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On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Julie Bort talks with Murphy about backing Anthropic before anyone else would, why a great model was never the point, and what’s driving the fastest-growing startups he’s ever seen. 

Listen to the full episode to hear more about: 

• Why Menlo bet on Anthropic at a $4 billion pre-revenue valuation when the deal didn’t fit cleanly into any of the firm’s funds, and why Google and Amazon signing on as investors was an early “green shoot.” 

• Why Murphy says the model was never the real moat, and how Claude Code, MCP, and Claude Skills turned Anthropic from a strong model into a full platform. 

• Murphy’s take on the backlash to Anthropic’s Mythos rollout, and why he pushes back on the idea that it was more marketing than safety. 

• Why companies like Lovable and Legora are growing faster than any startups Murphy has seen in 25 years, and what that speed means for founders trying to compete. 

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing [email protected].

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The phones have a few things in common. For instance, all three run on the same chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. The base models come with the same memory and storage options — 12GB of RAM with 256GB or 512GB of storage. The two Fold 8 variants each have a configuration with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage.

The selfie cams are all 10MP wide-angle lenses. The one on the Flip 8 and those on the covers of the two Fold 8 models are all capable of shooting 4K video at 60fps. The main selfie cams on the Fold 8 phones can handle FHD footage at 60 fps.

For the new phones, Samsung is using new Flex Titanium tech. According to the company, this is a titanium-based design that helps keep them thin and durable. While the last generation did have a rigid titanium plate behind the entire display, the new foldables add a titanium alloy layer beneath the phone's flexible OLED. Samsung says "Flex Titanium helps strengthen display support, absorb pressure and impact and reduce crease visibility," while making it feel smoother and more natural to open up the devices. 

For all its progress on the design front, Samsung's latest handsets still don't natively support Qi2 charging. It's been 18 months since the company first started supporting the standard with the "Qi2-ready" Galaxy S25. Yet you'll need to put one of these new phones in a compatible case with magnets before you can get get the most out of a Qi2 charger.

As for the wearables, the Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 both run on a Snapdragon Wear Elite chipset. Qualcomm unveiled the 3nm processor earlier this year. It's the first Snapdragon chip for wearables to have a dedicated Hexagon NPU, which is capable of supporting AI models with two billion parameters.

Pre-orders for all of the devices start today. They'll hit shelves on August 7.

Samsung

Along with the phones and watches, Samsung offered a fresh peek at the smart glasses it developed with Google, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. There's still no word of pricing or a release date for the two models — which are expected to arrive later this year — but Samsung revealed new designs. They sure do like spectacles with a camera built in! (We tried an earlier version back at Google I/O in May.)

The company also provided an update on the specs' battery life. It says the glasses will run for up to nine hours on a single charge. The charging case will offer up to seven extra full charges. It's also worth noting that the devices run on a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chipset.

In other news, in the lead-up to Samsung Unpacked, the company revealed a credit card that offers five percent cashback on certain purchases of Samsung devices. Of course, it's called the Samsung Galaxy Card.

Today, however, is primarily about the phones and watches. Let's dig into those, as well as some of the new features. Here's everything Samsung announced at its July 2026 edition of Galaxy Unpacked.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Let's start with the highest-end model, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, largely because seeing the price of that device first might make the others seem less painful. The Fold 8 Ultra starts at $2,100. That's $100 more than the Fold 7 started at last year — Samsung has two Fold variants for us this time around.

On the exterior of the Fold 8 Ultra, there's a 6.5-inch, FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x display. Open it up and you'll have access to an 8-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen. Both displays have a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

The camera array boasts a 200MP main sensor, along with 50MP ultrawide and 10MP telephoto lenses with support for 3x optical zoom and 30x Space Zoom. The array is capable of shooting 8K video at 30fps. The battery has a 5,000mAh capacity and support for 45W fast charging. The handset weighs 7.6 ounces (215 grams) and is just 4.1mm thin when it's open. Samsung also says it has "an expanded graphite cooling structure" to help dissipate heat, especially during demanding tasks.

