Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Review: Refinement Amid Strong Competition
Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold6 Is Better Than Ever And More Powerful But Pricier Too
| Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 - Starting at $1899 Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 is more refined than ever and remains a polished, competent foldable smartphone, though faced with mounting competition.
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Last month, Samsung unveiled several new products, including a pair of revised folding phones – the Galaxy Z Fold6 ($1899) and Z Flip6 ($1099) – alongside a smart ring, watches, and earbuds. In our hands-on article and video (below), we lamented that while the Z Flip6’s incremental updates were meaningful, the Z Fold6’s mostly cosmetic tweaks didn’t quite raise the bar enough – despite both phones costing $100 more than their predecessors at launch.
However, over the last few weeks, as we’ve been using the Galaxy Z Fold6, we’ve come to appreciate Samsung’s subtle improvements. And while we still feel the OnePlus Open may be the book-style folding handset to beat here in the US – at least until Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold joins the party – there’s no denying that the Galaxy Z Fold6 is significantly more refined than its predecessor, and is poised to please Samsung folding phone aficionados.
So what’s different between the Galaxy Z Fold6 and its predecessor, the Z Fold5? How do these changes impact the user experience? Is the Z Fold6 worth considering when the OnePlus Open is more affordable and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is just around the corner? Read our full review to find out.
But first, watch our hands-on video with all of Samsung's new devices that were unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked 2024:
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Hardware And Design
At first glance, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 doesn’t look much different from the Z Fold5. It’s still tall and narrow when closed, the crease on the 7.6-inch main display is still quite pronounced, and the cameras are similar (50/12/10MP). Take a closer look, though, and you’ll start noticing small changes. For one, the Z Fold6 is noticeably thinner (5.6 vs. 6.1mm open, and 12.1 vs. 13.4mm closed) and lighter than its predecessor (239 vs. 253g).
It’s also 1.4mm shorter and 1.0mm wider when closed. This might seem insignificant, but – combined with the Galaxy S24 Ultra-like square corners – it improves the way the Z Fold6 feels in hand. And while the camera bump retains last year’s layout, the three lens surrounds are now thicker and finished in black. In all, this revised design is a subtle but noticeable upgrade over the Z Fold5’s, and we’re here for it.
Open the Z Fold6, and you’ll find the mmWave antenna window, volume rocker, and power/lock key (which doubles as a capacitive fingerprint sensor) on the right side, plus the SIM tray on the left. The USB Type-C port, one mic, and one speaker are located along the bottom edge, and the remaining three mics plus the other speaker are mounted on top. Another cool detail is that instead of speaker grilles, the Z Fold6 features slit-like openings.
Materials are similar to the Z Fold5’s, with an Enhanced Armored Aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 surfaces. The Z Fold6’s hinge is thinner but stronger. The Galaxy Z Fold6 also gains dust protection in addition to water resistance, thanks to an IP48 rating (vs. IPX8 last year). Three colorways are available, all matte – Navy, Silver Shadow, and Pink – with two additional hues (White and Crafted Black) exclusive to Samsung’s online store.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Specs And Features
| Processing and 5G Platform | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 + integrated Snapdragon X75 5G Modem |
| Display | 7.6" LTPO AMOLED, 2160x1856 resolution, 120Hz, HDR10+ - 6.3' LTPO AMOLED 2376x968 resolution, 120Hz |
| Memory | 12GB |
| Storage | 256/512/1024GB UFS 4.0 |
| Rear-Facing Cameras | 50MP f/1.8 Main OIS, dual-pixel PDAF - 12MP f/2.2 123º Ultra-Wide - 10MP f/2.4 3x Telephoto OIS, PDAF |
| Front-Facing Cameras | 10MP f/2.2 - 4MP f/1.8 under display |
| Video Recording | Up to 8k @ 30fps, 4K @ 60fps, 1080p @ 120fps, 1080p slow-mo |
| Battery | 4400 mAh, 25W wired charging, 15W wireless charging |
| OS | Android 14 With One UI 6.1.1 |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 153.5 x 132.6 x 5.6mm - Folded: 153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1mm |
| Weight | 239 grams |
| Connectivity | 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6e, Bluetooth 5.3+LE, NFC, UWB, USB-C, LTE, 5G (sub-6GHz and mmWave) |
| Colors | Navy, Silver Shadow, Pink, White, Crafted Black |
| Pricing | Find Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold6 @ Samsung.com Or Amazon, Starting at $1,899 |
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Display Quality
The screens on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 have slightly different sizes and aspect ratios than before. You’re now getting a 6.3-inch HD+ (2376 x 968 pixels. 410ppi, 22.1:9) cover display plus a 7.6-inch QXGA+ (2160 x 1856 pixels, 374ppi, 20.9:18) folding main screen with HDR10+ support. Both are LTPO AMOLED panels with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 2600 nits of peak brightness (up from 1750 nits last year).
