Geekbench 7 Launch, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Scores, and the Samsung Benchmark Block Controversy: Everything You Need to Know

Primate Labs released Geekbench 7 on July 23, 2026, delivering the biggest overhaul to its cross-platform benchmark suite in roughly three years . The update introduces new AI and media workloads, CUDA GPU support, smarter multi-core testing, and a completely new scoring baseline that makes GB7 scores incompatible with Geekbench 6. For gadget shoppers and reviewers, the launch landed in the middle of a busy Samsung week — and early Galaxy Z Fold 8 results quickly became a source of confusion, with different outlets reporting dramatically different scores. A separate controversy over benchmark app blocking on early review units added to the noise, though it was resolved within 24 hours.

What's New in Geekbench 7

Geekbench 7 marks a major shift in how Primate Labs measures performance. The headline addition is a set of modern, real-world workloads that better reflect how people actually use their devices in 2026.

AI and Media Workloads

The CPU benchmark now includes AV1 video encoding and decoding, Opus audio codec compression, and a live subtitle generation test powered by OpenAI's Whisper transcription AI . These tasks model real activities like video conferencing, screen sharing, and podcast recording. On the GPU side, the benchmark adds AI-focused tests: face tracking with real-time filter effects, machine-learning-based image upscaling, background blur, and RAW photo processing using models like RetinaFace, DeepLabV3+, and RFDN .

CUDA Support for NVIDIA GPUs

For the first time, Geekbench 7 directly benchmarks NVIDIA GPU computing via CUDA, in addition to existing OpenCL, Vulkan, and Metal APIs . This makes the tool more relevant for desktop and workstation users who rely on NVIDIA hardware for creative and compute workloads.

Smarter Multi-Core Testing

The multi-core benchmark has been redesigned to reflect real-world application behavior. A workload only runs in multi-threaded mode if the real-world task it models genuinely benefits from multiple cores — tasks like physics simulation, ray tracing, and video encoding are fully parallelized, while others are not . This means processors that excel at genuinely parallel work see their multi-core scores reflect that strength more accurately .

New Game Physics Test

A dedicated Game Physics workload has been added to the GPU test suite, simulating physics calculations similar to those found in popular video game engines .

New Baseline: AMD Ryzen 7 7700

Perhaps the most important change for score interpretation: Geekbench 7 normalizes all scores against an AMD Ryzen 7 7700 desktop processor, set at 2,500 points. This replaces the Intel Core i7-12700 baseline used in Geekbench 6 . The result is that GB7 scores will look significantly lower than GB6 scores for the same hardware — a crucial fact for anyone comparing new results to older benchmarks.

Geekbench 7 is available on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux . A Pro license is available for $99 , while the standard version remains free for personal use.

Galaxy Z Fold 8: Early Geekbench 7 Scores Are All Over the Map

Within a day of Geekbench 7's release, multiple outlets published Geekbench 7 results for Samsung's new Galaxy Z Fold 8 (SM-F971U1), powered by the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset found in the Galaxy S26 series. The scores are surprisingly inconsistent.

Source	Single-core	Multi-core	GPU (Vulkan)	Notes
SammyGuru (Z Fold 8 review unit)	2,861	7,840	17,255	US variant, One UI 9, Android 17
The-Gadgeteer (Z Fold 8, single run)	2,262	6,317	21,425	"One initial run rather than a verdict"
Galaxy S26 Ultra (published result)	2,966	10,196	—	Same SM8850 platform, Geekbench 7

The wide variance — especially the S26 Ultra's multi-core score being 30–60% higher than the Z Fold 8's — suggests that early Fold 8 results may not be representative. The-Gadgeteer explicitly cautions that its score is a single run, not a verdict . SammyGuru's numbers come from a unit running shipping firmware, but even those fall short of the S26 Ultra on the same chip.

The most important caveat: Geekbench 7 scores cannot be compared to Geekbench 6 scores because of the new baseline and test methodology . For reference, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 scored 3,659 single-core and 11,020 multi-core on Geekbench 6 . The same phone scores 2,861 / 7,840 on Geekbench 7. Both are valid for their respective benchmark versions, but they measure performance on entirely different scales.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra figures cited by some as 3,094 single-core / 10,432 multi-core do not appear in the available evidence. The closest published Geekbench 7 result for the S26 Ultra is 2,966 / 10,196 .

Benchmark Blocking Controversy: What Happened and How It Was Fixed

On July 23, the same day Geekbench 7 launched, a separate story broke: early review units of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8 were found to be blocking the installation of benchmark apps entirely .

Tech blogger Nasi Lemak Tech reported that the Play Store threw repeated "Can't install" errors for Geekbench, PCMark, and 3DMark. Attempting to sideload via APK or ADB returned a blunt "Scanning Failed" message, flagging the package as forbidden . Multiple outlets, including Android Authority, confirmed the behavior on their own units . The block appeared to be a system-level blacklist baked into the firmware, not a simple Play Store compatibility flag .

Samsung quickly acknowledged the issue. Android Authority reported that Samsung confirmed it was aware of the behavior and working on a resolution . By July 24, reports clarified that the block was due to preliminary firmware on early review units and had already been corrected . The incident was a pre-release firmware bug, not a structural restriction on retail devices.

This episode revived uncomfortable memories of Samsung's earlier benchmark manipulation controversies — in 2022, Geekbench banned four generations of Galaxy S devices for artificially boosting performance during benchmark runs — but the 2026 incident appears to have been an unintentional firmware issue rather than intentional manipulation.

Samsung's 2026 Foldable Lineup: Galaxy Unpacked July 21

Samsung unveiled its 2026 foldable lineup at Galaxy Unpacked on July 21 , two days before the Geekbench 7 launch:

• Galaxy Z Fold 8 — 5.5-inch cover display, 7.6-inch main display, 4,800mAh battery, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor, 201g (the lightest Z Fold yet)
• Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra — Larger 5,000mAh battery, same chipset, higher peak performance
• Galaxy Z Flip 8 — Exynos 2600 in Europe and South Korea, Snapdragon elsewhere

Pricing: The Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts at $1,899.99 . All models ship with One UI 9 (based on Android 17) with Gemini AI integration and app automation.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy is a higher-binned version of Qualcomm's flagship chip, with prime CPU cores clocked at 4.74 GHz (up from 4.61 GHz in the standard version) and an Adreno 840 GPU at 1.3 GHz .

For a full breakdown of all Galaxy Z Fold 8 specifications and pricing, check the Samsung official announcement.

Key Takeaways

• Geekbench 7 scores are not comparable to Geekbench 6. The new baseline (Ryzen 7 7700 at 2,500) and redesigned tests mean that a phone scoring 2,861 in GB7 may be just as fast as one that scored 3,659 in GB6. Always check which benchmark version any reported score comes from.
• Early Galaxy Z Fold 8 GB7 results are inconsistent. Scores range from 2,262 to 2,861 single-core and 6,317 to 7,840 multi-core. These are early, unverified runs and should not be treated as definitive. The Galaxy S26 Ultra, on the same chip, posts significantly higher scores (2,966 / 10,196), raising questions about thermal or firmware differences between the two devices.
• The benchmark blocking issue is resolved. The block on early Z8 review units was a pre-release firmware bug, not a deliberate policy. Samsung confirmed the fix within 24 hours.
• For the most reliable performance data, wait for independent reviews using production firmware on retail units, and always verify which benchmark version is being reported.