Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 review

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series of smartphones has been through several generations now, with early fears of fragile hinges and questions surrounding the longevity of bendable displays slowly fading away. While the form factor hasn’t replaced the conventional smartphone quite yet, we can’t help but crack a smile when we pick one up and unfold it for the first time. Even though they’ve been around for over five years now, that sci-fi feeling is still present, and that’s no different when it comes to Samsung’s latest offering; the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

This bendable smartphone sits alongside the more conventional Galaxy S24 Ultra in Samsung’s range as a premium flagship device, and with five generations before it to perfect the folding formula, it seems like Samsung has found a comfortable place within its lineup for the Z Fold. Those who prefer a more conventional smartphone can opt for the S24 series which launched in January of this year, while those who want a flashy handset that’s capable of productivity tasks and big-screen entertainment will find the Fold more appealing. 

The real question (to us at least) is this: does the Galaxy Z Fold provide a quality portable AV experience? We certainly think so, as the Z Fold 6 might just be our new favourite phone for taking our movies on the go.

Price

A phone this complex and fully featured comes with an understandably high price tag. At £1799 / $1900 / AU$2749, this premium handset is considerably more expensive than the Award-winning iPhone 15 Pro Max (£1199 / $1199 / AU$2199) and its Galaxy S24 Ultra counterpart at £1249 / $1299 / AU$2199. Comparing it to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, that phone launched at £1749 / $1800 / AU$2599, making the new version more expensive in the US and Australia, but the same price here in the UK. 

We haven’t reviewed any other foldable phones on the market as of yet, but we’ll include a few options here for context. The Google Pixel Fold launched at a similar £1749 / $1800 (around AU$3400), while the OnePlus Open undercuts both devices at £1599 / $1699 (around AU$3110).

As standard, the Z Fold 6 comes with 256GB of storage, although that can be upgraded to either 512GB or 1TB should you need more storage space (for an additional price). All three storage configurations come with 12GB of RAM, and there are five colours to choose from including navy, pink, crafted black, crafted white and silver shadow – which is the finish featured on our review sample. The two “crafted” finishes are exclusive to Samsung’s official web store. 

Build

The Z Fold 6 has undergone a design refresh this year, with a more angular aesthetic overall. The rounded corners of the Z Fold 5 have been swapped for sharper, more squared-off edges, the shiny aluminium rails are now matte and the camera module is more pronounced on the rear of the device. Overall, it looks much more like the S24 Ultra than the Fold 5. 

While the newer handset looks sharper, it’s unfortunately sharper in the hand too, making it feel slightly less comfortable than the outgoing Z Fold 5. This new model is also slimmer and lighter than last year. It’s 239g, which is 14g lighter than the Z Fold 5, and it's impressively thin at just 5.1mm when unfolded, or 12mm when folded. 

Thankfully, it does feel premium in the hand, thanks to the metal and matte glass construction; however, considering the price we would expect this to be the case. The hinge and rails are made of Samsung’s Aluminium Armour material that’s meant to be resistant to nicks and dents, while the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2-coated exterior display and rear panel should be more resistant to scratches and cracks; but we’ll take Samsung’s word for that as we don’t want to damage our review unit.

As this is a foldable phone, you’ll find two displays here; a 6.3-inch exterior cover screen with a thin 22.1:9 aspect ratio to use when the phone is shut, and a 7.6-inch interior display with a squarer 20.9:18 aspect ratio. While these measurements may sound strange – the inner screen is much larger than the cover display after all – it's the diagonal measurement we rely on for screen sizes, so the aspect ratios are a more telling sign of how these screens differ.

The folding aspect of this phone wouldn’t be possible without the dual rail hinge that allows the phone to stay open at any angle you wish. It feels robust and sturdy enough that we aren’t overly concerned with longevity, although if we were to use this phone for a couple of years we may have a different opinion. It’s worth mentioning that this phone isn’t completely flat when unfolded, with a very slight camber towards the central hinge; although we have to say that it’s by no means a deal breaker in our opinion. 