Still, there’s room for improvement. Despite the size tweaks, we prefer the OnePlus Open cover screen’s standard form factor over the Z Fold6’s awkwardly tall and narrow aspect ratio. The main display is also noticeably more reflective and the crease is significantly more pronounced on the Z Fold6 than on the OnePlus Open. On the plus side, the Z Fold6 supports Samsung's S Pen, which is a separate accessory.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Camera Performance And Image Quality
We hope you don’t mind deja-vu, because Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 basically features the same shooters as the Z Fold5 and the Z Fold4. Yes, that’s three generations of handsets with essentially the same camera hardware. On the plus side, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s powerful ISP is more than capable of extracting the most image quality from these shooters. So, with the Z Fold6, it’s the software that does most of the heavy lifting.
The result? Photos and videos shot with the Z Fold6 are similar to those captured with the Galaxy S24/S24+, which share similar camera hardware and software. While that’s fine, it’s no match for what the OnePlus Open can achieve – or even last year’s Pixel Fold – especially when zooming.
Spec-wise, the Z Fold6 packs a 50MP f/1.8 1.0-micron main shooter with dual-pixel PDAF and OIS, 12MP f/2.2 1.12-micron 123-degree ultrawide, a 10MP f/2.4 1.0-micron 3x telephoto with PDAF and OIS, and a 10MP f/2.2 1.22-micron selfie camera in the outer screen. A mediocre 4MP f/1.8 2.0-micron UDC (under display camera) rounds things up inside the Z Fold6. It’s best suited for video calls, but nothing more.
Essentially, these are the same shooters found in the Z Fold5 and Z Fold4, except for the ultrawide, which – according to Samsung – is slightly revised (lifted from the Galaxy S24/S24+, apparently). Generally speaking, and in most conditions, the Z Fold6 takes beautiful photos and videos. Colors are natural, exposure is accurate, dynamic range is decent, and low-light performance is solid. Selfies are excellent, too.
Shooting modes include portrait, night, pro, 50MP (main only), panorama, food, ultra steady (up to 1440p/1080p 60fps), HDR10+ (up to 4k 60fps), portrait video (4k/1080p 30fps), pro video (up to 8k 30/24fps, 4k 60/30/24fps, and 1080p 120/60/30/24fps), slow motion (4k 120fps, 1080p 240/120fps), hyperlapse (4k/1080p 30fps), Single Take, and Dual Rec (4k/1080p 30fps) – which lets you combine any two of up to four cameras.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Audio, Data, And Call Quality
We used Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 primarily on T-Mobile and Telus’ sub-6GHz 5G and 4G LTE networks in New York City, San Francisco, and Vancouver (Canada), and we didn’t experience any issue with call quality and data speeds. This handset also works on AT&T and Verizon’s 5G networks, and is compatible with most smaller US carriers and MVNOs. It supports dual SIMs (nano SIM plus eSIM) and mmWave 5G.
The Z Fold6 boasts excellent stereo speakers which feature Dolby Atmos support and sound loud and clear. As you’d expect, this phone doesn’t have a headphone jack, but it supports wired audio over USB Type-C (digital accessories only), and high-quality wireless audio over Bluetooth via aptX HD, LDAC, and enhanced SSC (Samsung’s latest proprietary codec, which is also available on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro).
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Performance And Battery Life
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 is built around the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy. This chip – a binned version of Qualcomm’s flagship SoC with a 90MHz faster prime core and a higher GPU clock speed – also powers the Galaxy S24 series and the Z Flip6. It’s mated here to 12GB of RAM and 256GB/512GB/1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, making for a potent combination. Obviously, there’s no microSD support.
As you’d expect, the Z Fold6 feels very smooth and responsive in day-to-day tasks. It ran our standard roster of productivity, communication, and entertainment apps without breaking a sweat. But subjective performance is only half the battle. While our benchmark results generally match those of other Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones we’ve tested, the Z Fold6 exhibits notable thermal throttling with heavy sustained workloads.
In 3DMark’s Wild Life unlimited stress test, our review unit dropped to 55.5% of its initial score after 20 iterations. So keep this in mind if you’re a gamer who seeks to extract the most performance from Qualcomm’s flagship processor.
