Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: The undisputed reign continues

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: The device weighs 239 grams and feels heavier than regular smartphones; however, considering it is foldable, the weight distribution appears to be perfectly balanced.

Photo credit: Raghwendra Shukla

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Samsung has remained the undisputed king of foldable smartphones despite a few challenges thrown at it here and there. To consolidate its position further in the foldable segment, the tech giant has launched the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold, which, along with physical refinements over its predecessors, promises considerable upgrades. The Z Fold series has been known for its premium outlook and its balanced profile, so the stakes are high this time as well. In this review, we shall delve deep into the upgrades and features and analyse whether the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold lives up to the expectations.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Design

Design-wise, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the slimmest foldable device by the company, thanks to further refinement of Samsung’s previous foldable devices. Sporting a rectangular design, the smartphone features sharp edges. The overall aesthetics is adorned with a matte finish on the frame, hinge, and other metallic parts. The device weighs 239 grams and feels heavier than regular smartphones; however, considering it is foldable, the weight distribution appears to be perfectly balanced. It comes with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and Armor Aluminum. The buttons feel more refined, enhancing its premium look.

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Notably, the hinge gives a sturdy feel, contributing to its long-term durability. The gap between the two halves has reduced significantly, making it 12.1mm thick when folded and 5.6mm thick when unfolded. Users can enjoy it at wider angles with extremely smooth operation. The device comes with an IP48 rating, enhancing dust and water resistance. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is available in three colour options: pink, silver shadow and navy. The two additional colour options- white and black- can be exclusively purchased from Samsung’s website.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Display

Featuring an outer OLED screen of 6.3 inches, the display feels wider with an aspect ratio of 22.1:9. This allows more space for the keyboard on the outer screen, enhancing comfort while typing with two hands. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has a main folding screen of 7.6 inches with a 2160 x 1856 resolution. With a peak brightness of 2600 nits, the visuals are vibrant and lively. Samsung has worked well in reducing the crease of the fold. The cover screen is smooth with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a 2376 X 968 resolution. Notably, the cover screen sports less rounded bezels, enabling better width perception. There are several modes available for content viewing, which include the Flex mode, enabling users to fold the screen to even 90 degrees. Overall, the display has compactness along with a premium feel.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Performance and Software

Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and supported by 12GB of RAM, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 offers smooth performance with almost no technical lags. Nonetheless, the device tends to turn warm while undertaking intensive tasks, but the cooling system seems capable enough to take care of it. The device comes with AI features, some of which work offline, while the ones requiring a connection work smoothly if the connection speed is adequate. Some of the AI features integrated with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 include Note Assist, Google Gemini, and the Interpreter app, among others.

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From transcribing meeting notes and summarising them to solving complex equations, the AI features are handy. The Interpreter app deserves special mention as it enables users to make use of real-time translations, effectively doing away with the language barriers during conversations. It runs on Samsung’s One UI 6, atop Android 14. The User Interface is perfectly optimised to undertake the functionalities offered by this device. While using the device with a split-screen, it offers seamless performance with responsive taskbars ensuring multitasking. The company promises seven years of software updates and security patches for the device.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 sports a triple camera setup, which includes a 50MP wide-angle sensor, a 12MP ultrawide shooter with a 123-degree field of view, and a 10MP camera with 3X optical zoom functionality. The sensors complement each other perfectly, making it a camera-capable device. The outputs have good details, given the integration of ProVisual Engine by Samsung. The ProVisual Engine allows users to access photo and video editing tools, including Instant Slow-mo and others, elevating the creative profile of the device. The sharpness and colours in the photos are also stunning. Even the low-light photography is good, thanks to Samsung’s Night Mode. However, the under-display camera- a 4MP sensor, located on the foldable screen- fails to impress. In Flex mode, users can find it handy while making video calls, though only under well-lit setups. While the 50MP main camera takes the lead with proper details, colours, and resolution, the 12MP ultra-wide shooter falls short of brilliance by a considerable margin by sometimes overprocessing the outputs. Further, the 10MP selfie camera is a decent performer as it captures skin tones efficiently. Even under low-light setups, the selfie camera provides satisfactory results.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Battery

Interestingly, Samsung continues with its under 4500mAh battery obsession for foldable devices, as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 packs a 4,400 mAh brick. Consequently, the onus for better battery efficiency falls on the chipset and better software optimisation. When we tested the charging speed, it did take almost 100 minutes to get fully charged, which again is something users might feel apprehensive about.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is undoubtedly a powerful device, with most of the features touching the top-notch performance benchmarks. The integration of various AI-enabled features renders it the ‘next-gen device’ status, while Samsung’s refining act has taken its premium outlook to a different level. Some of the users might have reservations regarding its battery prowess, but again, everything comes down to optimisation and chipset, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is a performance booster without any doubt. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has compactness, robustness, and all-round capabilities, making it an obvious choice for someone looking to spend bucks for a foldable device.