Galaxy Z Fold 6 review: Modest upgrades

Another year, another book-style foldable from Samsung.

At this point, folding phones are an established category, and with their cost slowly declining, some out there might be considering taking the plunge for the first time. Unlike the Galaxy Z Flip 6, the more expensive Z Fold 6 arguably offers more utility because it’s a tiny tablet you can slide into your pocket.

But does it feature notable upgrades over last year’s Z Fold 5? Unfortunately, not really. Welcome to the world of luxury smartphones and iterative updates. Still, the Z Fold 6 is an all-around solid device with very few compromises. If you already own the Z Fold 4 or Z Fold 5, the new model doesn’t include much beyond a more squared-off design, a slightly wider Cover Display and a minor upgrade to its ultra-wide camera.

With that in mind, if you were hoping this would be the year Samsung stopped coasting with its Fold line and offered meaningful changes, I’m sorry to say you’ll be sorely disappointed with the Z Fold 6.

See our process

How we test and review products at Pocket-lint

We don’t do arm-chair research. We buy and test our own products, and we only publish buyer’s guides with products we’ve actually reviewed.

Price, availability, and specs

Regarding specs, you’ll be very familiar with what the Z Fold 6 offers if you’re a Fold 5 user. First off, the overall build is smaller, coming in at 6.4 x 5.21 x 0.22-inches (135.5 x 132.6 x 5.6mm) when unfolded and 6.04 x 2.68 x 0.48-inches (153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1mm) when folded, versus the Fold 5’s 6.10 x 5.12 x 0.24-inches (154.9 x 130.1 x 6.1mm) and 6.10 x 2.64 x 0.43-inches (154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4mm), respectively. It’s also lighter at 8.43oz (239g) compared to the Fold 5’s 8.92oz (253g), but in practice, I didn’t notice much of a difference.

On the display front, the Cover Screen is 6.3-inches (968 x 2,376) compared to the Fold 5’s 4.6-inches (720 x 1,680), while the inner, unfolded screen is still 7.6-inches, with a slightly different resolution (1,856 x 2,160 compared to 1,812 x 2,176) due to the slight change in folded and unfolded screen size. Peak brightness now hits 2,600 nits, just like the Galaxy S24 line, but the upgrade isn’t that noticeable.

The Fold 6 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 built on 4nm technology, a step up over last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. RAM continues to clock in at 12GB, however. On the camera front, there’s one notable change — the new 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. This sensor is flanked by the same 50-megapixel main and 12-megapixel telephoto with 3x zoom. The lackluster 4-megapixel inner under display camera and 10-megapixel outer shooter return as well. Stylus support is back this year, but I didn’t get the chance to test that feature out myself. With that in mind, the S Pen is again not included with the smartphone like it was with the defunct Note line.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 6 starts at $1,900 for the 256GB storage configuration and goes all the way up to $2,200 for the 1TB storage tier (it’s currently on sale for $2,020). This year’s colors include ‘crafted’ black and white as Samsung Store exclusive options, alongside pink, navy and silver shadow. The smartphone is available as of July 24.

Build and design

The power-user foldable

Unlike the Flip 6, which aims to appeal to a wider audience through its cute, fun design, the Fold 6 is designed with a more pro-user in mind. Have you ever wanted a pocketable tablet and don’t mind your main device being thicker than the average phone? Maybe Samsung’s phone-to-desktop DeX platform fits perfectly into the way you work and consume content? Then this is the pricey phone for you. Only this very specific subset of users will get enough out of Samsung’s latest foldable to make its high cost worthwhile.

During my time with the Z Fold 5, I frequently wondered if it was the right phone for me. Sure, it’s great to unfold the device and experience its sprawling 120Hz capable 7.6-inch screen in all its glory, and it does genuinely look great, rivaling the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s, Pixel 8’s and iPhone 15 Pro’s display quality under most lighting conditions. Unfortunately, my fondness for the Fold 6 fades when it’s time to fold it up and take it on the go. Its thickness makes it fit awkwardly in my pocket despite being thinner than last year’s Fold 5, and the Cover Display, unfortunately, still doesn’t feel quite right (more on this later).

Beyond these changes, the Fold 6 features an overall boxier design, similar to the Flip 6. This gives the foldable a refined look and makes it easier to hold, particularly when not unfolded and using only the Cover Screen. The same responsive, clicky buttons are back, including the power button and volume rocker, and feel as great as they did last year. The overall build quality of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains solid, too. It feels like it could handle minor drops thanks to its fluid, closed-off hinge and matte rear. However, it still doesn’t feel quite as solid as a standard phone, so if you’re prone to dropping your device like I am, it might not be the device for you. Samsung offers one free screen repair and screen protector replacement within two years of purchase if you buy the device directly from it, offering a bit of extra assurance.

When it comes to this year’s colors, pink (which is featured in this review) stands out as my favorite. It’s more off-white than pink, and looks great thanks to the Fold 6’s matte rear. It’s a bit flashy, but also low-key and exactly what I want from a new phone. Beyond the above changes, the Fold 6 looks nearly identical to the Fold 5, with the only other notable difference being the revamped camera bump with black ribbed outlines around each lens. It’s a minor design shift I’m not fond of because last year’s lenses blended better with the rear of the device.

Related

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 6 will make even the most dedicated iPhone user jealous

From the subtle redesign to its upgraded rear camera, the Z Flip 6 is an act of refinement.

