- The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has been launched starting at $1,899.
- It features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC and a boxier design language.
- There's no change in the cameras, display size, and most of the other aspects compared to last year.
It feels surreal to think that Samsung has launched the Galaxy Z Fold 6 when the first ever Z Fold feels like it was just yesterday. The company has now launched the Z Fold 6 alongside the Z Flip 6, Galaxy Ring, and Galaxy Watch 7 series. If you’re wondering about the changes this new foldable brings to the table, here’s everything you need to know about the Galaxy Z Fold 6.
Galaxy Z Fold 6: Build and Design
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 takes on a sharper and flatter design direction compared to its predecessor. It looks a tad bit boxy compared to the Galaxy Z Fold 5. The dimensions of the Z Fold 6 are 153.5 x 132.6 x 5.6 mm when unfolded and 153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1 mm when folded. When unfolded, it’s 1.4mm shorter, 2.7mm wider, and 0.5mm thinner.
Samsung says there are improvements in the hinge and the Armored Aluminum frame, and the device is now 14 grams lighter. As a result of a better hinge, the phone now has an IP48 rating. For those wondering, the digit 4 means the design should prevent debris larger than 1mm from entering the device. This makes the Fold 6 more durable than its predecessors.
Other than the boxy design, other design elements such as the cameras, microphones, USB Type-C ports, and speakers remain in the same positions as last year. However, there are a few major improvements when it comes to the display.
Display and Performance
Even though the Z Fold 6 is 2.7mm when unfolded, the display is the same 7.6 inches diagonally. What’s changed is the resolution of the panel as the phone is 1.4 inches shorter, which is now 2150 x 1856 pixels.
Besides, the Z Fold 6 display can reach 2,600 nits of peak brightness. The cover display is now 0.1-inch taller. Both are AMOLED 2X panels with a 120 Hz refresh rate, with only the cover display being protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Z Fold 6 also improves in the performance front thanks to Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 12GB RAM. Qualcomm claims the 8 Gen 3 offers 50% better performance than the 8 Gen 2 (comparison) and is more efficient as well thanks to the latest and new core setup of:
- 1 x Cortex-x4 @ 3.3 GHz
- 3 x Cortex-A720 @ 3.2GHz
- 2 x Cortex-A720 @ 3GHz
- 2 x Cortex-A520 @ 2.3GHz
Samsung claims due to the efficiency improvements, users should get an additional hour of battery life on LTE.
Galaxy Z Fold 6: Cameras and Battery
The cameras on the Z Fold 6 remain unchanged — a 50 MP F/1.8 primary wide shooter, a 10 MP f/2.4 Telephoto, and a third 12 MP f/2.2 Ultrawide camera. There’s an under-display 4 MP camera on the internal screen and a 10 MP selfie snapper on the cover screen. It’s disappointing to see no improvements in the camera department.
The same goes with the battery, as it’s the same 4,400 mAh cell as the Galaxy Z Fold 5. However, the charging speed has now been bumped to 45W, just like on the Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Storage and Software
The storage type is UFS 4.0 while the RAM type is LPDDR5. Unlike the Z Flip 6 which received a RAM upgrade across the board, there’s no storage upgrade on the Z Fold 6. The RAM is 12 GB across all variants and the storage variants on offer are 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 runs One UI 6.1 based on Android 14 and not Android 15, which is a bummer since the same is only a few months away. This will eat up one out of the 7 major update quota of Android updates that Samsung promises.
Alongside the hardware updates, Samsung will also offer Galaxy AI features that were released with Galaxy S24 series earlier this year.
Samsung Z Fold 6: Pricing and Availability
The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s price has been bumped up by $100 which brings the price of the base variant to $1,899. The 12 GB + 512 GB variant costs $1,999 whereas the 12 GB + 1 TB variant costs $2,099. The phone is now available for preorders on Samsung’s website and start shipping on July 24, 2024.
So that was all you need to know about the Galaxy Z Fold 6. Overall, it’s a decent upgrade from the Z Fold 5, but not a major one, and there’s certainly nothing to write home about. Do check out our Z Fold 5 vs Z Fold 6 comparison for an in-depth analysis of whether it’s worth upgrading to the Fold 6 or not.
