LONDON, June 13 -- The piece of plastic wasn't supposed to tell this much of a story. When the leaker known as IceUniverse posted images of cover screen protectors for three upcoming Samsung devices on Weibo earlier this week, the obvious takeaway was the size difference. The more consequential one is what the sizes say about what Samsung is doing to its foldable lineup - and why.

Set side by side, the tempered glass covers for the Galaxy Z Flip 8, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, and the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra tell a story that spec sheets alone cannot: Samsung is no longer making one premium foldable with different names. It is, for the first time, making two fundamentally different products that happen to fold. The Ultra is massive. The Fold 8 - t...