Nobody has been making foldable telephones longer than Samsung. And for the primary few years, the sheer variety of enhancements we bought on the Galaxy Z Fold line meant it didn’t actually have any competitors. However extra just lately, the tempo of innovation has slowed whereas new challengers just like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has strengthened the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger however considerably lighter body, a brand new ultra-wide-angle digicam and a bunch of AI-powered instruments. Sadly, not a lot else has modified, leaving us with a really iterative improve. So whereas the Galaxy Z Fold 6 stays the very best all-around massive foldable in the marketplace, it seems like complacency is eroding Samsung’s lead amongst flagship versatile telephones.
Photograph by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Even and not using a new most important digicam, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold’s sleeker design, brighter screens and native stylus help are sufficient to keep up its rank as the very best massive foldable cellphone in the marketplace.
- Tremendous shiny and colourful show
- Even lighter chassis
- Nice battery life
- Native stylus help
- Much more costly than earlier than
- Similar most important digicam because the earlier two Z Folds
- S Pen not included
- Charging speeds may very well be quicker
Design and shows: Tweaked dimensions with even brighter screens
After eliminating the hole between the display (when closed) on final yr’s cellphone, Samsung has adjusted the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s dimensions once more for 2024. However the adjustments are so small you must measure them in millimeters. When closed, the cellphone is simply over one millimeter thinner and once you open it up (in portrait), the principle display is 2.7mm wider however one millimeter shorter. It’s not a ton, however you do get a bit of more room for activities. And naturally this additionally impacts the outside Cowl Show, which is about 1mm wider as nicely — simply sufficient to make utilizing its on-screen keyboard extra forgiving.
Elsewhere, the whole cellphone is sharper, from its boxier edges to the extra squared-off corners on each screens. Samsung additionally says the Enhanced Armor Aluminium used within the Z Fold 6’s chassis is about 10 p.c stronger than earlier than, however I hope you’ll forgive me for not dropping it on function simply to seek out out. Holding every part collectively is a brand new dual-rail hinge. And this time, I feel Samsung has nailed the right steadiness between one thing that’s straightforward to open but additionally holds its place once you need it to. However the largest design improve is a 14-gram weight discount in comparison with the earlier mannequin. Granted, that may not sound like a lot, however now the Z Fold 6 solely weighs round 4 grams greater than its non-foldable cousin, the S24 Ultra. And on an already heavy cellphone, this variation makes an enormous distinction.
As for the shows, as somebody who’s been utilizing the Pixel Fold rather a lot just lately — which has a stable display in its personal proper — can I simply say, Samsung’s panels are so choice. Not solely has peak brightness improved to 2,600 nits for each shows similar to on the usual S24 household, Samsung has subtly shrunk and flattened the bezels, so the cellphone appears much more like {a magazine} come to life. And till I see one thing higher, that is merely the very best display on an enormous foldable proper now.
Efficiency: Expectedly speedy
The Z Fold line has by no means been sluggish and this yr we bought the identical improve to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as we noticed on the S24, whereas base RAM is staying pat at 12GB. And as you’d count on, the Z Fold 6’s efficiency is quick and responsive. There’s no lag when doing just about something and because of the addition of a bigger vapor chamber on the within, the cellphone stays cooler throughout longer classes, which is a pleasant bonus to all of the players on the market who like enjoying on a very big-screen system.
Cameras: Principally unchanged
With regards to pictures, I’m a bit dissatisfied with the Z Fold 6, not as a result of it will probably’t take a good pic, however as a result of I do know Samsung can do higher. For this go round, Samsung has caught with a trio of rear cameras, choosing a brand new 12-MP sensor for the ultra-wide lens — and it’s fairly good. However on the similar time, the ultra-wide lens is the one I take advantage of the least in each day use, and it isn’t shut.
The opposite two cameras – the 50-MP most important and 12-MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom — are stable, however they’re the identical ones Samsung used on a minimum of the earlier two generations. In a photograph of some strawberries, the Z Fold 6 produced a scrumptious pic with deep saturated hues and nice particulars. On the similar time, although, you too can see the marginally exaggerated heat tones you typically get from Samsung cameras. And at night time, the Z Fold produced a gorgeous pic of a flower in a really tough backlit surroundings.
