At a lookSkilled’s Ranking
Professionals
- Wider cowl show
- Brighter panels inside and outside
- Thinner and lighter design
- Improved aesthetics
- New Galaxy AI options
Cons
- Nonetheless similar to Z Fold 5
- Much more costly
- Crease is larger than the competitors
Our Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a really iterative replace – a whole lot of the {hardware} stays unchanged – however the enhancements which might be right here serve to make the gadget higher. The result’s Samsung’s most polished and refined foldable thus far. It won’t be thrilling, but it surely’s nonetheless a beautiful cellphone.
Worth When Reviewed
€1999
Finest Costs Right now: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
£1799
Samsung’s 2024 Galaxy Z gadgets have landed, and whereas the Galaxy Z Flip 6 received some fairly vital {hardware} upgrades, the modifications to the Z Fold 6 are way more refined. This 12 months, the main focus is on refinement, and naturally, Galaxy AI.
This 12 months, we get a wider cowl show, slimmer bezels, and a slimmer and lighter design refresh, however that’s about it on the {hardware} entrance. The remainder of the options are software-based, and thus prone to make their method to different Samsung Galaxy gadgets sooner or later.
However with a £50/$100 worth improve, plus stiff competitors from Chinese language producers like Xiaomi, Honor and Vivo, has Samsung achieved sufficient to take care of its dominance as the preferred large-screen foldable? I’ve been dwelling with the Z Fold 6 for simply over every week to search out out – right here’s all the things I discovered.
Design & Construct
- Wider cowl show
- Matt end with squared-off edges
- 239g, IP48 rated
Essentially the most noticeable {hardware} change is with the bodily dimensions of the Z Fold 6. The duvet show is now shorter and wider, to make it really feel extra like a typical candybar smartphone when closed.
Luke Baker
Luke Baker
Luke Baker
It’s definitely a change for the higher, and I discovered it a lot simpler to kind on this newly-widened show. Nevertheless, it has solely grown by a couple of millimetre, and the show continues to be considerably narrower than the competitors.
It looks like a cellphone that’s designed for use unfolded nearly all of the time, whereas you may completely use the quilt show of a cellphone just like the Honor Magic V2 and never really feel such as you’re making a serious compromise. It’s not a nasty factor, simply looks as if a unique college of thought.
The cellphone has adopted sharper corners this time round, mimicking the look of the Galaxy S24 Extremely. Personally, I feel it seems to be a lot nicer this manner, however relying on the way you maintain the cellphone, it may very well be a lot much less comfy. It undoubtedly pokes your palms a bit whenever you’re holding it one-handed.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
When unfolded, the dimension change interprets to a 2.6mm wider primary display screen, and the squared-off corners offer you some additional actual property to work with. It’s not a large change, but it surely’s noticeable.
The cellphone additionally will get a extra matt end on each the aluminium facet rails and the rear panel, once more matching the Galaxy S24 fashions. It’s a pleasant end that feels extraordinarily premium, and it’s rather less vulnerable to fingerprint smudges than its shinier predecessors.
The cameras now have giant black bezels round them, which is a purely aesthetic alternative. I really feel prefer it offers the cellphone a barely cartoonish, playful look, however and I’m keen on it. They protrude fairly removed from the again panel, although, so that you’ll discover a good bit of wobble when it’s positioned screen-up on a desk.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
One other large change is with the burden of the cellphone, it now is available in at 239g, which is 14g lighter than the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It’s additionally slightly slimmer, now solely 12.1mm thick, in comparison with 13.4mm. It’s a welcome change, however I need to say, it feels very chunky in comparison with the likes of the 9.9mm Honor Magic V2, particularly with the brand new boxy design.
I discovered it a lot simpler to kind on this newly-widened show
The Z Fold 6 is out there in Silver Shadow, Pink and Navy choices as commonplace, with Crafted Black and White variations unique to the Samsung web site.
Curiously, moderately than making a refined black model, Samsung has opted for a fake carbon-fibre look on its Crafted Black mannequin. It seems to be nearly prefer it has a pores and skin utilized, and I’m not satisfied it was the best transfer. After all, that’s subjective, and I’m positive some will adore it.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and its Z Flip 6 sibling each profit from an IP48 ranking. It’s the primary time Samsung foldables have been rated for mud resistance, and it ought to give consumers some additional peace of thoughts.
