Samsung were not the first to launch a foldable smartphone to market but they were one of the first and were within a few months of the first. The reason I say that is that they have been doing this for a long time, and it shows.
Although the hardware is virtually identical to the very first publicly available Galaxy Z Fold smartphone, the software has come a long way. This software is what makes the Galaxy Z Fold6 a compelling argument for those looking for a foldable smartphone.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is available in Silver Shadow, Yellow, Blue, and Mint colours as well as Samsung.com online-exclusive colours: Crafted Black and White. It is not cheap though, priced at $2,749 (12GB+ 256 GB), $2,949 (12GB + 512GB) and $3,299 (12GB + 1TB).
Most folks who use a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 will like the solid build quality, which we expect from Samsung in 2024, the overall shape of the phone which continues to design language from the previous Galaxy phones in 2024 but be less enamoured with its dimensions.
I love the square shape of the phone, the ever-so-slightly rounded edges, the metallic rails on the side and the overall design of it. The problem is the size, and by that I don’t mean it’s too big. It is too small, or rather, thin.
The front display has a weird ratio of 22:9. It is a thin and very tall display. Although it is not as tall as it used to be, it is still too thin. You can make do with a thin display but typing and using apps etc are much nicer on a wider display – this is why Samsung’s flat, non-foldable devices do not have this same 22:9 display ratio.
Samsung has not changed this significantly since the very first Galaxy Z Fold6, and they should. They used to be one of the very few foldable smartphones on the Western market but they have competition now, and that competition has better outer displays.
The outer display on the Galaxy Z Fold6 is a 6.3-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display capable of a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, has a resolution of 968 x 2376 pixels and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. It is a great display. Simple as that. Vibrant and colourful as Samsung AMOLED displays always are, the outer display is great to use, once you learn to work around the limitations of the thin display.
Those limitations can be significant though with the display so different to a normal display. Typing is more difficult and inaccurate, especially if you use the stock Samsung keyboard – hint, it was never good and still isn’t.
The outer selfie camera is a 10MP camera which doesn’t seem like much but most will favour the rear camera for selfies if you want a good quality one.
The rear of the phone is once again very reminiscent of the Galaxy S24 series with a triple rear camera in an island along the left-hand side and that is it. Samsung has not branded their name on the rear of the device which is a strange decision but that has been their modus operandi this year.
Unfortunately, with this camera on the left-hand side, you can forget about using the outer display while it is sitting on a desk. The wobble of the phone makes it impossible.
The satin finish on the rear of the phone looks great and I love the minimalistic look. It’s certainly a good looking phone.
Samsung has branded their hinge though with a very subtle name ‘engraved’ in the centre of the hinge. Interestingly, the Samsung hinge sticks out a lot less than that on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, making the device even thinner – with this hinge they could have and should have widened the outer display and could still have been thinner than their competitors.
The hinge is stiff in a good way, allowing you to have the phone unfolded at virtually any angle. They are not alone with that on foldable smartphones but it is still a good thing, even if others do it too.
The hinge does still create a crease in the centre of the unfolded, inner display. That crease has apparently improved from other years but I feel that they have fallen beyond other foldable manufacturers with the Samsung crease being slightly bigger than the others. Now it does not affect the use of the inner display at all but it is there and noticeable. Does it matter? Not a bit.
The inner display itself is a 7.6-inch Foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with a 1856 x 2160 pixel resolution. I liked using the inner display but I would prefer a different ratio display given that to get the tablet-style app interfaces you need to turn the display around, which then places the volume and power buttons in a weird place.
I love how you can easily drag and drop apps to either side to truly multi-task and if you have a specific use case for something like that this is the perfect type of device for you.
In essence, the cameras are the same as last year. There are very subtle tweaks to some of the cameras, such as letting more light in for better nighttime photography but you will get pretty much what you got last year.
You may think that last year had the perfect cameras and that’s why Samsung did very little to improve the Fold6 camera setup but you’d be wrong. After reviewing the Flip6 recently I have to think that this is an off year for Samsung and they just took the year off from any major changes. There should be some kind of excuse for them to rest on their laurels but there isn’t and I’m not sure what is going on at Samsung.
There is a group of sayings, and they all basically say, “if you aren’t moving forward, you’re moving backwards.” And Samsung is doing just that when compared with their competitors. The competition is coming fast and if Samsung aren’t careful they will be overtaken.
Anyway, let’s get into the cameras. The rear camera setup is a triple rear camera system with:
The front selfie camera is a 10MP camera and the inner camera is a woeful 4MP so I wouldn’t be using that one much.
The rear camera takes decent shots and with the aid of Galaxy AI, there are some great photo processing enhancements (and some gimmicks) that Samsung offers.
