Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review: a creative AI studio but no camera champ
By Basil Kronfli,
10 hours ago
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 iterates Samsung's foldable formula, taking the Galaxy Z Fold 5 as a blueprint, squaring off the corners, widening the design slightly, making it lighter, and updating the internals with 2024 power. When phones like the OnePlus Open and Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 push foldable hardware so hard, it begs the question – is Samsung being complacent with its updates?
Purely looking at its hardware, you could argue – yes, Samsung is being complacent with the Z Fold 6 – but it would be a mistake to discount software and ecosystem from the equation, because those are the areas Samsung is nailing it.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has the best-optimized foldable software around. You can also enjoy the peace of mind of knowing Samsung and third parties will repair your Z Fold 6 (at a cost, of course). This isn't something you can guarantee with as much assurance when using an imported phone made by a less popular brand.
And when it comes to AI, Google and Samsung lead the charge with their included services, from transcription tools to on-the-fly photo editing. So can the Z Fold 6's wins outweigh its pared back camera specs and modest hardware updates?
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Design
There's no doubt about it, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a much better-looking phone than any Galaxy Z Fold before it. Adopting the Galaxy S24 Ultra's more angular styling, matte, flat sides, flat front and back, and squared-off corners, it feels very confident. But it also feels boxy.
The Z Fold 6 is 12.1mm thick when closed, while the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is 10.5mm, and the Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 is 9.5mm. Google and Xiaomi's foldables aren't much thicker or more imposing than typical phones, but the Galaxy Z Fold 6 definitely feels like a tech sandwich.
One of the benefits of the Galaxy Z Fold 6's design, however, is that it's very easy to grip and hold securely. The cover screen is relatively narrow, so despite being thick, the phone's shape is manageable even for smaller hands, and the matte finish is grippy, too. Whether open or closed, therefore, it's very easy to get a secure hold of which is a good thing.
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The Z Fold 6's matte metal frame and frosted back both feel smooth and do a good job of fending off fingerprints. All the phone's buttons are on the right side whether it's open or closed, there's a dual-SIM slot (plus eSIM support), and the phone's frame feels very sturdy.
Sticking with the hinge, the Z Fold 6 is one of the only foldables that can hold its position throughout almost its entire range. While some foldables creek a little bit when opening and closing them – the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and Honor Magic V2 , for example – the Z Fold 6 is as quiet as a mouse.
For a phone with moving parts, therefore, we're more confident in the Z Fold 6's durability than pretty much any other foldable. With IP48 dust and water resistance, it can be submerged in 1.5m of fresh water for 30 minutes, only adding to that confidence.
So, while the Galaxy Z Fold 6's design isn't a clean sweep across the board, its redeeming factors definitely help it appeal to anyone with smaller hands or foldable skeptics who are concerned about durability.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Screens
The Galaxy Z Fold 6's cover display is a tall 22:9 aspect ratio and measures 6.3 inches diagonally. While the wider 6.3-inch, 20:9 Pixel 9 Pro Fold display sounds like it's the same size on paper, Samsung's screen is actually considerably smaller (14.85in² vs 13.9in²). This is because tall screens clock up higher diagonal measurements, and the Z Fold 6's screen is the tallest of them all.
When compared to the 6.56-inch Xiaomi Mix Fold 4 with its 15.58in² cover screen, the Z Fold 5 is smaller (and more pertinently, narrower) still.
Narrow screens create a cramped typing experience as we've been pointing out since our Galaxy Z Fold 2 review . And while Samsung has added a few millimeters onto the screen width compared to the Z Fold 5, it still falls behind the competition.
On the plus, the screen's quality is beyond reproach. Protected by Gorilla Glass Victus 2, it's an LTPO AMOLED display with a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz, a crisp resolution and a punchy, vibrant picture.
As for the inner display, it's a 7.6-inch almost square panel that gives you plenty of room for anything that might be too cramped on the cover screen.
While there is a noticeable crease that runs down the middle, when using it head-on, it's virtually unnoticeable to look at when the screen's displaying anything remotely bright. When the screen is off or showcasing dark elements with low brightness, you can see the crease, but it didn't detract too much from our viewing experience. What's perhaps more difficult to deal with is the bump it makes when writing with the S Pen.
The Z Fold 6 supports a special stylus made for its inner display. This is included with the S Pen Case you can buy for the phone, or you can opt for a larger, standalone S Pen Pro. When the pen glides over the crease, you'll often end up with a bump in your doodles, making it an imperfect notetaking tool.
Just like the cover screen, the main display's picture quality is impressive. It's crisp, bright enough for comfortable outdoor viewing, and responsive to the touch. With excellent viewing angles and a great size for watching on, and between both screens, the Z Fold 6 is up for most smartphone or tablet tasks.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Camera Specs
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has three cameras around the back and two selfie cameras, one in each display. The rear camera mix includes a 13mm ultra-wide , a 23mm primary camera , and a 66mm telephoto camera .
13mm ultra-wide camera
The ultra-wide camera has a 12MP, 1/3.2-inch sensor with an f/2.2 aperture, fixed-focus lens. With no autofocus, close-up photography is off limits, though the camera is wider than most ultra-wides which clock in at around 15mm.
23mm primary camera
The primary camera has a 50MP, 1/56-inch sensor with an f/1.8 aperture lens with OIS. Packing the same camera as the Galaxy S24, this is one area the Z Fold 6 doesn't feel like a camera compromise, though it isn't the largest camera sensor on a foldable, an accolade that goes to the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro.
