Samsung’s next Unpacked, Oppo’s Reno 16 family, and Nothing’s first B-series phone are the smartphones launching in July 2026, and the month opens with two dates already locked in. Oppo will debut the Reno 16 series on July 2, 2026, and Nothing will follow with the Phone (4b) on July 7, 2026, with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8 expected at a Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22, 2026. Motorola is also tipped to bring its Razr 70 line-up to India within the same window. Underneath that calendar sits a quieter force: a memory chip squeeze that analysts say is already cutting the number of new models the industry can ship in a quarter.
The Confirmed Openers: Oppo Reno 16 and Nothing Phone (4b)
Oppo is the first phone maker out of the gate this month. The company is unveiling the Reno 16 and the Reno 16c on July 2, 2026, with the standard Reno 16 positioned as a compact premium mid-ranger and the 16c sitting below it with a slightly larger footprint, according to Gizmochina’s July 2026 launch tracker.
The Reno 16 ships with a 6.32-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen running at 120Hz with a peak brightness of 1,800 nits, a triple 50MP rear camera array (main, ultrawide, and 3.5x telephoto) with 4K 60fps video across all three sensors, and a 50MP selfie camera. It runs on the Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, carries a 6,700mAh battery with 80W wired charging, and is rated to IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K for dust and water protection. A side-mounted AI Snap Key debuts on this generation for capturing content directly into Oppo’s MindSpace, a feature the Reno 15 series did not have.
The Reno 16c keeps the 120Hz AMOLED panel and the same durability ratings but stretches to a 6.57-inch display at 1,400 nits of peak brightness. It runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Energy chipset and houses a larger 7,000mAh battery with 80W wired charging. Both phones use an aerospace-grade aluminium frame, and both ship with the same AI Snap Key.
Nothing arrives on July 7, 2026, with the Phone (4b), the first device in the company’s new B-series aimed at a wider audience, per The Mobile Indian’s preview. The phone carries a compact Glyph Bar with five LED panels on the back, a 6.7-inch AMOLED screen at 120Hz, dual rear cameras with a 50MP primary and an 8MP ultrawide, and a 32MP selfie camera. Leaked benchmarks point to the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, with a 5,400mAh battery and 50W fast charging.
Samsung’s Foldable Hat Trick
The biggest event of the month is expected on July 22, 2026, when Samsung is rumoured to hold its summer Galaxy Unpacked and ship three new foldables at once: the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the first-ever Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and the Galaxy Z Flip 8. The flagship pair will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with the Ultra variant badged as Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, according to leaks collated by Gizmochina.
The standard Z Fold 8 is the surprise of the trio. Samsung is reportedly shifting the device to a wider 4:3 passport-style form factor, a change tied in leaks to Apple’s first foldable adopting the same shape. The Fold 8 is said to carry a 7.6-inch folding AMOLED display, a 5.4-inch cover screen, and a dual rear camera with a 50MP main sensor and a 50MP ultrawide. There is no 200MP lens on this model. Battery capacity is 4,800mAh with 45W wired and 15W wireless charging.
The Z Fold 8 Ultra keeps the taller form factor of the previous Z Fold 7 and pushes the hardware harder. Leaks point to an 8-inch folding display, a 6.5-inch cover screen, and a triple rear camera with a 200MP main sensor, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 10MP 3x telephoto. It carries a vapor chamber for thermal management and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging. The Ultra naming was confirmed in reporting by 9to5Google, which noted that Samsung is reserving the higher-end camera system and battery for the Ultra and demoting the wide-form-factor model to the standard Z Fold 8 badge.
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 closes out the Samsung slate. It is tipped to use a 6.9-inch main AMOLED display with reduced crease visibility, a 4.1-inch cover screen, and a 4,300mAh battery with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. Samsung is expected to run a dual-chip strategy on the Flip 8: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy in the US, Canada, China, and Japan, and the Exynos 2600 in India and other markets. The rear cameras are a 50MP primary and a 12MP ultrawide, with a 10MP selfie camera.
Motorola’s Razr 70 Lands in India
The fifth major release of the month is the Motorola Razr 70 series, which is expected to reach the Indian market in July 2026, including the standard Razr 70 and the more premium Razr 70 Ultra. The pair is already on sale in other regions; the Indian launch is the calendar event to watch.
The Razr 70 carries a 6.9-inch AMOLED main display with a 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, and 3,000 nits of peak brightness, paired with a 3.6-inch cover screen at HDR10+ and 90Hz. It runs on the MediaTek Dimensity 7450X chipset, with a 4,800mAh battery supporting 30W wired and 15W wireless charging. The rear camera array uses a 50MP primary and a 50MP ultrawide, with a 32MP selfie shooter.