Spec-wise, the Z Fold6’s matches other Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones, with sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G (SA / NSA), CAT 24 LTE, tri-band WiFi 6e (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3 (LE), NFC, UWB, dual-band A-GPS / GALILEO / BDS / GLONASS, and the usual collection of sensors under the hood. The linear vibration motor delivers great haptics, and the side-mounted capacitive fingerprint sensor is quick and accurate. So is face unlock.
The Z Fold6 inherits the smallish 4400mAh battery capacity and relatively slow 25W (USB PD) wired charging speeds of the Z Fold5 and the Z Fold4. It also lacks a charger in the box. By contrast, the OnePlus Open’s boasts a 4800mAh battery and 67W charging, and comes with a 67W charger. Then again, the Z Fold6 also features 15W (Qi-compatible) wireless charging and 4.5W reverse wireless charging, which are both missing from the OnePlus Open, and add significant value and convenience.
As you can see in our graph above, the Z Fold6 lasted 12h 48m in our PCMark Work 3.0 battery test. That’s decent, but doesn’t break any records. In other words, while we expect this handset to last a full day on a charge for the vast majority of users, it’s not going to match the battery life of most standard flagships.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Software, User Experience, And AI
Generative AI tricks aside, not much has changed on the software front. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 runs One UI 6.1.1 – the company’s take on Android 14 – and it looks and feels pretty much the same as it did last year. One UI includes numerous features meant to enhance the Android user experience and is quite popular. However, it is a little heavy handed, in our opinion, and Android purists might prefer less skinning.
We have two main issues with OneUI: the horizontally scrolling app tray and Samsung’s middling keyboard. On the company’s other handsets, this can be fixed by simply installing a third-party launcher and keyboard – like Nova and Gboard. But replacing the launcher on the Z Fold6 results in giving up the taskbar and advanced multi-window management features, which are designed to boost productivity on the large inner display.
Flex Mode carries over from before, and splits the interface of supported apps (Calendar, Gallery, YouTube, etc…) into top and bottom halves optimized for a split screen view when the Z Fold6 is partially folded. For example, when Flex Mode is activated, the camera app puts the viewfinder on the top half and the shutter, shooting modes, and other controls on the bottom half. You can also extend this functionality to any app with Flex Mode panel.
We already covered Samsung Advanced Intelligence in our Galaxy S24 Ultra review and the Z Fold6 offers the same generative AI features, including summarization, formatting, live translation, interpreting, and transcription. Generative photo editing gains a few new tricks beyond deleting and moving objects, including Portrait Studio, which creates stylized versions of portraits, and Sketch to Image, which generates images based on what you draw.
There’s also Edit Suggestion which suggests generative edits for your photos and Instant Slo-mo, which uses AI to create a smooth slow-motion clip from an existing 30/60fps video. While the latter is pretty impressive, most of these generative AI features seem a little gimmicky. Many are already available in Google’s existing products as well.
That said, we’re happy to report that our unlocked Z Fold6 review unit came with very little pre-installed bloatware. It shipped with the usual suite of Google and Samsung apps, a handful of Microsoft apps (Microsoft 365, Outlook, and OneDrive), Spotify, and LinkedIn. Best of all, these apps were easy to disable or uninstall, if desired.
Finally, Samsung now promises seven years of OS updates and security updates, which is fantastic and should not be overlooked.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Final Review Analysis
Adding it all up, our verdict on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold6 echoes what we wrote in our Z Fold5 review last year. In its own right, the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is an extremely competent book-style folding phone. We really appreciate the improved design, brighter screens, and speedy new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. But looking at the bigger picture, it’s clear that the Z Fold6 is more of an iterative device faced with mounting competition.
For $100 more than before, we expected better cameras, larger batteries, and faster charging – especially when the Z Fold6 is no longer the only sheriff in town. One year in, the OnePlus Open (currently $1399) remains an outstanding book-style folding handset, and – based on the many leaks and Google's own tease – the upcoming Pixel 9 Pro Fold (August 13) promises to give the Z Fold6 a run for its money as well.
As such, at it's current price point, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is a tougher sell, though Samsung's proven, more refined design with strong software support adds to its value proposition.
If you want to purchase the Z Fold6, it’s available from Samsung, Amazon, Best Buy, and all three carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) starting at $1899 (12/256GB). However, there is a solid $1699 deal going on now at Amazon for the 512GB variant, while it lasts. As always, don’t forget to explore the various trade-in offers, launch deals, installment plans, and bring-one-get-one sales available from Samsung, its retail partners, and the carriers.
