Nobody has been making foldable telephones longer than Samsung. Over the primary few years, the sheer variety of enhancements we received on the Galaxy Z Fold vary meant it did not actually have any competitors. However recently, the tempo of innovation has slowed, and new challengers just like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold have arrived. Now, for 2024, Samsung has beefed up the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a sturdier however considerably lighter body, a brand new ultra-wide-angle digicam, and a bunch of synthetic intelligence instruments. Sadly, not a lot else has modified, leaving us with a really iterative improve. So whereas the Galaxy Z Fold 6 stays the perfect all-around massive foldable telephone in the marketplace, it appears complacency is eroding Samsung’s lead amongst flagship versatile telephones.
Pictures: Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Even and not using a new primary lens, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold’s sleeker design, brighter display, and native stylus help are sufficient to keep up its place as the perfect massive foldable telephone in the marketplace.
- Tremendous shiny colourful show
- Lighter chassis
- lengthy battery life
- Native stylus help
- Much more costly than earlier than
- Similar primary digicam because the earlier two Z Folds
- Doesn’t embrace S Pen
- Charging might be quicker
Samsung $1,900
Design and Show: Modify the dimensions for a brighter display
After eliminating the hole between the telephone’s screens (when closed) final 12 months, Samsung has adjusted the dimensions of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 once more in 2024. When closed, the telephone is simply over 1mm thick, and when open (portrait), the primary display is 2.7mm wider and 1mm shorter. It is not loads, however you do have extra room to maneuver round. After all, this additionally impacts the exterior Cowl Show, which can also be about 1 mm wider, sufficient to make utilizing the on-screen keyboard extra handy.
Elsewhere, your complete telephone is sharper, from sq. edges to squarer corners on each screens. Samsung additionally says the strengthened armored aluminum used within the Z Fold 6’s chassis is about 10 p.c stronger than earlier than, however I hope you will forgive me for not dropping it on goal to seek out out. Tying every little thing collectively is a brand new dual-rail hinge. This time round, I believe Samsung struck an ideal steadiness between being straightforward to open and one thing that stays in place while you want it. However the greatest design improve is a 14-gram weight discount over the earlier mannequin. Certain, which may not sound like a lot, however the Z Fold 6 now weighs solely about 4 grams greater than its non-foldable sibling, the S24 Extremely. For an already heavy telephone, this variation would make a giant distinction.
As for the show, as somebody who’s been utilizing the Pixel Fold loads recently (which itself has a strong display), I can solely say that Samsung’s panel is fairly good. Like the usual S24 collection, the height brightness of each shows has been elevated to 2,600 nits, and Samsung has cleverly shrunk and flattened the bezels to make the telephone look extra like a residing journal. Till I see one thing higher, that is merely the perfect display on a big foldable system proper now.
Efficiency: Anticipated to be quick
The Z Fold vary has by no means been gradual, and this 12 months we’re getting an improve to the identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip we noticed on the S24, whereas base RAM stays at 12GB. As you’d anticipate, the Z Fold 6’s efficiency is quick and responsive. There is no lag when doing just about something and due to the addition of a bigger vapor chamber on the within, the telephone stays cooler throughout longer periods, which is a pleasant bonus to all of the players on the market who like enjoying on a very big-screen system.
Digital camera: principally unchanged
Talking of images, I am slightly dissatisfied with the Z Fold 6, not as a result of it may’t take first rate photographs, however as a result of I do know Samsung can do higher. On this try, Samsung caught with three rear cameras, choosing a brand new 12-MP sensor for the ultra-wide-angle lens – which is fairly good. However on the similar time, the ultra-wide-angle lens is the one I exploit the least in every day use, and it’s not too shut.
The opposite two cameras – a 50MP primary digicam and a 12MP telephoto digicam with 3x optical zoom – are strong, however they’re the identical cameras Samsung has used on at the least the earlier two generations. In some photographs of strawberries, the Z Fold 6 captured a scrumptious shot with deeply saturated tones and superb element. However on the similar time, you may also see the marginally exaggerated heat tones that usually seem in Samsung cameras. At night time, the Z Fold captured stunning photographs of flowers in very difficult backlight conditions.
