At the start of the year, it was clear that the era of the artificial intelligence smartphone had officially begun. And the next step is to go bigger with it – figuratively and literally.
With Samsung Electronics launching its latest Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6, we're getting just that.
Given the signals from the Galaxy S24 series earlier this year, it was fairly obvious there would be only token hardware upgrades in the South Korean tech giant's new folding machines.
With generative AI all the craze right now, we are not surprised with the focus on software in Samsung's latest devices.
What's new in the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Flip6?
Not a lot from last year's Fold5 and Flip5.
Aside from the chip that's always new with every iteration (as it should be), there are few notable updates.
For the Fold6, the cover display's been bumped up by 0.25cm, while for the Flip6, Ram, battery and the main camera sensor have been improved.
Form: Shaped to be streamlined
The first thing you notice about the Fold6 is that it has been redesigned to resemble the Galaxy S24 Ultra – flat edges with sharper corners – so you can make the argument that the new device is a foldable yet slimmer version of the Galaxy S flagship. Other than that, everything else remains as is.
It still is without a built-in S Pen. To be fair, achieving this can be a tough act, considering an unfolded Fold6 has a thickness of 5.6mm, which would make it practically impossible to house an S Pen, whose current generation is at 5.5mm. The Galaxy S24 clocks in at 8.6mm, which is easily able to house an S Pen.
The preference for shape is subjective. Some may argue that sharper corners may be uncomfortable, but in terms of value for money we're going for the Fold6's design because it looks more elegant and, well, sharper.
The Flip6, meanwhile, takes cues from the Galaxy S24 and S24+, with flatter edges and round corners.
Of course, you'd want to find out about the infamous crease: yes, it's still there on both devices, but if you look closely it's slightly less noticeable compared to the predecessors.
We have no idea how many more iterations will be needed to really eliminate this, but we think it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Galaxy AI
As expected, Samsung went with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3 – a holdover from the Galaxy S24 series – on both the Fold6 and Flip6. This chip, in case you missed it, is branded as "Mobile Platform for Galaxy" – meaning it's specially configured for Samsung's devices, particularly for powering AI.
Galaxy AI, Samsung's own generative AI offering, is aimed at helping users for certain tasks such as live translations, transcriptions in chats and calls, editing images and searching with images.
The first wave of Galaxy AI's features made a debut on the Galaxy S24 series, spilling over to the S23 and S22. With the new foldables, there are some new tricks up their sleeves.
But let's get this out of the way first: all original Galaxy AI features have been improved, thanks to a deeper integration with Google Gemini.
There's Circle to Search, which allows you to draw a circle on something specific in an image to trigger Google Search, has been enhanced to help even with homework.
As an example at Unpacked, the feature helped solve a worded maths problem, translating it and helping to find the solution.
But there's a caveat: Google says Circle to Search doesn't actually solve the problem; it just helps the user on how to approach it. This feature, however, is still coming "soon".
In any case, that's a big help for dreaded homework while also ensuring that it doesn't fully solve problems.
Then there's this little thing called Sketch to Image, which, amusingly, turns you into an art professional. Draw a rough sketch of something, then let Galaxy AI work its magic by turning what you've scrawled into what you intended it to be.
Another feature is Interpreter. The (folded) inner screen and outer screen will display what the other is saying in their own language. It's not perfect; accents, intonation and diction may alter the results.
Meanwhile, the Flip6 has an interesting camera trick: Auto Zoom. If you open and set it like a laptop and point it at yourself, Galaxy AI will zoom in or out, depending on how many people are in the shot and how far they are from the device, to frame the picture in the best possible way.
Keep in mind, however, that for these to work, you must be online. That's a big knock if you run into trouble with your connection.
Cameras: Flip6 now at par with the best
With Samsung maintaining its triple-camera setup on the Fold6, the real star of this part is the Flip6, which now has a 50MP main sensor, at par with all devices in the Galaxy S and Z line-ups (except for the S24 Ultra, which has 200MP).
Samsung's reasoning is to dispel the notion that the Flip is merely a lesser version of the Fold, a company representative told The National. Users will now be able to take full advantage of Samsung's camera technology.
Both devices performed well. The images reflected the actual not-so-sunny day (with chances of rain) in Paris, without overprocessing images to make them look overexposed or unnatural.
