Christian de Looper/BGR

It's been a big year for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold line, which was treated to a whole new form factor to compete with the iPhone Duo. The same can't be said of the Galaxy Z Flip. Instead, Samsung's new Galaxy Z Flip 8 follows much the same formula as the Z Flip devices before it.

That's not to say that it doesn't bring some improvements, of course. Every year, the Z Flip gets a slightly thinner body, slightly better software, and incremental hardware improvements — and the $1,199.99 Galaxy Z Flip 8 follows that pattern closely. The main upgrades are a thinner and lighter chassis, a reworked cover-screen experience that actually behaves like a compact phone, and, in markets that get Qualcomm's latest chip, meaningfully faster processing.

Unfortunately, it also comes with a price bump. While the Galaxy Z Flip 7 started at $1,099, the Z Flip 8 pushes that to $1,199.…