Samsung's latest foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 6

 Samsung's latest foldable, the Galaxy Z Fold 6, has hit the market, and it's unfolding a new chapter for foldables. This is the sixth generation of Samsung foldable, and a lot has changed in these six years. Until last year, Samsung virtually had a honeymoon period as there was almost no competition.

But things are changing now, and too quickly. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 now has some competition in the market, from the OnePlus Open to the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro. Xiaomi is also gearing up to launch its Mix 4 foldable.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with several improvements over its predecessor. Samsung has packed a better cover screen, a more durable body, and a lower weight. There are also a few cool new Galaxy AI features added this year. Overall, the package feels top-notch, but Samsung has also bumped up the price. The question that pops up is, should someone consider buying a folding phone for such a hefty price? Let's find out in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review:

Price in India

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 price in India starts at Rs 1,64,990 and goes up to Rs 1,99,990 for the max-out version.

Design

In the last few years, Samsung has pursued refinement rather than a completely new design. This approach has some merit, as it allows for better optimization, cost-effectiveness and an extended software update cycle.

Samsung has made a lot of subtle design refinements in the Z Fold 6, and each of those changes seems meaningful. The Z Fold 6 weighs 239 grams, about 14 grams lighter than its predecessor and a gram heavier than the OnePlus Open.

It has a fantastic weight balance, evident from the fact that despite being heavier than the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro by 3 grams, it feels lighter than in hand. Vivo's chunkier camera module makes it top-heavy and feels heavier than Z Fold 6.

Samsung worked hard to make the Z Fold 6 slimmer than the Fold 5. It is 0.5mm slimmer; when folded, it is 1.3mm slimmer. The new sharper corners also make the Z Fold 6 look cleaner and more streamlined when opened. The phone has an all-matte finish around the frame, making everything feel more premium. , as do the sharper corners and new speaker grills

Samsung used armoured aluminium to create a new hinge and design for the phone. The new double rail hinge mechanism has fewer parts, making it stronger, lighter, slimmer and better at absorbing shock. When folded, it closes without gaps; when opened, it can stay at any angle. The new hinge also allows Samsung to fit in a wider cover screen while keeping the same size. This new boxy form factor improves the overall grip of this phone compared to the last generation.

The only other changes to the design are the thicker, darker camera lens surrounds, which are more subtle than last year's silver trim. The camera bump causes wobble whenever you place the phone on a table.

Samsung has also added an IP48 rating for dust protection, upgraded from an IPX8 water resistance rating. The rear panel and outer display are layered with Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The Z Fold 6 has a fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button; I'm a bit bummed to see Samsung not joining by offering an in-display sensor like Vivo X3 Fold. Since I switched from vivo Fold to the Galaxy Z Fold6, I can't express how convenient the vivo X Fold 3 in-display fingerprint sensor is. I hope Samsung changes with the next iteration.

We have the silver shadow variant, which looks good, although it is a fingerprint magnet. However, this has multiple color options and some special edition options.

Display

Samsung is known for its display prowess, so it's understandable that expectations always skyrocket when it launches a new flagship. When Samsung showcased the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 at Unpacked, I was eager to see what they had done with the new displays. Like other Z folds, this one has an outer and inner display.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a slightly bigger 6.3-inch LTPO Dynamic AMOLED outer display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 968 x 2376 pixels (2K) resolution. The folding display is also an LTPO Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with an 1856 x 2160 pixels resolution, making for a rather square-ish aspect ratio. Here, we are also getting a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.

One of the first things I noticed is the improvement in typing experience, which is a bit earlier on the cover display now. I never expected .1 inch to make this much difference in my typing experience, but it did. The second thing I noticed when unfolding the device is marginally less crease than Z Fold 5. This could result from the enhanced display layers and the new hinge that Samsung developed this year.

The Fold 6 display can get super bright as it is rated peak brightness of 2,600 nits, a significant bump from Z Fold 5's 1,750 nits under the same conditions. Where the Fold 6 display truly shines in color accuracy. The display achieves an average DeltaE of 0.9 on display color checker analysis, suggesting that Samsung is right at the top among the best in terms of color accuracy. The Z Fold6 covers almost 97 percent of DCI-P3 color space, which is better than some of the competition.        

That was for the nit-nerds, but an ordinary man like you will be interested in knowing if the Galaxy Z Fold6 supports HDR streaming on Netflix, Prime Video and other streaming services.

Well, Yes, Galaxy Z Fold does come with Widevine L1 certification and supports 10Hz, 24Hz, 48Hz, 60Hz, 80Hz and 120Hz content playback in HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG formats. Samsung continues with its stand on Dolby Vision and does not support it.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6's haptic feedback maintains an exceptional tactile experience. The speakers offer notable improvements over the previous version. The stereo setup delivers a balanced audio profile with reduced emphasis on high frequencies and enhanced mid and low frequencies. Even at high volume levels, the audio output remains exceptional without distortion.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 Camera

Samsung seems to have reseved its best of optics and camera algos for S-series. But you should get the best if you're paying this much money. The Galaxy Fold 6 packs a 50MP wide (OIS, f/1.8), an upgraded 12MP ultrawide, and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom on the back. Inside, there's a 4MP under-display camera, and on the Cover Screen, there's a 10MP selfie camera.