Display

Book-style foldables aren’t for everyone

Foldable displays have come a long way, and the plastic-feeling screens of years past are no longer an issue. That said, the crease in the middle of the Z Flip 6 display remains visible, especially under bright lighting conditions. More importantly, you really feel it, even more so than with the Flip 6, since you use the center area of the screen more, particularly if you use the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in a landscape orientation when it’s unfolded. This is how I found myself primarily using the device when browsing social media, watching videos on YouTube, and reading content in Inoreader, which is a great experience with the Fold 6’s big display. The foldable screen still doesn’t look great outdoors because it’s very glossy and reflective. I’m not sure how Samsung could solve this issue, but I’d be interested in a matte nano-texture option (it looks great on the M4 iPad Pro).

The Fold 6’s multitasking capabilities are well beyond what I encountered with the Fold 3, the last model in the line I used as my daily device. Opening Threads while browsing the internet is as simple as dragging the app icon from the taskbar and dropping it on the right or left side of the display (I wish multi-tasking with an iPad was this easy). This is what the Fold 6 is all about and a big part of why it has such a dedicated audience. It’s genuinely cool to be able to easily multi-task with a phone like you can with a laptop or desktop computer. That said, the instances where I actually wanted to do this didn’t happen often, but it was good to know the option was available to me. On the other hand, gaming is a dream on the Fold 6, and while I haven’t spent much time doing it yet, the ample screen real estate is great for retro gaming emulators, particularly the Nintendo DS.

Switching to the Cover Display, I really wanted to like it this year, but it still feels off. It’s overall a little wider, making the Fold 6’s front screen feel a bit more like a standard smartphone display, but it’s still uncomfortable to perform most tasks on, particularly typing. I found myself ignoring it entirely after a few days, resorting to opening the device to use it. I know it would make the Z Fold 6 bigger, but a wider Cover Display would go a long way toward making the foldable’s front screen more usable.

It’s also still a bit too top-heavy for my taste and often feels like it could drop out of my hand when my grip isn’t tight enough. I ended up using the front screen for checking notifications and not much else, despite spending a lot of time adding my most used apps to the Cover Screen in an attempt to make it work for me. The process of doubling up apps on the Cover Screen and internal display feels odd and sort of redundant, particularly after I gave up on using the front screen consistently.

Related

Apple’s first foldable iPhone could look like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip

Apple is finally joining the foldable fray.

Camera and video performance

Solid cameras, but minor upgrades

Phone cameras are in a place now where you need to look really closely to note the difference in quality between what high-end devices are capable of shooting, and the Z Fold 6 is no exception. For the most part, it doesn’t matter what lens you’re using because all the rear cameras perform great, including the 50-megapixel main shooter, 12-megapixel telephoto with 3x zoom, and the updated 12-megapixel ultra-wide (which looks pretty much the same as last year despite the spec bump). The 4-megapixel under-display inner camera remains the notable exception. It’s still not up to par with other selfie shooters, resulting in images that have an odd mist to them, and I don’t know why Samsung doesn’t switch back to the camera cut out it used for years in its device. It worked fine, and I’m sure most Z Fold 6 users would take the trade-off.

Overall, photos look great, but they are still a little overproduced, with colors that are frequently just a bit too vibrant. However, this is how Samsung phones snap photos, and if you haven’t had issues with this style in the past, you’ll feel right at home with the Z Fold 6’s camera performance.

Related

8 Samsung Galaxy phone apps you can just go ahead and uninstall already

Remove these unnecessary Samsung Galaxy apps to reduce clutter and free space.

Performance

A solid experience powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

My time with the Galaxy Z Flip 6 has been extremely smooth, and I only encountered lag briefly when multi-tasking. I was watching a YouTube video while attempting to play a game, and One UI locked up very briefly for a few seconds. This is a step up from early Fold devices but matches my brief experience with the Fold 5.

I found that battery life clocks in at roughly a day as long as you aren’t only watching video and playing games, which, as expected, seems to drain the foldable’s battery faster. If benchmarks are your thing, the Fold 6 hits great scores in Geekbench 6, with 2,296 for single-core and 6,913 for multi-core performance.

Related

From Galaxy S to Galaxy S24 Ultra, here’s a complete timeline of Samsung’s flagship phones

Here’s a look back at the development of Samsung’s flagship smartphones, from Galaxy S up to the more recent Galaxy S24.

Software

Samsung continues to push AI

I’m not a fan of One UI and find it too complicated and bloated, but if you’re a long-time Samsung user, this won’t be a problem for you. Like nearly every smartphone manufacturer out there, Samsung has gone all-in on generative AI with the Z Fold 6. There’s a wide array of AI tools, and many of them are also available on the Z Flip 6.

Sketch to Image is a bit easier to use with the Fold 6 thanks to its bigger display, and I’m sure creating doodles with the stylus only adds to its usability. Of course, Portrait Studio is here, too, and just as awful as it was with the Flip 6. It creates a caricature of whatever image you feed into it, but it rarely actually looks like the original subject. Still, these AI features are fun party tricks, particularly Sketch to Image, and can sometimes result in entertaining creations (check out the odd-looking gazebo thing in my backyard below).

Pocket-lint / Samsung

Beyond the AI features, Samsung has also committed to seven years of updates, which is a great move by the company, given the cost of the Z Fold 6.

Should you buy the Galaxy Z Fold 6?

If you already own the Fold 5, you can skip this year’s Fold 6, but if you’re sold on the concept of a tablet in your pocket, enjoy multi-tasking with your phone, and have the cash to spare, Samsung’s latest flagship foldable is an all-around solid smartphone with very few compromises. It doesn’t necessarily fit into my life, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.