We've had a chance to go hands-on with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and you can read our hands-on impressions now.

Galaxy Z Fold 8

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Next up, we have the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which starts at $1,900. The screens are smaller than those on the Fold 8 Ultra. The main display is a 7.6-inch QXGQ+ Dynamic AMOLED screen. On the exterior, you'll find a 5.5-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen that has a 10:16 aspect ratio and up to 3,000 nits of brightness. It weighs in at seven ounces (201 grams), which is 0.6 ounces or 14 grams lighter than the highest-end model.

But here's where things get interesting. The Fold 8 marks a step away from the vertical orientation that Samsung has focused on in recent years. It has a horizontal fold, so it's more wide than tall. The interior screen has a 4:3 aspect ratio and, when it's folded, the device is about 9mm (0.4 inches) wider than the Fold 8 Ultra, so that might take some getting used to.

With a capacity of 4,800mAh, it has a larger battery than the Z Fold 7's 4,400mAh. The Fold 8 (like the Fold 8 Ultra) supports Super Fast Charging 2.0 over a wired connection as well as Super Fast Wireless Charging.

The Fold 8 doesn't have a telephoto lens, though. The main camera is a 50MP sensor and there's a 50MP ultrawide in the array, which supports 10x digital zoom and 8K video at 30fps. 

Our first impressions of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 after going hands-on suggest that a wider phone may, in fact, be better. You can also check out our initial thoughts and get a closer look at the Fold 8 in this new-fangled thing called a video:

Galaxy Z Flip 8

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Along with the latest Folds, Samsung has a new phone with a clamshell design too. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 has a 4.1-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display on the exterior, with an adaptive refresh rate of 60/120fps. When you flip open the phone, you'll see a 6.9-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x screen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

The camera array houses a 50MP main lens and a 12MP ultrawide, with support for a 10x digital zoom and 4K, 60fps video. The battery a smaller capacity of 4,300mAh, the same as in last year's model. 

The Z Flip 8 will be lighter in your pocket than the other two foldables in the latest lineup, as it weighs 6.3 ounces (180 grams). It'll metaphorically keep your wallet a bit heavier than if you were to opt for one of the Fold 8 phones, as it starts at $1,200. That's $100 more than the Z Flip 7 and 6, which were in turn $100 more than the $1,000 Z Flip 5. Just like with the battery sizes and aspect ratios, the numbers keep going up.

Once again, we've had a chance to fiddle around with the Galaxy Z Flip 8, so be sure to check out our initial hands-on impressions.

New Phone Features

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Google announced a bunch of AI features for Samsung's new foldables. These devices include a Gemini Intelligence-powered task automation tool that debuted in beta earlier this year. It supports more than 40 apps, and can handle tasks like snapping up event tickets and ordering food. The AI can use images as prompts and it can comprehend what you see on your screen.

Gemini Notebook (previously known as NotebookLM) is pre-installed on the foldables, which come with a free six-month trial of Google AI Pro. In Android 17, there's also a feature designed to make it easier for folks to switch over from iPhone with the help of QR codes. It includes a wireless data transfer option.

Elsewhere, the foldables have a neat new Fan Cam feature in the video editor. This lets you recrop any video to focus on one person. Your device will automatically keep that person in the frame as they move around.

Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The Galaxy Watch 9 should run for longer than its predecessor on a single charge. It has a battery with a capacity of 390mAh — that's 20 percent more than the Galaxy Watch 8. The display still has a maximum brightness of 3,000 nits, but the larger battery should keep the lights on for longer before it's time to recharge.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 also gets some notable spec bumps, with a display that can reach a brightness of 5,000 nits (up from 3,000 in the previous model) and an 800mAh battery, which is 35 percent larger. Despite those upgrades, the titanium, shock-resistant casing is 12 percent thinner than the Galaxy Watch Ultra at 10.7mm (0.4 inches).

Samsung has shrunk the bands for both watch models, making them lighter and softer. Hopefully, that'll make the new models more comfortable to wear.