The camera performance is similar to its predecessor. The primary 50MP camera remains the star of the show. The image quality is quite good. The main sensor takes detailed and colorful photos, some of them better than those from the competition. Auto white balance is spot on, and the colors pop without being too much. The primary camera does a much better job with the dynamic range.

However, it doesn't capture fine facial details very sharply, although it works decently and is probably beneficial. The portrait mode also works well.

In low light, the main camera captures good detail, and the added grain isn't a big issue. Colors remain vibrant, and auto white balance is consistent. The dynamic range in Photo mode is good, with a slightly more contrasty look than in Night mode.

The telephoto camera also captures detailed shots with moderate noise that's not a big problem. Daytime photos are great, but night scenes have a slight drop in detail. Colors stay nice, though slightly muted in the shadows. Dynamic range is generally good, but more contrasty scenes benefit from Night mode.

When it comes to video recording, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is well-equipped for most scenarios, but it won't help you stand out if you're heavily into video recording or super active on social media. On the plus side, the stabilization is excellent. Whether dealing with walking shake, panning, or just pointing the phone steadily, the results are impressive across the board.

Software

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with Android 14, running Samsung's One UI 6, full of multitasking features, Samsung-specific apps, SmartThings, multimedia controls, S Pen features, and more. When Android 15 drops in late 2024, the Z Fold 6 is expected to be one of the first phones to get Google's new software, including the new One UI 7 user interface. And don't worry about software updates – Samsung's 7-year support guarantee also applies to the Z Fold 6.

Samsung kicked off its AI journey with the Galaxy S24 lineup, and now they've brought out the Galaxy Z Fold6 with some cool upgrades. Samsung's Messages app is getting its share of AI, as it can now offer suggestions for replies generated by AI to match the tone of your recent chats, making your messages feel more personal.

One thing that stands out is the Circle to Search feature, which does much more now – it can translate text, create QR code link previews, and even solve math problems.

Samsung decided to offer Smart Sketch to Image. You can doodle on your photos and watch the AI turn them into realistic images. It's a mix of art and tech. The brand decided to mark these images with a watermark to show they were AI-generated.

The Interpreter feature for live translation has been optimized for the foldable - Z Fold6 and Z Flip6. A new conversation mode has been added where one participant sees the translation on the main screen while the other views it on the cover screen. It leverages Google Gemini, requiring internet connectivity for the best experience.

The new foldable recorder app also has an automatic transcription option, translation, and summarization for voice recordings. OneUI 6.0 can also summarize and translate your long PDFs in Note Assist.

Overall, the OneUI is the best Android Skin available, and its suite of Galaxy AI features further gives it an advantage over competitors.  

Performance

Samsung's partnership with Qualcomm means the Z Fold6 has a custom Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset under the hood, which we have already seen powerlifting on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It's paired with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, so it has the expected power. During my week of daily testing,

Storage speed for our sample was consistent with the UFS 4.0 standard, as expected.

In our benchmark tests, the Fold6 could have been more impressive for its hardware had they not had to worry about system heat. Samsung has optimized its system to keep system heat in check to protect against burnout.

First up, we ran the CPU throttle test, where the CPU throttled to 67 percent from all-out performance. On the 3D Mark Wide Life stress test, it scored 15154 in the first loop test and 6546 in the 20th loop test. On Antutu, it scored 16,93,651, which is not record-shattering but a good score considering the form factor.

In terms of daily usage, I have yet to experience any lag, stutter, or slowdown. I consider myself a heavy user who multitasks with multiple apps, streams and scrolls through web pages. In the last 10 days, I have not faced any performance-related issues that I can point out in this review.  

Battery life

The Galaxy Z Fold6 is keeping the same 4,400 mAh battery as before. But the good news is that the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and better thermal management seem to be really making a difference. In our testing, the battery life has definitely improved. The Z Fold6 lasted an impressive 16 hours and 5 minutes on the PC Mark Battery Test, which is pretty great considering the battery size hasn't changed.

The 25W charging speed might seem slow compared to other foldables that exceed 100W. Wireless charging is similar, only supporting 15W compared to 50W from the fastest rivals. It's not surprising that Qi2 charging didn't cut.

verdict

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has strong points, especially if you're a fan of One UI and consider a foldable phone. It stands out with its S Pen support and intelligent AI features. However, some people feel that Samsung may have been too confident with this release. While it's lighter and thinner than its predecessor, there are a few noticeable upgrades.

Compared to the competition, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 falls short in areas like slimness, battery life, charging speeds, and camera quality, which are better in some non-folding flagships.