Mirroring the hinge on the open screen is the dreaded crease, an unavoidable facet of foldable phones that no company has perfected quite yet. Let’s not beat around the bush, you will notice the crease – however, it could be worse. While it is very visible if you’re viewing the device off angle and in direct sunlight, we really struggle to see it in a dark room facing the phone head-on. Swiping across it is still ever so slightly unnerving, but in optimal viewing circumstances, we have to say that Samsung has done an admirable job of making the crease fade away. 

What’s most impressive about this handset is the fact that it’s somehow still water-resistant despite being foldable. There are caps that seal the hinge, making this phone IP48 water and dust-resistant; that means you could hypothetically take the Z Fold 6 for a dip in a 1.5-metre pool for up to 30 minutes if you were so inclined. 

Features

As this phone is all about the screens, we’ll start with those. The cover display is a Dynamic AMOLED 2X with a variable refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz and a resolution of 968 x 2376. This display is meant to be used more for quick tasks, replying to messages and quick snaps from the rear camera, hence its unusual tall and thin shape that reminds us of a chocolate bar. Moving onto the main display, it’s another Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz and an 1856 x 2160 resolution that’s practically equivalent to Quad HD. This is where you’ll interact with the phone most, as it's the expansive canvas best suited for watching content or completing productivity tasks. Both displays have a claimed peak brightness of 2600 nits and support HDR in Samsung’s usual HDR10+ format.

Swiping through the Android 14 operating system (with Samsung’s One UI 6.1.1 skin on top) is a joy, with the responsive user interface feeling buttery smooth in operation thanks to the 120Hz variable refresh rate. There are a couple of Galaxy Z Fold-specific software features here, such as an ergonomic split keyboard that makes typing easier on the main display and a PC-style taskbar at the bottom of the screen for showing recent and frequently used apps.

That smooth operation is also thanks to the lightning-fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor – once again this is a “For Galaxy” variation with a slightly higher clock speed according to Samsung – and 12GB of RAM, which is more than many laptops on the market. It’s powered by a non-removable 4400mAh battery that supports up to 25W wired fast charging (reportedly 50 per cent in 30 minutes with a compatible charger), 15W wireless charging and even 4.5W reverse wireless charging that can be used to top up your earbuds in a pinch or even charge a friend’s phone if you don’t mind sacrificing some of your own battery life.

The Z Fold 6 is outfitted with five cameras in total, although at first glance we wouldn’t blame you for thinking that there are only four. The 4MP front-facing camera on the main display is actually hidden behind the display, which gives an uninterrupted seamless look to the screen as long as you don’t look too hard. The downside here is that the camera quality is really quite poor, and very unflattering if you’re hoping to take a selfie with it. Thankfully, the 10MP camera on the cover display is much sharper and cleaner, although using the rear cameras with the cover screen as a viewfinder will be the preferred option for Instagram addicts. 

The trio of rear cameras are practically identical to the Galaxy S24’s arrangement, with a 50MP main shooter backed by 10MP telephoto and 12MP ultrawide cameras. It doesn’t feature the 100x Space Zoom of the S24, but we do get a 30x digital zoom for far-away targets; although we’d like to temper expectations here and say that 30x zoomed shots are not particularly crisp. We found that this camera produced clean and mostly impressive shots that should suffice for most, however low light performance can be hit or miss in situations with difficult lighting. 

Now, this is a 2024 Samsung smartphone, so strap in for some AI features. They’re mostly lifted directly from the Galaxy S24 series, which is good news as most of those AI-driven features were more useful than gimmicky. The best of the bunch is Circle to Search with Google, which allows you to draw a ring around anything on screen to instantly search for it. It’s wonderfully convenient and it even works within the camera app, meaning you can point your phone at anything with the camera open and circle it to search exactly what it is, as well as offering suggestions for online shopping.