The Watch 9, which has an aluminum casing, has a 40mm variant that's available in graphite and cream and a 44mm version with graphite/silver options. It starts at $380 for Bluetooth models and $430 for versions that include LTE. As for the 47mm Watch Ultra 2, that costs $700 and is available in titanium gray and titanium silver. Those are all a shade higher than the previous models, which launched at $350 for the Bluetooth Watch 8, $400 for the LTE Watch 8 and and $650 for the Watch Ultra.

We've been able to spend a week with the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 so far and you can read our initial thoughts on the wearable now.

New Watch Features

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Both watch models can track various metrics that tie into the AI-powered Health Assistant Samsung revealed on Tuesday. The Vitals function, for instance, monitors factors such as heart rate and blood oxygen level while you sleep. You'll be alerted to significant variances from your baseline stats (Apple Watch has had a similar feature since 2024).

Other health-minded tools include a Fitness Index — which offers guidance and support based on your fitness as you work toward your goals — a Sleep Apnea feature, noise alerts and a Heart Health Score. With these updates, Samsung hopes that you'll have a fuller picture of what your health data actually means by offering actionable insights. Tying in with the health focus of the latest watches, buyers will get a free trials of Strava and iFit for 60 days and two months, respectively.

The Watch Ultra 2 has a trail-running feature. This offers runners elevation information and pace guidance. A nutrition alert function estimates your sweat loss relative to body weight and offers suggestions on hydration. Samsung is also pitching this as a watch for divers, with features like an IP69K rating and a Diving app it plans to release later this year.

As for Gemini integration, you'll be able to activate the assistant on the watches simply by raising your wrist. %!s()

Rebecca Liu-Doyle, managing director at Insight Partners, said Passionfroot is placed well at a time when creators are specializing as AI companies look for more visibility.

“Passionfroot has the perfect dynamics on both sides to warrant a true marketplace for B2B creators. On the demand side, there is increasing consumerization of the way B2B brands go to market. That’s a product of, in part, AI technology requiring evangelism, narrative building, and education. On the supply side, there are people who have real expertise, understand a market deeply, and want to create quality content,” she told TechCrunch over a call.

With the funding, the Berlin-based startup’s co-founder and CEO, Jen Phan, is moving to New York, where Passionfroot is opening an office to expand its U.S. operations. The company is also opening an office in São Paulo, and expanding its current headcount of 15 employees.

As AI makes it easier to build products, companies are focusing on using creators to improve brand recall and recognition, Phan said.

“Every head of marketing or growth leader I’m talking to is saying really the same thing: AI is commoditizing software and flooding every category with new products, features, and launches. It’s incredibly crowded and noisy. That is why B2B buyers are going to channels like LinkedIn, a creator’s Substack, or a podcast on YouTube to discover new products and tools,” she said.

Phan said over the last year, the company increased its revenue by 13 times, and onboarded clients such as ElevenLabs, Figma, Replit, Framer, and Gamma.

Since its last fundraise in 2024, the company has released an AI agent called Zest, which helps brands create, execute and monitor the performance of campaigns. Passionfruit claims Zest can also help companies find suitable creators both inside and outside the platform that are suited to its marketing strategy.

The startup says it uses a proprietary creator graph based on data about reach and performance from thousands of campaigns. There’s also a wallet that companies can use to pay creators across the globe, and measure their expenditure.

Passionfroot claims it has paid at least $10 million to creators on its platform in the last 18 months.

The company says it is working on helping its clients measure how a campaign is impacting AI citations, and how their brand appears in AI-powered answers. The startup is also planning to build AI features for creators, such as helping them with monetization tips and content ideas.

The funding comes as creator platforms like Substack and Beehiiv move to help creators find better monetization opportunities. Beehiiv launched a new community and ad marketplace last week, and Substack has introduced subscriber-only perks within newsletters.

Passionfroot’s Series A also saw participation from existing investors Creandum, Supernode Global, and s16vc. The company has raised more than $21 million so far.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Ivan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.