This ranking means it’s protected towards particles which might be 1mm-sized or bigger, so it’s not totally dustproof, but it surely’s primarily waterproof, and may stand up to being dunked in as much as 1.5m of recent water for as much as half-hour.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
The haptic suggestions on this cellphone feels similar to the Galaxy S24 Extremely, which implies it’s among the greatest available on the market. You get a pleasant mechanical-feeling clunk when toggling settings, and suggestions whereas typing is exact and highly effective. It’s nearly excellent.
Display screen & Audio system
- 120Hz 6.3-inch OLED cowl show
- 120Hz 7.6-inch OLED folding show
- Twin stereo audio system
I’ve already talked about the change in display screen dimensions, and naturally, meaning a slight change in panel decision. The duvet show now has a 968 x 2376 decision, whereas the within is 1856 x 2160 pixels.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
When it comes to pixel density, there’s no significant change – it’s only a barely totally different type issue. What’s totally different, although, is the utmost brightness. Each shows now peak at 2600 nits, in comparison with 1750 nits on the Z Fold 5.
Each shows are simple to see in direct daylight, however I had just a few events the place the display screen would routinely dim itself to maintain the cellphone from overheating, regardless of adaptive brightness being disabled. It was on a scorching day, by British requirements, but it surely was irritating, and my different foldable gadgets didn’t have this difficulty.
I had just a few events the place the display screen would routinely dim itself to maintain the cellphone from overheating, regardless of adaptive brightness being disabled
I used to be actually hoping to see the beautiful anti-reflective glass coating from the S24 Extremely make an look on this mannequin, but it surely’s simply an ordinary Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the quilt show. The foldable display screen protector continues to be very shiny, so I ponder if this improve was omitted to make the expertise of switching between shows much less jarring.
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Luke Baker
The crease has apparently been decreased on this mannequin, but it surely’s nonetheless fairly sizeable. You actually really feel it in your fingertips when swiping round on the principle show and the shiny protector makes it all of the extra seen.
On the plus facet, the folding display screen feels tougher than competing gadgets, so it’s doubtless extra sturdy. Your fingers additionally glide throughout it extra easily and fingerprint smudges are much less seen. There are vital upsides to this fashion of show.
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Luke Baker
Luke Baker
Elsewhere, the show specs are an identical to the earlier era. Each shows nonetheless have adaptive refresh charges from 1-120Hz (because of LTPO tech) and help HDR10+ playback. It’s additionally nonetheless the one foldable display screen that works with Samsung’s S Pen stylus, although it’s nonetheless bought individually.
The audio system don’t appear to have been upgraded, however they’re nonetheless incredible. They produce a pleasant stereo impact, firing from either side of the principle show, with loads of element and little bit of low-end response. They’re not the loudest round, although.
Specs & Efficiency
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB, 512GB or 1TB storage
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is powered by Qualcomm’s high chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and as normal, it’s a particular “For Galaxy” version. This primarily means it’s had a slight overclock utilized, and may give marginally higher outcomes than the vanilla Gen 3 chip.
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The RAM and storage choices are an identical to the Z Fold 5 – you get 12GB of reminiscence throughout the board and may choose between 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of inside storage. There’s nonetheless no expandable storage.
To maintain the gadget cool beneath load, the Z Fold 6 has a a lot bigger vapour chamber than its predecessor. Nevertheless, it nonetheless will get fairly toasty whenever you’re working a graphically demanding recreation. It’s not the worst in that division, however I wouldn’t say it’s the very best, both.
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Luke Baker
With such a high-end chip, and a beefed-up cooling answer, it’s no shock that the scores effectively in our normal benchmarks. The efficiency is simply nearly as good in real-world gaming, too. I used to be capable of max out the settings in Zenless Zone Zero (proven above) and play for hours on the massive show with no noticeable slowdowns or body drops. It’s luxurious.
Day-to-day duties really feel extraordinarily snappy and responsive, too. I’m undecided whether or not it’s intelligent optimisation of the OS or a trick of the animation fashion, however 2024 Samsung flagships simply really feel a contact faster than most Android gadgets.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 benchmarks
Cameras
- 50Mp primary sensor (1/1.56-inch)
- 10Mp 3x telephoto, 12Mp ultrawide
- 10Mp cowl digicam, 4Mp under-display digicam
For probably the most half, the digicam array on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is an identical to the Z Fold 5. Apparently, the 12Mp ultrawide is a model new sensor, but it surely has the very same specs because the previous one, and to be sincere, I couldn’t actually see any distinction in my photographs. There’s nonetheless no autofocus on this digicam, which actually limits its usefulness.
Contemplating this is among the priciest telephones available on the market, the shortage of innovation within the digicam division is disappointing to see. That mentioned, you’re not prone to be sad with photographs from the Z Fold 6 – it’s able to nice outcomes.