66mm telephoto camera
The telephoto camera has a 10MP, 1/3.94-inch sensor with an f/2.4 aperture lens with OIS. The roughly 3x equivalent zoom is competitive on paper, though with a small sensor and no periscope optics, it falls behind the OnePlus Open and Pixel 9 Pro Fold on paper. One highlight of the Z Fold 6's telephoto camera, however, is the 25cm nearest focus distance, which captures good-looking close-up shots in bright environments.
Other camera specs
Samsung's selfie camera mix includes a 10MP camera on the cover display and a 16MP camera inside. What's special about the main display selfie camera is the fact it's an under-display camera, as seen on the Nubia Z60 Ultra . You can still notice it, but it is more subtle than a punch hole.
The Z Fold 6 can also capture 4K 60fps video from all its cameras other than the inner display selfie camera, and 8K 30fps video from the primary camera.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Camera Review
To really determine which foldable camera phone is best, we compared the OnePlus Open, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, and Vivo X Fold 3 Pro. You can see the results below.
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The Galaxy Z Fold 6's primary camera is competitive with the best foldables around, though its zoom falls behind both in terms of reach and lowlight performance. Its ultra-wide camera is the most expansive, though OnePlus and Vivo include autofocus on their ultra-wides, giving them the edge there.
On the whole the Galaxy Z Fold 6's camera is competent, capturing a good shot in most typical situations that don't require too much zooming. Lowlight shots should always be handled by the main camera when possible, with the ultra-wide in particular producing noisy results.
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In bright environments, the Z Fold 6's zoom is respectable, with Samsung leaning into the AI zoom introduced on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The telephoto camera also has a relatively near focus distance of around 25cm, so can take respectable product and almost-macro shots, though it does require plenty of light to shake that shot-on-a-smartphone look.
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Samsung's colors are lively, though nighttime photos can look a little muddy, trying to brighten up shadows a bit too much. In fact, Samsung generally boosts dark spots, so photos aren't as contrast-rich as some competitors, creating a more HDR-type look than we were always after.
One area Samsung does pull ahead is vlogging, video quality in bright environments and microphone quality. Foldables can easily capture primary camera selfie footage when open, using the cover screen for a preview. As a result, you could use the Z Fold 6 instead of a DJI Osmo Pocket 3 in a pinch for vlogging which is great.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Additional Features
The big win when you have a foldable is the extra screen size, and the big win when you have a Samsung phone is the AI and software optimization throughout the interface. When you combine those two highlights, the Z Fold 6 starts to come into its own.
Starting with the big screen, it's a perfect match for apps like Lightroom and Lumafusion, making the Z Fold 6 a winning photo and video editing too. This is especially true when combined with the S Pen.
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The phone's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is also noteworthy. It makes the Galaxy Z Fold 6 the most powerful foldable currently available in the West.
Samsung has also optimized the open and closed interfaces of the Fold 6 to feel fit for purpose. When closed, you can have an independent home screen setup to when open (not available on other foldables). The large, main display includes a dock with quick access to apps, while the cover display has a swipe-in sidebar, typical of most phones.
With Flexmode Panel, you can interact with a part-folded app using the bottom half of the display as a touchpad – great for precise video editing – and Samsung Labs and tools like Game Plugins and Good Lock give you granular control over your Galaxy. Plug the Z Fold 6 into a monitor, and you also activate DeX Mode for big-screen productivity.
Onto the AI features, and the Z Fold 6 brings back all the language tools introduced on the S24 series such as transcription of voice notes, summarizing features, writing posts and messages with prompts and more. The photo editing tools are also available to remove glare from a window, rotate an image without cropping it and erase objects. These can be applied to photos imported from a dedicated camera as well as those taken on-device.
What's arguably more useful for creatives is the new sketch-to-image feature. This can be activated by either drawing on a photo to convert your doodle into a realistic object that's integrated into the picture or by drawing a picture from scratch. Useful for storyboarding, we found it a handy tool for visualizing shots. The success rate wasn't 100%, especially when sketching over an image, but it's an interesting insight as to how AI can help save time in certain creative processes.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6's battery is a modest 4400mAh capacity, though with the smaller cover display, we didn't have any trouble getting through a full day when we used that the majority of the time. It charges at 25W for a full charge in around 100 minutes, and it supports 15W wired charging as well. As a result, while the battery features are adequate – and wireless charging is a bonus not seen on all foldables – the phone still powers up relatively slowly compared to the competition.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Verdict
It feels like deja vu; for the last couple of years, we've said Samsung is iterating with its Z Fold series and being shown up by foldable hardware coming out of China. What's different about 2024 is that even Google is making Samsung's latest flagship look safe after the launch of its Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Thankfully for Samsung, there's more to foldables than hardware.
Samsung still leads the charge with its foldable interface and smart AI features. The Z Fold 6's design is also respectable from a quality and fit-and-finish point of view, and the narrow footprint and supremely easy-to-grip shape will be a win for anyone who doesn't want an oversized cover display.
No foldable will ever be the best camera phone of 2024 , after all, foldables typically represent a camera compromise in favor of two screens and moving parts. The fact the Z Fold 6 is one of the less impressive foldable cameras out now is noteworthy for anyone who wants the very best point-and-shoot smartphone. Once you've made peace with the Fold 6's camera limitations, however, it fast becomes one of the better foldable experiences.
By mid-September, the Honor V3 will launch outside China, and the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold should be widely available too. Those are the phones that might make Samsung consider more than an incremental upgrade for the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
As it stands at the time of writing this review, though, if you want the most powerful widely available foldable in the West with the most reliable after-sales support and a raft of software features, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is likely the best flip and fold phone of 2024 , provided you can justify the high price.
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