Other AI-powered features include real-time translation for text, phone and real-life conversations, automatic formatting for notes and voice recordings, and a plethora of useful photo editing tools – the best being the generative fill option that allows you to remove subjects from a photo and generate a cohesive background to fill their place. These AI features will come down to personal preference; you may find that they become vital everyday tools or you may never touch them.

Picture

With its conventional counterpart, the S24 Ultra, scoring four out of five in the picture department, we’ll lay our cards on the table and admit that we were apprehensive about the Z Fold 6. However, we are very pleased to report that this foldable marvel absolutely delivers on its promise of being a portable big-screen AV companion, as its picture performance is really quite impressive. 

We watch clips from The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story across Prime Video, Netflix and Disney Plus with both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Plus as reference devices, and find plenty to like on the Samsung smartphone.

What’s immediately most striking about the Z Fold’s picture is how crisp it is. There is a healthy amount of detail to be found in skin, clothing and environmental textures which all look very well defined on this expansive display. Furthermore, the sharp outlines result in a picture that oozes three-dimensional depth – which comparatively makes the iPhones look somewhat flat at times. The Fold doesn’t look overly etched though; instead, it veers closer to a balanced and natural presentation that we approve of. 

Contrast plays a key role here in creating a three-dimensional effect, and it's a highlight of the Fold’s picture performance. Highlights are bold and bright, while shadows are presented with depth and variation to great effect. In this regard, the Fold highlights that the iPhones could go a little further when it comes to shadow detail, although that’s not to say that the iPhone 15 Plus performs poorly. 

Samsung also seems to have learned a lesson where colours are concerned, as they’re not as overly vibrant as we’re used to seeing on its handsets. While the iPhone ever so slightly edges ahead in this area, we’re seriously impressed as to how well Samsung has reined in its usual over-enthusiastic approach for a more balanced presentation instead. Skin tones could look slightly more natural, but they’re not a million miles off in our opinion.

The Fold 6 really does tick all of the boxes we look for in picture performance on a smartphone; it is sharp, motion is handled well, black levels are excellent and most of all, we’d be more than happy to watch a full feature-length film on this device. 

Sound

Onto the sound performance, and once again we see a decent step up from Samsung here. We listen to a variety of artists on Tidal, including Taylor Swift, James Blake, Tool, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd via a USB-C adapter and wired headphones for our testing process and once again find ourselves impressed with the Samsung’s performance. 

The Fold delivers crisp and detailed audio, with vocal clarity being a standout component. In tracks with a heavy focus on vocals such as James Blake’s Limit To Your Love or Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For? we find that the clarity and low-level dynamics pair up to capture the intricacies and emotive qualities of the singers’ vocal performances well.

Personally, we prefer the sound performance with Dolby Atmos switched on, as it makes the sound feel more spacious and open, even when we play content on Tidal that’s not marked as being a Dolby Atmos mix. However, those who value accuracy and authenticity will want to leave this setting turned off in order to achieve a more traditional listening experience.

That being said, we find that the iPhone 15 Plus manages to dig out a bit more sonic subtlety compared with the Galaxy Z Fold, and the Apple handset also has a touch more warmth and richness that we prefer overall. However, the Fold 6 is still a major improvement over other recent Samsung smartphones that we’ve tested, thanks to its more engaging characteristics, solid timing and enhanced clarity.

Moving on to the speakers, this device is at an advantage as it is physically larger than most other handsets, which means that there is more space between the stereo speakers. This results in an open and spacious sound that’s fairly clear and more than acceptable for a spot of movie or TV watching. The stereo speakers are also Dolby Atmos certified, and we appreciate that an attempt to recreate the object-tracking immersive sound at such a small scale.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 can best be described as an OLED TV that will fit into your pocket. Its cinematic picture performance has truly won us over, and we’re convinced that this would be an ideal AV companion for a long-haul flight or road trip. It's pricier than the competition, and it may not be a suitable choice for those who prefer a traditional form factor, but if you’re feeling adventurous then the Z Fold 6 could be a perfect first step into the realm of foldable smartphones.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 5
• Features 5

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