Images from all lenses are very sharp and detailed, however they’re slightly noisier than the competitors
Samsung’s method to picture processing appears to have modified lately, the model is thought for its extremely sharpened pictures and vibrant colors, however simply as I noticed with the Galaxy S24 Extremely, photos from the Fold 6 have a extra pure look.
On the entire, I feel it’s a change for the higher, but it surely’s not at all times constant. Sometimes, my photographs regarded slightly uninteresting, and typically grass would nonetheless be ridiculously inexperienced, however for probably the most half, the colors had been lifelike and pure.
Images from all lenses are very sharp and detailed, however they’re slightly noisier than the competitors, and it’s particularly noticeable in low-light situations. On the plus facet, there’s not often any movement blur in any respect.
The selfie digicam configuration is unchanged, too, which implies you get a 10Mp punch-hole digicam on the entrance and a 4Mp under-display digicam on the principle display screen.
The duvet display screen selfie digicam is nice, but it surely lacks autofocus in comparison with the S24 sequence telephones. It’s helped by the truth that Samsung’s portrait mode results are among the most correct and convincing available on the market. After all, you possibly can at all times use the rear cameras to take a selfie, with this being a foldable. See my pattern pictures under.
The under-display digicam is terrible. It will get the job achieved for video calls, however you must undoubtedly keep away from snapping any photos with it. Actually, I want Samsung would hand over on this concept. The decrease pixel density over the lens is simply as distracting as a punch gap, and I don’t suppose it’s definitely worth the trade-off.
Battery Life & Charging
- 4400mAh battery
- 25W wired charging, 15W wi-fi
- No charger included
The battery and charging specs are additionally unchanged in comparison with the Z Fold 5. It’s one other space that I hoped to see an enchancment, however regardless, the environment friendly design of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip give us some slight battery life positive aspects.
In real-world use, the Z Fold 6 by no means didn’t get me to the tip of the day, but it surely typically minimize it very nice. That was very true once I was gaming on the massive inside show or taking a lot of photographs and movies.
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As is commonly the case with Samsung telephones, there’s no charger within the field, only a USB-C cable. With 25W wired charging, it’s not prone to wow you with its charging pace, but it surely’s fast sufficient to not be a serious problem. Half an hour on the charger will take the cellphone from fully useless to round 60% charged.
There’s wi-fi charging help, too, however once more the 15W speeds are removed from spectacular. When you’re not in a rush, it’s very handy to simply depart it on a charging stand for some time and let it slowly do its factor.
And if you wish to cost earbuds, there’s additionally reverse wi-fi charging at 4.5W.
Software program & Apps
- One UI 6.1, primarily based on Android 14
- New Galaxy AI options
- Prolonged help phrases
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 runs Samsung’s One UI 6.1 software program (primarily based on Android 14), and if you happen to’ve used a current Samsung cellphone you’re positive to really feel proper at dwelling right here.
As I discussed earlier, my favorite factor about this OS is how snappy and responsive it feels, but it surely’s completely loaded with options, too.
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Luke Baker
My least favorite side is how cluttered it’s starting to really feel. There’s not any bloatware, as such, however Samsung has its personal model of virtually each Google app, and this implies the system apps are successfully doubled on Samsung telephones. It will get slightly complicated if you happen to’re not a die-hard Samsung fan.
The massive focus this 12 months is on Galaxy AI, we noticed it with the Galaxy S24 sequence, and all the identical options have now been applied on the model’s foldable gadgets. This time, although, extra optimisations have been made to benefit from the massive format show, and there are a few brand-new options which might be debuting with the Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6.
The Samsung Interpreter app now permits you to use each shows on the identical time, so you possibly can two-way-translate a dialog in actual time
When you use the AI-powered summarisation options constructed into Samsung’s browser and recorder apps, they’ll now show in a side-by-side view when utilizing the massive foldable show. Extra excitingly, although, the Samsung Interpreter app now permits you to use each shows on the identical time, so you possibly can two-way-translate a dialog in actual time.
I used to be impressed to be taught that the interpretation all occurs on-device, too. That might save the day if you happen to’re travelling with restricted information – you’ll simply want to recollect to obtain the required languages beforehand, although.
Essentially the most fascinating characteristic that Samsung has added to its AI arsenal this time round is named Sketch to Picture. This lets you draw a doodle, after which generative AI will offer you a collection of stylised artworks primarily based in your authentic drawing. It’s nice enjoyable, and it really works on high of photographs, so you possibly can add an AI-generated hat to your selfie, for instance.