You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by emailing [email protected] or via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.

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The Galaxy Z Fold 7 was my favorite phone of 2025. It put the versatility of a bendy, tablet-sized display in a chassis that was just as thin and light as a traditional handset without any major compromises to its performance, camera quality or durability. But now for 2026, even with the appearance of a cheaper base model packing a wider design, Samsung is basically running it back by slapping a new Ultra tag on its flagship foldable while providing a handful of smaller tweaks and improvements.

Design

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

For those familiar with the previous model, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra looks like a carbon copy, aside from a handful of new color options that include violet shadow, cream, graphite and green shadow (the latter of which is an online exclusive on Samsung.com). You still get a super thin aluminum frame with IP48 dust and water resistance and a side-mounted fingerprint reader built into its lock button. Even its dimensions are essentially unchanged, with it measuring 8.9mm thick and weighing 215 grams. However, after picking it up and playing around with it, I did notice some subtle but significant changes.

In order to address complaints about last year's phone being hard to open, Samsung added more rounded corners and tapered edges to the Z Fold 8 Ultra. This does the trick while also making the phone feel a tiny bit thinner than it actually is. And in some ways it is, because when unfolded, due to changes on the inside of its frame, Samsung managed to shave off 0.1mm, which technically makes this the skinniest Z Fold Ever at 4.1mm. The Ultra's 6.5-inch exterior and 8-inch interior displays are also pretty much the same, as they feature rich AMOLED panels with 120Hz refresh rates. But now, peak brightness is a touch higher at 3,000 nits (up from 2,600 nits).

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Perhaps the biggest change is on the inside of the phone, where Samsung's Flex Titanium tech adds a new titanium alloy layer beneath the phone's flexible OLED display. This works in combination with the existing rigid titanium plate to ensure that the phone's display is better supported while reducing potential air pockets and minimizing the appearance of a crease. That said, there is still a very faint indent that runs down the middle of the screen, but it's so minor now that it's basically an afterthought.

Performance, charging and cameras

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

As expected, the Z Fold 8 Ultra is getting a speed bump thanks to the inclusion of a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip. This is certainly welcome, but it's not like the previous model was hurting for horsepower. Memory options are also staying the same with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB onboard storage. This is nice because with the current global memory shortage, there was a concern that Samsung might have to make some cuts, but thankfully that's not the case.

Samsung is giving both the base Z Fold 8 and the Ultra a big boost to their charging speeds, which now stands at 45 watts when using a wire (up from 25W) or up to 20 watts wirelessly (up from 15W). The downside is that with Samsung so focused on thinness, the company skipped adding a magnetic ring inside the phone, which means out of the box, it's merely "Qi 2 ready." That said, Samsung says that most of its first-party cases will come with built-in magnets. As long as you don't mind a bit of added bulk, there's still an easy way to make the phone compatible with Qi 2-based accessories like battery packs and grips.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Speaking of batteries, by adding a bit of silicon carbon chemistry to the Z Fold 8's traditional lithium ion cells for the first time, Samsung has also delivered a big jump in capacity to 5,000mAh (up from 4,400mAh).

Meanwhile for its camera, there's a new 50-megapixel sensor for the ultra-wide lens, which joins the existing 200MP main cam and 10MP telephoto cam with a 3x zoom. Furthermore, the Z Fold 8 line also supports 8K video recording across both models alongside a new Fan Cam feature that allows you to track subjects and adjust your final clip's aspect ratio for easier post-shot editing. Both of these additions are nice, but to me, they're a bit too niche to be truly exciting.

New software features and updates

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Some other additions include an expanded role for Samsung's Now Nudge, which is getting a dedicated button and notification support. It's now easier for the phone to surface helpful info without being limited strictly to the Samsung keyboard. And by collaborating with Google, Samsung is including some of the intelligent automation tools we first saw previewed on the S26 Ultra. These allow you to do things like order food or buy concert tickets using voice controls, without manually doing all the little steps in between.

