Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review

If you’ve read any of my recent reviews of Samsung’s foldables over the years, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of these types of devices. Foldables are cool, dammit. They let you carry around a device that serves multiple purposes, especially in the case of models like the Galaxy Z Fold 6 , Samsung’s sixth-generation foldable smartphone that’s shaped like a book. It’s a portable TV screen that you can prop up against the mirror while you get ready for the day, and it has a laptop-like desktop mode that you can activate by plugging it into a display. It can stream cloud games, and it integrates with accessories like the Razer Kishi Ultra to transform into a portable console.

Samsung’s flagship foldable smartphone is too expensive to have a boring camera.

Benefits

Battery life has improved significantly

The square shape is more comfortable to handle

The cover screen is slightly larger

The inconvenients

Optical zoom is capped at 3x

Thicker and bulkier with a case

But just because the Galaxy Z Fold 6 does almost everything doesn’t mean it’s perfect in every way. While Samsung has improved things like the Z Fold’s overall hinge and chassis design and extended battery life, the pricey Galaxy Z Fold 6 falls short when it comes to camera performance and long-term durability. With a starting price of $1,900 — $100 more than last year’s base offering — I’d expect the device to take photos from distance almost as well as the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Yes, the pop-up glass required for that capability would compromise the Z Fold 6’s relative thinness. It’s a perfect example of the kind of tradeoffs you should consider before committing to the foldable lifestyle.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 design

Square entered the chat

A photo of the Galaxy Z Fold 6

The square corners of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 make this device easier to hold.

You may have noticed right away from early images and promotional materials that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a boxier device than ever before. Samsung rounded those edges like a cardboard box. They make the device more tablet-like when open and more phone-like when closed. I love the new shape. Samsung made the Z Fold 6 a bit thinner than the Z Fold 5, which is quite a feat. It’s less than half an inch when folded. But you’ll still be more comfortable carrying it in a bag, unless your pants have thick, reinforced pockets. The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s front cover display is a slightly larger 6.3-inch panel than the narrow 6.2-inch display that existed before. I know the numbers don’t seem like a huge leap, but this version of the Z Fold 6 is much nicer to hold when in “phone” mode.

The only downside to the foldable is that it’s not very durable. For example, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is only rated IP48. That’s good if you accidentally spill a margarita or get caught in the rain, but I wouldn’t recommend a foldable to someone who’s often on the water with a phone around their neck.

A better hinge

A photo of the Galaxy Z Fold 6

The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s hinge has been redesigned to be more durable.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s hinge has been redesigned to be more durable. Samsung is relatively tight-lipped about the details, though it does mention removing all exposed metal from the hinge and tightening it up for added strength. This is supposed to reduce the crease on the inner display that tends to become prominent with use.

Samsung also improved the hinge on last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 over the Z Fold 4 that preceded it; that’s par for the course for a device that’s considered cutting-edge. Buying it means relying on technology that’s still evolving. If you’re curious about the foldable’s real-world longevity, the Reddit forums can give you a taste of some of the headaches that develop with the Z Fold as a daily driver. I didn’t experience these things firsthand with Gizmodo’s review units, but as they say, your mileage may vary.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 specifications

Great specs as always

You already know that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 has improved hardware over last year’s Z Fold 5. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, 12GB of RAM, and plenty of memory for the things you’ll be doing with this device. The Z Fold comes with up to 1TB of storage if you’re willing to pay extra.

Performance-wise, this is one of the best Samsung phones you can get. Geekbench 6 results were decent; nothing out of the ordinary for the Snapdragon processor. In my experience with the last two models, the Z Fold maintains consistent performance for at least the first year and a half of its life out of the box for things like game streaming and running apps side-by-side — you can run three apps at once. However, I’ll be honest: it’s tough to sustain that many screens, even if it’s a worthy bragging right.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6’s battery life has improved significantly. In our battery tests, the foldable managed to last 20 hours and 35 minutes on a charge with the inner display at 200 nits. That’s three hours more than last year’s Z Fold 5 with the same 4,400mAh battery size.

The camera should be better

A photo of the back of the Galaxy Z Fold 6

The camera system of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the same as that of the Galaxy S24.

There’s nothing inherently bad about the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s camera system. Everything you need is there: a 50MP main camera with OIS and an AF/1.8 aperture, a 12MP ultra-wide camera with a 123-degree field of view, and a 10MP telephoto camera with up to 3x optical zoom. It’s the same camera system as the Galaxy S24/S24 Plus, which is fine, except that it’s not because this is a $1,900 phone and not an $800 one. It would be nice to see Samsung up the ante for its most expensive smartphone. Let me zoom in a little more so that the photos of my kid playing soccer on the other side of the field don’t look jagged.

The internal camera under the display remains as mediocre as ever. It’s still a 4MP sensor with the aperture of a 16MP sensor. It’s not sharp enough for TikTok confessionals, and yet I don’t like it too much for Instagram selfies. At least the phone can be more easily supported for front-facing confessionals than before, but I would have liked to see the same quality from the internal camera.

What about Galaxy AI?

I don’t have much to say about the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s new features that I haven’t already covered in this article. New features like PDF Overlay, Sketch to Image, and Real-Time Interpreter are useful in their scope, but they’re still limited compared to what most Android phones already do. For example, the Galaxy AI Interpreter doesn’t yet offer Dutch translation, so I’ll be using the Google Translate app to get my bearings in the Netherlands in a few weeks. In retrospect, having both of these capabilities on the Z Fold 6 seems redundant.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 verdict: The best foldable might be bigger

Samsung knows how to make a foldable phone that appeals to the masses. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 retraces all the steps that have helped the company find relative success in this niche category of gadgets. It’s powerful, well-built, and capable of handling all the software tricks Samsung throws at it through Galaxy AI. The Z Fold 6 is a worthwhile upgrade if you’re due for a new foldable phone and are three years behind. If you can stomach the wait, it wouldn’t hurt to wait a year to see how Samsung refines the camera hardware. A phone that costs this much should have one of the best camera systems in the lineup, not the same glass as phones everyone can afford.

When I return from two weeks abroad with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, I’ll have more to say about the camera and its ability to double as a desktop device. I’ve made it my mission to bring only the foldable to serve as an all-in-one to test how well it truly delivers on its promises and whether those capabilities are worthy of the multi-thousand dollar price tag. Stay tuned.