How long do their batteries last?
The Fold6 retains its predecessor's 4400mAh battery, while the Flip6's has been bumped up to 4000mAh. Both, interestingly, had a little more than 20 per cent by mid-nighttime, from a full charge earlier in the day – that's down from the Fold5 and on par with the Flip6, respectively.
Somewhat similarly, in our one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test, the Fold6 and Flip6 lost 5 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, which is, again, on par with last year. What's notable, especially for the Fold6, is that this year's devices have a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, meaning battery optimisation is working well.
Charging, on the other hand, has been advertised as up to 50 per cent in half an hour; in that span, our tests yielded 46 per cent for the Fold6 and 48 per cent for the Flip6 – which are improvements from their predecessors. Those rose to 81 per cent and 83 per cent in an hour, also up from last year.
The verdict
With everything we've discovered, it won't be a stretch to say that the new devices are just foldable versions of the latest Galaxy S series – and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Of course, prices are still a sticking point, as we've previously pointed out: the Flip6 starts in the range of the Galaxy S24+'s top variant. In the case of the Fold6, its entry-level option is Dh600 ($163) more than the S24 Ultra's maxed-out version.
And as far as the UAE is concerned, there is apparently more interest in the Fold6: orders are up by about a third compared to last year, Fadi Abu Shamat, head of Samsung Gulf's mobile experience division, told The National on Wednesday.
If you want to jump into foldables, the Flip6 is your best bet; if you want to indulge, go ahead with a Fold6. Whatever suits your style (and budget).
Galaxy Z Fold6 specs:
- Main display: 7.6" QXGA+ Dynamic Amoled 2X, Infinity Flex, 2160 x 1856, 374ppi, HDR10+, up to 120Hz, 2600 nits peak, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
- Cover display: 6.3" HD+ Dynamic Amoled 2X, 2376 x 968, 402ppi, up to 120Hz, 2600 nits peak, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 4nm, octa-core; Adreno 750 GPU
- Memory: 12GB
- Capacity: 256GB/512GB/1TB
- Platform: Android 14, One UI 6.1.1
- Main camera: Triple 50MP wide (f/1.8) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2) + 10MP telephoto (f/2.4), dual OIS, 3x optical zoom, 30x digital zoom, super slo-mo
- Video: 8K@30fps, 4K@60fps, full-HD@60/120/240fps, HD@960fps; slo-mo@120/240/960fps; HDR10+
- Cover camera: 10MP (f/2.2)
- Inner front camera: Under-display 4MP (f/1.8)
- Battery: 4400mAh, 25W wired fast charging, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless; up to 50% in 30 minutes
- Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Samsung Pay)
- I/O: USB-C
- Durability: IP48
- Cards: Dual nano-SIM / nano-SIM + eSIM / dual eSIM
- Colours: Navy, pink, silver shadow; crafted black and white exclusive on samsung.com
- In the box: Fold6, USB-C-to-USB-C cable
- Prices: Dh7,199 / Dh7,699 / Dh8,699
Galaxy Z Flip6 specs:
- Main display: 6.7" Dynamic LTPO Amoled 2X, Infinity Flex, 2640 x 1080, 426ppi, HDR10+, up to 120Hz, 2600 nits peak, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
- Cover display: 3.4" Super Amoled, 720 x 748, 306ppi, up to 120Hz, 1600 nits peak, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 4nm, octa-core; Adreno 750 GPU
- Memory: 12GB
- Capacity: 256GB/512GB
- Platform: Android 14, One UI 6.1.1
- Main camera: Dual 50MP wide (f/1.8) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), OIS, 2x optical zoom, 10x digital zoom, slo-mo
- Video: 4K@60fps, full-HD@60/120/240fps, HD@960fps; slo-mo@120/240; HDR10+
- Cover camera: 10MP (f/2.2)
- Battery: 4000mAh, up to 23h video; 25W wired fast charging, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless; up to 50% in 30 minutes
- Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Samsung Pay)
- I/O: USB-C
- Durability: IP48
- Cards: Nano-SIM + eSIM / dual eSIM
- Colours: Blue, mint, silver shadow, yellow; crafted black, peach and white exclusive on samsung.com
- In the box: Flip6, USB-C-to-USB-C cable
- Prices: Dh4,299 / Dh4,799