The problem is that after Google launched the Pixel Fold, Samsung doesn’t actually have an excuse for saddling the Z Fold 6 with downgraded pictures when in comparison with the S24 Extremely. The Pixel Fold has an extended 5x optical zoom and an edge in total picture high quality. Simply check out two zoom photographs taken by the Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold. In a vacuum, Samsung’s picture doesn’t look dangerous. However then check out the Pixel’s picture. It is noticeably sharper and extra detailed.
And it is the identical factor in actually low-light conditions, just like the one I took of some Bluey collectible figurines, the place the Pixel Fold captured a much less grainy, sharper and extra well-exposed pic. And after being pleasantly shocked with the cameras on the S24 Extremely, it’s a disgrace Samsung’s most costly cellphone sits in second place in the case of pictures.
AI options: Enjoyable and infrequently helpful, however not important
As we noticed again originally of the yr, Samsung has introduced the Galaxy AI suite it launched on the S24 to the Z Fold 6. And by and huge, a number of the options are the identical together with issues like Chat Help which you should use to generate social posts or emails whereas deciding on a wide range of tones. There’s additionally help for Google’s Circle to Search together with translation and summarization instruments. A pair new tweaks for the Fold is that now the cellphone can translate textual content in place as a substitute of spitting it out into an enormous unformatted blob, which is sweet however type of situational. And I ought to point out, Google Lens already presents related performance. Maybe the extra vital one is the flexibility to do dual-screen translations, so every individual can see textual content of their language in real-time, relying on what aspect of the cellphone they’re .
Some new additions are the Portrait Studio device that may create an AI-generated drawing of somebody based mostly on a photograph and a variety of kinds like comedian or watercolor. It’s enjoyable and it’s good for amusing or two, however I’m undecided how helpful will probably be frequently. There’s additionally the Sketch to Picture characteristic that means that you can add a easy drawing to an current picture after which have the cellphone generate a extra life like rendition of it in your ultimate picture. I nonetheless assume Samsung’s fundamental AI picture enhancing instruments are essentially the most helpful of the bunch, as they make it straightforward to delete distracting objects or do easy contact ups. However as soon as once more, all of this feels extra like bonus content material fairly than core necessities.
Battery life: Nice longevity however may use some quicker charging tech
Whereas Samsung didn’t enhance the dimensions of the 4,400 mAh cell within the Z Fold 6, the cellphone does have barely higher battery life as a consequence of improved power effectivity from its new chip. On our video rundown take a look at, it lasted 20 hours and 7 minutes when utilizing its massive most important display and 25 hours and 19 minutes when utilizing its exterior cowl show. That first quantity is even higher than we noticed from the Pixel Fold (15:22) and OnePlus Open (19:19), so should you want a big-screen cellphone with ample longevity, the Z Fold 6 is the straightforward decide.
Sadly, its charging hasn’t modified a lot. You continue to get 25-watt wired charging and 15-watt wi-fi charging, that are each fairly mediocre figures in 2024. And whereas I wasn’t anticipating to see help for Qi2 magnetic charging on the Z Fold 6 after Samsung opted to not add it to the principle S24 line, I’m nonetheless a bit miffed {that a} cellphone this costly is reducing vital options off the spec sheet.
Wrap-up
It wasn’t way back when virtually each element on the Z Fold line was unmatched by its rivals. However now telephones just like the Pixel Fold exist, which presents higher total pictures. Then there’s the OnePlus Open, which weighs the identical because the Z Fold 6 even after its current eating regimen. And let’s not overlook, each of these rivals are 2023 fashions. Plus there are Chinese language rivals just like the Honor Magic V3 and the upcoming Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, that are each thinner and lighter than Samsung’s champion.
Don’t get me fallacious, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains to be a very good foldable, an incredible one even. It’s bought wonderful efficiency, robust battery life and helpful options like native stylus help. However it seems like in spite of everything this time sitting fats and completely happy on its throne, Samsung has a diminished starvation for complete domination. As an alternative of long-awaited options like a built-in S Pen or an improved under-display digicam, we bought a bunch of AI-powered instruments and methods, that are enjoyable however not true spotlight sights. And at $1,900 — which is $100 greater than final yr — the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the most costly it has been because the Z Fold 3. However I assume that is the value you pay Samsung for having such a protracted reign on high.
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