The Razr 70 Ultra upgrades the silicon to the Snapdragon 8 Elite, with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. Its main display is a 7.0-inch panel running at 165Hz with 5,000 nits of peak brightness, and the cover screen sits at 4.0 inches. The 50MP primary and 50MP ultrawide carry over, but the selfie camera moves up to 50MP. The Ultra packs a 5,000mAh battery with 68W wired, 30W wireless, and 5W reverse-wired charging for topping up accessories.
The Memory Squeeze Behind the Calendar
The July slate looks crowded until you compare it with prior years. Gizmochina’s launch tracker notes there will not be as many new smartphones next month as buyers are used to seeing, citing rising memory costs and the ongoing chip crisis as the constraint. AI data centres are outbidding smartphone makers for the same memory components, shrinking supply for mobile and pushing prices up.
CNBC reported in December 2025 that the shortage of memory chips fuelled by artificial intelligence players is likely to cause a smartphone price rise in 2026 and a drop in shipments. Independent forecasts have sized that drop. Counterpoint and IDC data circulated through the CNBC report and subsequent industry coverage point to global smartphone shipments contracting roughly 13% to 15% in 2026, with some entry-level phones already jumping around 50% in price. That backdrop explains why the July calendar is heavier at the top of the market, where vendors can absorb component costs, and lighter in the budget tier that small brands usually fill.
The Reno 16c and the Nothing Phone (4b) sit at the upper edge of what mid-range can still reach in 2026. Both phones pack larger batteries than their predecessors and run on newer mid-tier chipsets, but the pricing leaks suggest vendors are no longer pretending component costs have not moved.
Price Bands Across the Slate
The leaks put the month into three rough tiers. At the upper mid-range, the Reno 16c is tipped at around Rs 50,000 in India, with the standard Reno 16 at around Rs 60,000, according to recent leaks cited by The Mobile Indian. Nothing’s Phone (4b) is expected to undercut the Phone (4a), which currently starts at Rs 37,999 on Flipkart, by up to Rs 5,000.
The premium foldable tier is where prices climb sharply. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra are both expected to cost more than Rs 1.4 lakh in India, in line with Samsung’s past pricing on its flagship foldables. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is expected to land just below that Rs 1.4 lakh mark.
Motorola has not published Indian pricing for the Razr 70 or Razr 70 Ultra yet. Global launch prices for the pair set a reference, but the Indian numbers land in the same premium foldable band as Samsung’s Flip 8. Buyers weighing a Flip 8 against a Razr 70 Ultra in late July will be comparing two 6.9-inch-plus clamshells with similar cover-screen sizes and 50MP primary cameras; the meaningful split is silicon, with the Razr 70 Ultra on Snapdragon 8 Elite and the Flip 8 split between Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and Exynos 2600 by region. IDC’s 2026 shipment forecast for the smartphone market was the clearest single signal of how the memory crunch is reshaping which tiers get product this year, and that signal is now baked into the July line-up itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which smartphones are launching in July 2026?
Confirmed launches are the Oppo Reno 16 series on July 2, 2026, and the Nothing Phone (4b) on July 7, 2026. Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8 at a Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22, 2026, and Motorola is tipped to bring the Razr 70 and Razr 70 Ultra to India during the same month.
What are the key specifications of the Oppo Reno 16?
The Reno 16 uses a 6.32-inch Full HD+ AMOLED screen at 120Hz with 1,800 nits peak brightness, a Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset, a 6,700mAh battery with 80W wired charging, IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K dust and water ratings, and three 50MP rear cameras (main, ultrawide, and 3.5x telephoto) with 4K 60fps video across all three sensors.
What is new about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra?
The Z Fold 8 Ultra is Samsung’s first Ultra-branded book-style foldable. Leaks point to an 8-inch folding AMOLED display, a 6.5-inch cover screen, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset, a triple rear camera with a 200MP main sensor, and a 5,000mAh battery with 45W wired charging.
Why are there fewer smartphone launches in 2026?
Industry reporting attributes the slowdown to a memory chip shortage fuelled by AI data centre demand for the same components used in smartphones. Counterpoint and IDC forecasts cited by CNBC point to global smartphone shipments contracting by roughly 13% to 15% in 2026, with some entry-level phones already seeing price increases around 50%.
How much will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 cost in India?
Leaks cited by The Mobile Indian put the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra above Rs 1.4 lakh in India, consistent with Samsung’s previous flagship foldable pricing. Official pricing will be confirmed at the Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22, 2026.
