably just dump the brand entirely since there's plenty of brands making generic pen-less phones out there.
I’m not sure the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a replacement for those phones, regardless of how Samsung positions it. It’s a more fragile device than any Note product ever released, it focuses more on AI toolsets than any true power user feature — even if a lot of those tools still remain in One UI, as is Samsung’s usual MO — and, most importantly and most obviously, it no longer has stylus support. After four generations of optional S Pens available as an add-on purchase, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 dropped its digitizer altogether in order to reach as slim a chassis as possible.
Now, personally, I think that’s a worthy trade-off. But I’ve never found much utility in my own S Pen experience, particularly on smartphone-sized displays, nor have I ever owned a Galaxy Note for years after it hit EOL. Samsung is looking to have its cake and eat it too, pitching the Galaxy Z Fold 7 as the productivity tool to carry Note fans into the 2030s while eliminating just another element of that line’s legacy. No one should be surprised if the very people this company wants to upgrade to a $2,000 foldable instead decide to keep that Galaxy Note 20 Ultra around for just one more year.
If you’re not put off by the lack of S Pen support, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are now available for pre-order at Samsung’s website. In addition to saving up to $1,000 in trade-in value — especially if you have an older Note — you can score a storage upgrade for free on both devices, and $50 in additional credit for using 9to5Google‘s links.
Samsung’s new foldables, alongside the budget-ish Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, and the Galaxy Watch 8 and 8 Classic, start shipping on July 25th.
More on Samsung:
- Hands-on: The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are the result of Samsung actually trying
- The Galaxy Z Fold 7 entirely removes S Pen support
- Where to pre-order the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Flip 7 to get the best deal
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