Early thoughts

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

After using the Z Fold 8 Ultra for around two hours, I'm kind of conflicted. Barring something like a recall, I'm confident it will be a great device, mainly because it's so similar to last year's phone — which I love. It's hard to complain about getting a bigger battery, a new ultra-wide cam, a faster processor and much speedier charging. It also feels nicer thanks to little design tweaks like Samsung's new tapered edges.

My main issue is that the base Z Fold 8 now exists, which offers a wider chassis that makes watching movies and shows much more enjoyable. And while the standard model is missing a telephoto camera and has a slightly smaller battery and displays, you still get the same processor, charging capabilities, software and brightness as the Ultra for $200 less. That's a big factor on a phone that starts at over $2,000.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

I still want to use both phones more before making a final decision. But what I think I really want from the Ultra is for Samsung to use the same basic design as its cheaper sibling while increasing the size of its main display to 8.4 inches or so, and adding back that zoom camera (and S Pen support for that matter). As it is, this phone feels more like a second-gen Galaxy Z Fold 7 instead of being a proper Ultra version of the base Z Fold 8. But if you're the kind of person who cares more about productivity and multitasking than consuming content, the Ultra may still be a welcome option for demanding power users.

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is available for pre-order now starting at $2,100, with official sales beginning on August 7. %!s()

Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra foldable smartphone, the successor to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the new flagship in the company's expanded foldable lineup. The model brings improvements across the board over its predecessor, with a higher-resolution display, a sharper ultrawide camera, a bigger battery and a faster processor. It's not to be confused with the Galaxy Z Fold 8, an all-new (slightly cheaper) model with a smaller but much wider display. 

Before diving into the specs, it's worth a look at the dimensions and displays of both new Z Fold 8 phones to understand the difference. The new Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has nearly identical dimensions to the Z Fold 7 but is 0.1 mm thinner at 158.4 x 143.2 x 4.1 mm unfolded. However, the Z Fold 8 is actually wider than the Z Fold 8 Ultra is tall, at 123.9 x 161.4 x 4.5 mm unfolded. 

That's reflected in the unfolded screen resolution as well: 2,504 x 2,256 for the Z Fold 8 Ultra and 1,848 x 2,448 for the Z Fold 8. The cover screens, meanwhile, are 1,080 x 2,520 for the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and 1,248 x 1,972 for the Z Fold 8. All displays on both devices use Samsung's AMOLED 2X tech with 120Hz adaptive refresh rates and Vision Booster.

Weight is always a concern with foldable phones, but the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is among the lightest out there at 215 grams (7.58 oz), more than 40 grams less than the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold and the same as the Z Fold 7. Samsung didn't tout any big changes in the hinge design, which shouldn't be an issue because the previous model "glides open and closed like a dream," we wrote in our Engadget review, while offering IP48 dust and water resistance.

Though the design is largely unchanged, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has a number of spec upgrades. The 200-megapixel main camera has the same resolution as before but has been upgraded with high dynamic range (HDR) for richer, brighter images. It now offers a new 50MP ultrawide camera, up from 12MP, offering more detail in both wide and close-up shots, though the 10MP telephoto camera is unchanged. Another key update is the addition of an APV codec and Cine LUT that allows for higher-quality and more flexible 8K video.

Naturally, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has the latest (but now slightly old) Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip, promising smoother app switching and better support for the large display. It also comes with a larger 5,000 mAh battery, up from 4,400 mAh before. Samsung also introduced a new dual-path charging architecture with 45-watt fast charging, which it says helps distribute power more efficiently across the battery system for more stable and reliable charging. 

Other key specs are unchanged, and as mentioned, the Galaxy Z Fold 8's design is largely unchanged from the Galaxy Z Fold 7, with the same dimensions and weight. It's now on pre-order at major carriers and retailers, including Amazon, AT&T and Best Buy. The price starts at an eye-watering $2,100, $100 more than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, with shipping set to start on August 8. For more, see our hands-on look.  %!s()