At the top, I mentioned that Samsung has been doing this foldable thing longer than nearly everyone and it shows in the software. The software options incredibly suitable for foldable smartphones are great and have been fine-tuned over six generations of Galaxy Fold devices (I’m not sure why it is so good in this phone but non-existent in the Flip6 – disappointing).
Right at the start, the launcher is great. Others don’t allow you to have a different launcher setup and shortcuts etc on the outside to that on the inside. Samsung does. You can optimise the outer display for the thinner display and then change it up on the inside to something more suited to the double display. Perfect. Google, OPPO, pay attention.
Samsung also allows a larger app grid on the home screen and in the app drawer. My only issue is with the app drawer. The scroll across to view the apps is so very 8 years ago. Android has a fast fling now and with the smoothness of the latest displays, the app drawer looks and functions much better with a scrolling-up version.
Google has their taskbar at the bottom of the display on the Pixel 9 Pro Fold when it is open, but there are only six apps allowed on it. Samsung on the other hand has six permanent apps and four recent apps on the taskbar, along with a handle to quickly display all apps in the app drawer. You can hide the taskbar too with a long press as well. Well done Samsung, again.
One thing I need to quickly mention, even though it is not foldable related. It is Samsung-related. Be very careful when using Samsung’s apps such as Calendar, Contacts etc. They may not sync with your Google calendar and contacts. I’m still not entirely sure why Samsung wastes time, effort and resources continuing with these apps but they do. Personally I’d just download the Google versions and know that will sync across all Samsung and Apple phones in the future.
Generational seems certain to be a thing that we all use, eventually. Not because it will make our lives so much easier, but because all the manufacturers, smartphone, PC and more, are pushing it so strongly.
Galaxy AI from Samsung focuses most of its power on generational AI tasks, performing nearly all of them in the cloud, which may scare a lot of folks off it.
The AI offerings are not that much different to other manufacturers including the ability to have the AI reply to messages and emails for you, summarise emails and websites and more.
In the image pipeline, it gives users the option to add, move, or remove features from an image, and sketch new features onto an image (using a supported, but not included, S-Pen). It can also alter your own selfie images to make them cartoons, sketches and more.
As you can imagine these are not life-changing but the idea is the potential for life-enhancing AI improvements is there and the Z Fold6 with Galaxy AI is positioned ready to take advantage of it when it arrives.
Note Assist allows the AI to create, summarise or generate documents for you and there are new translation AI features if that is something you use a lot.
Although the new Galaxy AI features seem fun, they are not something I use every day, or ever. At this stage, they are not life-changing.
The 4,400mAh battery in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 offers all-day battery life. The more you use the bigger inner display the less that battery life will be but in my use, I was able to easily get a full day with some Bluetooth streaming, wireless Android Auto and lots of surfing Reddit.
Unfortunately, if you run out or the battery gets low there is no real true fast charging option available. I do not consider 25W wired charging fast charging. Samsung had that in the Galaxy Z Fold2, and four versions later it’s still the same. Strange. Oh and of course, Samsung do not include a charger in the box.
Of note, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold charges at only 21W wired as well which is interesting. It is possible that when phones are this thin they cannot handle faster charging speeds? The OPPO Find N3 is just as thin and it charges at 67W using their proprietary SUPERVOOC charging so it is possible. Google and Samsung just aren’t taking the risk.
Wireless charging is 15W which is average these days but still better than Google’s fold wireless charging option, and better than OPPO’s no-wireless charging option.
Aside from the tall and thin outer display, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is better than its rivals thanks to their mature foldable software. Google is yet to introduce much in the way of customisation to their foldable series but the Z Fold6 has so much.
In saying that it is tough to say that it is more useful than the Pixel 9 Pro Fold given how thin the outer display on the Smausng foldable it. It makes everything so cramped and more difficult to use. If you don’t open the phone all that much you may find it more annoying to use than a foldable with a standard sized outer display.
Given Samsung’s more advanced and less obtrusive and more compact hinge they could easily widen the display to make it a standard ratio and still have a thinner phone than the competition. I blame them resting on their laurels and opting for very minor incremental changes from previous years. It has cost them the lead in the flip phones and they’d better watch out or it will cost them their crown of the best fold smartphone on our Australian market.
Multi-tasking power users. The ability to run two apps in a large display side-by-side is immensely useful to so many careers out there. I have relatives who are builders and swear by it as it allows them to have plans open on one side and anything else on the other. If you don’t think you’ll use the inner display much you are not alone and should probably look elsewhere given the price of the Z Fold6.
If you are after a foldable smartphone and want to use the inner display a lot then the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is still the best on the market here in Australia. Their software is customised for foldable devices and their build quality is mature and solid.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is available in Silver Shadow, Yellow, Blue, and Mint colours as well as Samsung.com online-exclusive colours: Crafted Black and White. It is not cheap though, priced at $2,749 (12GB+ 256 GB), $2,949 (12GB + 512GB) and $3,299 (12GB + 1TB).
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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