Regardless of Samsung having probably the most sturdy set of AI options round, I simply don’t discover myself utilizing them fairly often. I’m positive the interpretation stuff could be helpful whereas travelling, however I additionally don’t really feel that it provides a lot in comparison with simply utilizing the Google Translate app.
The one factor I do use so much is Circle to Search with Google. It’s quite simple – you simply circle something in your display screen and it’ll rapidly carry out a reverse picture seek for no matter you’ve circled.
You are able to do the identical factor with Google Lens, however there are much more steps concerned, and that is so easy that I discover myself utilizing it on a regular basis. Nevertheless, it’s under no circumstances unique to this gadget.
Past software program options, one other large promoting level of Samsung telephones is the size of the help time period.
Certainly, identical to the S24 sequence, the most recent Galaxy Z foldables additionally profit from 7 years of software program upgrades and safety patches. For reference, that takes you all the way in which to Android 21 in 2031, it’s a really spectacular dedication, even if you happen to’re unlikely to make use of the gadget for that lengthy.
Worth & Availability
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is out there to buy globally now, and there are many contact offers, too.
The cellphone obtained a reasonably vital worth hike throughout the board, within the UK, it begins at £1799, which is £50 costlier than its predecessor. You should purchase one outright from the likes of Samsung and Amazon, or on contract by way of the next.
It’s the identical case within the US, the place the cellphone now begins at $1899 – that’s $100 greater than the Z Fold 5. It’s additionally obtainable at Samsung, Amazon and several other third-party retailers, plus a spread of contract choices.
These costs are for the bottom mannequin, which comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but it surely’s additionally obtainable in 512GB and 1TB flavours.
When you suppose the Z Fold 6 is the best cellphone for you, then try our information to the very best Z Fold 6 offers. We cowl all the things from contract offers to outright purchases in each the UK and the US.
When you’re nonetheless undecided, then verify how the competitors compares with our information to the very best folding telephones. The OnePlus Open and Google Pixel Fold are the principle book-style alternate options, although the Honor Magic V2 can be price contemplating if you happen to’re primarily based within the UK.
Must you purchase the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6?
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 leaves me with combined emotions. On one hand, it’s the very best big-screen foldable that Samsung has produced thus far. It has a degree of polish that outclasses something that got here earlier than it and it’s a delight to stay with. The software program expertise and help phrases are among the many greatest round, too.
However, other than a refined design, the {hardware} is essentially unchanged from the Z Fold 5. Whenever you mix that with a worth hike, it begins to look much less interesting. I definitely can’t think about Z Fold 5 homeowners speeding to improve, and if you happen to’re a savvy shopper, you may need to contemplate shopping for the older mannequin as a substitute.
The most important enhancements with this model are software-based, and Samsung has all however confirmed the Z Fold 4 and 5 shall be getting the identical options in a future replace. So the one actual benefits of this cellphone are the marginally wider cowl show, brighter screens and the thinner, lighter design.
Competitors from Chinese language manufacturers is actually heating up, and we’re seeing loads of fashions with bigger shows, higher digicam specs and large batteries – simply take a look at the Xiaomi Combine Fold 4, for instance.
The massive benefit of the Samsung possibility lies in its availability and help. Many of the competitors is difficult to search out within the UK and US, particularly if you’d like a contract deal. None of them match Samsung’s seven years of software program updates, both.
So, whereas the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 won’t be revolutionary, or overly thrilling, it’s nonetheless the best alternative for lots of people. When you’re coming from a foldable that’s just a few years older, or getting one for the primary time, you received’t be disillusioned. It’s a beautiful cellphone that’s simple to stay with.
Specs
- One UI 6.1, primarily based on Android 14
- Cowl: 6.3-inch, 2376×968, AMOLED, 120Hz
- Most important: 7.6-inch, 2160×1856, AMOLED, 120Hz
- Facet-mounted fingerprint sensor
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB storage
- Cameras:
- 50Mp primary sensor
- 12Mp ultrawide
- 10Mp 3x telephoto
- 10Mp cowl digicam
- 4Mp under-display digicam
- As much as 4K @ 60 / 120fps rear video
- Stereo audio system
- Twin-SIM + eSIM
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
- Bluetooth 5.3
- 4400mAh battery
- 25W wired charging
- 15W wi-fi charging
- 153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1 mm (folded)
- IP48 licensed
- 239g
- Colors: Silver Shadow, Pink, Navy
- Samsung unique colors: Crafted Black, White
