Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 in review: Only a few improvements

Samsung is staying true to itself this year and has given the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 very few improvements over its predecessor. Is that enough?

The few changes include the slightly revised design with a matte frame, the brighter displays and the new Snapdragon 8 Gen3 processor. Apart from that, much has stayed the same. In this short test, you will find out whether these updates are enough to justify the high RRP of 1.999 euros or whether you should go for the competition.

Conclusion on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is once again a very good foldable that I had a lot of fun with. The design is finally more suitable for everyday use, the displays are as great as usual, the performance is strong, the speakers are good and it will receive updates for 7 years. The battery life and the cameras are also good, but nothing has changed compared to the predecessor, which I find very unfortunate. In addition, the foldables from HONOR, HUAWEI, Google, OnePlus, Vivo and OPPO have an even more practical design, as some of them are thinner and lighter and use a more sensible aspect ratio for the cover screen.

Accordingly, I have to say that I expected a little more from the Fold6. The improvements in the last generations have simply been too small in my opinion, which is why I find it difficult to recommend it and would rather recommend the HONOR Magic V series. The price is currently around 1.200 Euros (as of the beginning of November), which is of course significantly better than the RRP, but still a bit too much compared to the competition.

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Haptics & design

After the casing of Samsung foldables never really changed in recent years, this year it finally happened. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 has received a noticeable design update, which I really like. It is now much more angular than its predecessor. The corners are no longer as rounded and the matte frame is very reminiscent of the iPhones in terms of shape. The aspect ratio of the external screen has also changed slightly, which is also a positive feature in everyday life. It is finally no longer so elongated, which makes it much easier to use in everyday life. Nevertheless, Samsung is lagging behind the competition here.

The same goes for the thickness of the casing. When closed, the smartphone still looks quite bulky. It is 12,1 millimeters thick, which is significantly more than the competition. For comparison, the Honor Magic V3 is only 9 millimeters thick and the Huawei Mate XT - which can be folded not once but twice - is 12,2 millimeters thick. Samsung is simply no longer up to date here, which I find very unfortunate.

Despite all the criticism, I still have to say that I really like the Fold6 on the outside. It looks beautiful, feels extremely high-quality and feels better in the hand than its predecessor. Samsung has also significantly improved the folding mechanism. It seems very stable and well made. Opening and closing is much more pleasant, "smoother" and without annoying noises. The Fold5 creaks a bit when opening and closing.

Good displays

When closed, we see the so-called cover display on the front with a diagonal of 6,3 inches. This makes it only slightly larger than its predecessor. It has a resolution of 2.376 x 968 pixels, which is 410 ppi. The sharpness is sufficient for everyday use, but you can expect more for such an expensive smartphone. The refresh rate of 120 Hertz is dynamic (1-120 Hertz). Black and white values ​​are great, colors are reproduced naturally and the brightness is high. The viewing angle stability is also good, but there is still a little room for improvement here.

If we now open the Fold6, we are greeted by a huge 7,6-inch OLED display, which also has a dynamic refresh rate of 120 Hertz. It has a resolution of 2.160 x 1.856 pixels, which is 374 ppi. This is even less than the cover display, but since you usually hold the screen further away from your eyes due to its size, the sharpness is fine. Colors, contrast and brightness are also great on the inner display. However, the viewing angle stability is very disappointing in my opinion. Even with minimal tilt, white content in particular takes on a strong bluish color.

Software, performance & battery

The software used is One Ul based on Android 14. The software is no longer as colorful and overloaded as it used to be, but still a bit more confusing than stock Android, for example. Samsung promises to provide the Fold6 with updates for 7 years, which is commendable. At the moment, only Google can compete with its Pixel smartphones Samsung places particular emphasis on the AI ​​functions. At this point I would like to refer you to our test reports on the S24 series:

• Samsung Galaxy S24+ review: What can the new AI phone do?
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in review: AI, AI Captain

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 8 built into the Fold3 does a very good job. Apps start and close extremely quickly and there are (almost) never any stutters or delays. The RAM management is reliable thanks to the 12 GB RAM and there is also a choice of 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB of flash storage, which you cannot expand. Games look simply fantastic on the Fold6, especially on the large internal display. I played PUBG Mobile every now and then and had a lot of fun. The graphics performance is top-notch and everything runs smoothly. I just noticed that it gets warm quite quickly.

The battery has a capacity of 4.400 mAh, which unfortunately makes it exactly the same size as its predecessor. Unfortunately, I haven't tested the predecessor, but the runtime of the Fold6 is comparable to that of my fold4At the end of the day, with a screen-on time of 6 to 3 hours, I still have about 4,5 to 40 percent of battery left on the Fold55. That's fine, but Samsung should finally install a larger battery here. HONOR manages it too. My flip6 has a slightly better running time. Unfortunately, fast charging is only possible with up to 25 watts, which is extremely weak.

camera

On the back there is a triple camera, which is positioned as follows:

• 50 Megapixel main camera
• 12 megapixel ultra wide angle camera
• 10 megapixel telephoto camera, 3x optical

Picture: TechnikNews

Apart from the zoom, I honestly see hardly any differences compared to the Flip6. The main camera takes nice, sharp pictures with a good dynamic range in both good and bad lighting conditions. The pictures are rather bright, as is typical for Samsung, which is sometimes a bit too much for me, but that's a matter of taste. In low light, the white balance is sometimes too warm for me.

The zoom is visibly better than on the Flip6, as it uses a 3x telephoto camera. The results are sharp, largely natural and well exposed. I still find the images really usable up to 10x magnification, but to be fair I have to say that this is not enough for the high RRP. The S24 Ultra is much better here and Google, HUAWEI and HONOR already offer foldables with periscope sensors.

The Fold6 takes videos really well and when it comes to selfies, I like how comparatively natural facial tones appear.

Other

The built-in stereo speakers are extremely loud and sound very good. The highs and mids are well reproduced and the bass is OK. The vibration motor is high quality and the fingerprint sensor in the power button is sufficiently fast and reliable.

To end this short test on a positive note, I would like to mention that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is IP48 protected against water and dust. However, you should be careful with dust, as the protection against dust is only at level 4. For non-foldable flagships, it is at level 6.

Recommendations for you

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