Galaxy Z Fold6 review: Refinements over revolution in Samsung's latest foldable
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6. Picture: Noel Campion.
The Galaxy Z Fold6 is the sixth generation of Samsung’s folding smartphone, and it has been greeted with mixed opinions, especially regarding its design. While many of us were hoping for a Galaxy Z Fold6 with a wider cover display and more significant spec upgrades, Samsung has decided to refine rather than revolutionise.
Samsung has made subtle yet impactful changes to the Z Fold6’s design, making it feel more premium than its predecessor. The weight is the first thing you’ll notice — it's lighter than the Z Fold5, especially if you’re using it without a case.
The new boxier design, achieved by flattening the sides, offers better grip and a sturdier feel, which is a welcome change for a tall device. I’m also a fan of the sharper corners, especially since there’s now very little screen real estate wasted on large curved edges.
Samsung has adjusted the cover display, making it appear slightly wider by reducing the hinge size and introducing symmetrical bezels on all four sides. This small change significantly impacts the overall user experience, making the front of the Z Fold6 look more polished. However, I would still have preferred it if the cover display had been wider. I question if the Korean keyboard is better suited to a narrower display and if that’s one of the reasons Samsung has stuck with the taller aspect ratio.
For a foldable in its sixth generation, it’s surprising that it’s one of the thickest compared to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Honor V3, and OnePlus Open, and that’s before you put a case on it.
Durability is always a concern regarding foldable phones, and the Z Fold6 has both strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, the thicker UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) and the new hinge design should offer better protection against everyday wear and tear. However, the device still lacks dust resistance, a feature many hoped would be included this year. The Z Fold6 has an IP48 rating for water resistance but is still vulnerable to dust, unlike the IP68-rated Galaxy S24 Ultra. Samsung warns that the phone is not advised for beach or pool use and that water resistance is not permanent and may diminish due to normal wear and tear.
Samsung has also retained the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the Z Fold6’s front rather than upgrading to the more durable Gorilla Glass Victus 4 used on the S24 Ultra.
The cover display is a 6.3-inch HD+ display with an adaptive refresh rate (1-120Hz), slightly larger than the Z Fold5’s 6.2-inch cover display. However, you still get large black bars on either side of content like movies, especially compared to other folding phones from Honor, Google, and OnePlus. Also, typing on the cover display still isn’t great – I usually install Google’s G-Board keyboard, which helps enormously.
The inner display is the same 7.6-inch diagonally, albeit with a slightly different aspect ratio. Not surprisingly, this is one of the best foldable displays I've used for clarity, colour accuracy, and contrast.
The Z Fold6’s displays have received a notable upgrade in peak brightness, reaching 2,600 nits, up from 1,750 on the Z Fold5. This improvement makes the screen easier to view in bright conditions, and the new design complements the display’s enhanced clarity.
The new Z Fold 6 continues to support the S-Pen, although it still doesn't have a place to store it without a case.
The Z Fold 6 comes preinstalled with the latest Android 14 and One UI 6.1.1, and it promises seven years of OS and security updates.
The Z Fold6 has AI-powered features that make the most of its large screen, enhancing productivity and user experience. Note Assist in Samsung Notes can translate, summarise, and auto-format meeting notes. It also includes a new transcription feature that directly converts and summarises voice recordings in Notes. Additionally, the PDF overlay translation feature lets you translate and overlay text in PDFs, images, and graphs seamlessly.
Another helpful addition is Composer in Samsung Keyboard, which generates text suggestions for emails and social media based on keywords. It even analyses your previous posts to match your tone.
The integrated Google Gemini app acts as an AI-powered assistant, helping with tasks like writing, planning, and exploring new destinations. It can be accessed easily with a swipe or voice command, offering real-time travel information and even detailed insights while watching videos on YouTube.
The Z Fold6 Interpreter feature uses the dual screen to display translations for both parties during conversations, making interactions more natural. It also supports one-way translation for easy comprehension during lectures or presentations.
The Live Translate feature extends the real-time translation of phone calls beyond Samsung’s native apps and includes popular third-party apps.
Samsung hasn’t significantly changed the camera hardware, sticking with the same setup as the Z Fold5: a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 10MP telephoto (3x) lens. The lack of a periscope lens limits the zoom capabilities to 30X digital zoom.
Overall, the camera system is relatively versatile, with many great features, but ultimately, it falls short of its flagship sibling. For those who prioritise camera performance, especially for photography, the Galaxy S24 Ultra still outshines the Z Fold6.
The Z Fold6 sports the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and a larger vapour chamber, similar to the S24 Ultra, to manage heat effectively. This setup has proven successful in keeping the device cool under heavy use, making it one of the cooler foldable phones available. In prolonged benchmarking testing, the sides did get hot, but that’s normal for a non-gaming phone. However, while playing games like Wreckfest for long periods, it remained only warm to the touch.
My review unit came with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, although you can buy it with 256GB or 1TB.
The Z Fold6 houses the same 4,400mAh battery as its predecessor, offering similar battery life despite the more efficient processor. This is good enough for a day of moderate use, but heavy users will reach for the charger before the end of a long day.
The Galaxy Z Fold6 is a solid upgrade for those already invested in the foldable ecosystem, especially if you come from an older model like the Z Fold3 or Z Fold4. The improved design, brighter display, and refined build quality make it a more premium and enjoyable device to use.
The Z Fold6 feels more like an iterative upgrade than a groundbreaking leap forward.
Samsun Galaxy Z Fold6 from €2,059
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