The issue is that after Google launched the Pixel Fold, Samsung actually had no cause to let the Z Fold 6’s digicam capabilities drop in comparison with the S24 Extremely. The Pixel Fold has an extended 5x optical zoom functionality and a bonus in general picture high quality. Simply check out the 2 zoom photographs taken with the Z Fold 6 and Pixel Fold. In a vacuum, Samsung’s photographs look fairly good. However then check out the Pixel’s photos. It is noticeably clearer and extra detailed.
The identical goes for actually low-light conditions, just like the photographs I took of some Bluey collectible figurines, the place the Pixel Fold captured a much less grainy, sharper, better-exposed picture. After being stunned by the S24 Extremely’s digicam, it is a disgrace that Samsung’s costliest telephone is available in second place in terms of images.
AI Options: Enjoyable, Often Handy, However Not Crucial
As we noticed earlier this 12 months, Samsung is bringing the Galaxy AI suite it launched on the S24 to the Z Fold 6. Varied tones when producing social posts or emails. It additionally helps Google’s Circle to Search and translation and summarization instruments. A few of the new tweaks to the Fold are that the telephone can now translate textual content in-place as a substitute of spitting it out into one massive unformatted blob, which is sweet however slightly contextual. I ought to point out that Google Lens already presents comparable performance. Maybe extra necessary is the power to do dual-screen translation, so everybody can immediately see textual content in their very own language, relying on which aspect of the telephone they’re taking a look at.
A few of the new options embrace the Portrait Studio instrument, which might create AI-generated drawings of individuals primarily based on photographs and a spread of types corresponding to comics or watercolor. It is enjoyable and might get fun or two, however I am unsure how helpful it is going to be on a day-to-day foundation. There’s additionally a “Sketch to Picture” characteristic that permits you to add easy drawings to present photographs after which let the telephone produce a extra life like picture within the last picture. I nonetheless suppose Samsung’s fundamental AI photo-editing instruments are probably the most helpful of all of them, as they make it straightforward to take away distracting objects or make easy touch-ups. However as soon as once more, all of this feels extra like bonus content material than core parts.
Battery life: Very lengthy, however may use some quicker charging know-how
Whereas Samsung did not enhance the dimensions of the 4,400 mAh battery within the Z Fold 6, the telephone did see a slight enchancment in battery life because of the brand new chip’s improved vitality effectivity. In our video checks, it lasted 20 hours and seven minutes when utilizing the massive primary display and 25 hours and 19 minutes when utilizing the quilt show. That first quantity is even higher than what we have seen from the Pixel Fold (15:22) and the OnePlus Open (19:19), so for those who want a big-screen telephone with loads of longevity, look no additional than the Z Fold 6 Is your best option.
Sadly, not a lot has modified in the way it expenses. You continue to get 25W wired charging and 15W wi-fi charging, that are each fairly mediocre numbers in 2024. Charging help As with the primary S24 collection, I am nonetheless slightly aggravated that such an costly telephone has necessary options faraway from the spec sheet.
wrap up
Not so way back, almost each part on the Z Fold collection was unmatched by rivals. However now telephones just like the Pixel Fold exist that provide higher general images. Then there’s the OnePlus Open, which weighs the identical because the Z Fold 6 even after its latest weight-reduction plan. Let’s not overlook that each of those rivals are 2023 fashions. There are additionally Chinese language rivals just like the Honor Magic V3 and the upcoming Xiaomi Combine Fold 4, each of that are thinner and lighter than Samsung’s champion.
Do not get me improper, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 continues to be an excellent foldable telephone, and even an ideal telephone. It presents nice efficiency, nice battery life, and comfort options like native stylus help. However it appears like Samsung’s need for whole dominance has waned after sitting on the throne for therefore lengthy. As a substitute of getting long-awaited options like a built-in S Pen or an improved under-display digicam, we get a bunch of AI-driven instruments and tips which are attention-grabbing however not likely the spotlight. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is priced at $1,900, $100 greater than final 12 months and the most costly for the reason that Z Fold 3.
