I have become the resident foldable reviewer here at CGMagazine, so of course, I needed to check out the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 smartphone. I have looked at every version of the Z Fold line, some longer than others, and my general consensus has been that the smartphone juggernaut could do better—and other companies have been. Finally, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, it feels like Samsung is very slowly starting to catch up, but their massive headstart and top-of-the-line pricing have me demanding more.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is their newest addition to the foldable market. This year, the Fold comes in Silver Shadow (the device tested), Navy or Pink—I have to say I like that Samsung isn’t messing around with colour names here, right to the point! Samsung is still one of my favourites in terms of clean lines and style, and they are only refining it with each new model.
There are three storage options to choose from: 256GB, 512GB and a whopping 1TB, but those higher storage options will cost you, with the 1TB sitting at $3044.94 CAD. I tested the 512GB model with 12GB of RAM. This still sits below the OnePlus Open with 16GB of RAM for each variation, but unless you’re doing everything you can to push your device to the limit or know what to look for specifically, you likely won’t notice a difference here.
“The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is their newest addition to the foldable market, but it feels like Samsung is very slowly starting to catch up.”
Samsung has also upgraded to Adreno 750 from 740 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Gen 2, but again, these are minor changes if you are looking to upgrade. You’ll find the Galaxy Z Fold6 loaded with Android 14 and the promise of up to four major Android upgrades. Samsung also managed to shave 14 grams off the weight of the device since the Z Fold5, which is an exciting improvement, now matching the OnePlus Open.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 features two displays. The inner screen is a 7.6-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 2600 nits peak brightness, and ~374 ppi density. Again, there are minimal improvements from last year, and it is still sitting below the OnePlus Open with a 2800 nits peak and ~426 ppi density. I love watching YouTube, looking at photos, and scrolling social media on the inner screen. The colours are always bright and vibrant, maybe even a little too bright at times, but thankfully that can be adjusted.
The outer screen is slightly bigger this year, at 6.3 inches and 968 x 2376 pixel resolution instead of 6.2 inches and 904 x 2316 pixels. For me, however, this display is the sole reason I cannot stick with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold lineup. Right now, the OnePlus Open is only 6.3 inches in size but features 1116 x 2484 pixels. The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is 1080 x 2424 pixels, and the original Pixel Fold is 1080 x 2092 pixels.
Looking at the numbers, it doesn’t seem like a significant issue, especially when viewing media or scrolling through socials. However, the problem arises when you need to use the keyboard. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s keyboard on the outer display is so truncated that I got fed up and switched to my PC to send messages on Facebook Messenger. This isn’t a new issue for the line, and it baffles me that Samsung has not addressed it. The increase of 64 pixels is simply not enough.
The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 smartphone remain almost identical to last year’s model as well. You can read my thoughts in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 review, as they are largely the same. This year they have updated the ultrawide camera’s sensor to help it perform in low light. I found this to be somewhat improved from past iterations.
“The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 remain almost identical to last year’s model, with only a slight improvement in the ultrawide sensor.”
Featuring a 50MP main camera, 10MP telephoto lens, and 12MP ultrawide lens, the company is keeping the Z Fold6 worlds behind the OnePlus Open with 48MP, 68MP, and 48MP lenses, respectively. The selfie cameras remain unchanged at 4MP and 10MP, also behind the Open at 20MP and 32MP. Even the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold starts at 10MP and 10MP.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 cameras are mostly serviceable for families, teens, or those who enjoy a fun picture but don’t need creator-level quality. I found most photos vivid and colourful, more so than phones like the Google Pixel 9 Pro, but they weren’t true to life. I would be happy using this camera in my day-to-day life, but I couldn’t use it for content creation or anything that needed to be examined too closely.
Samsung is trying to focus on its AI technology, but lately, AI feels more like a buzzword to me. Yes, there will be some great uses in areas like creation and translation, but these technologies are still pretty flawed across the board. Right now, the voice-to-text feature on my Samsung devices can barely capture what I’m saying, even when I speak slowly and clearly (just ask my sister!), so I wouldn’t exactly rely on it to translate something spoken at full speed.
One feature I find fun is the Circle to Search function. You can hold down the home button and circle anything on your screen, and it will do a search. I could use it to find out who a celebrity was, what game I was looking at, or where to buy something. I even circled a picture of food, and it told me what local restaurant I could get it at. It always worked well, too!
What didn’t work well were the face recognition and fingerprint scanner. Every time I picked up my device, it would flash a bright light to recognize my face, but more often than not, it failed. The Z Fold6 still relies on a fingerprint scanner on the side of the device instead of on-screen, which also frequently didn’t work, requiring me to type in my PIN.
The battery for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is also the same as last year’s model—I feel like I am repeating myself. The phone could usually get me through the day, with a charge in the car on my way somewhere, but the Z Fold6 is not a “battery to spare” kind of device. It takes about a percent a minute with a decent charger, but if you are looking for wireless charging, expect it to take about four hours from dead. This a shame, considering how competitors have implemented quick charging.
These glaring issues don’t even take into account the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s enormous price—$2019.99 USD for the 512GB model. As I mentioned, the Z Fold5 is basically the same as this shiny new model, and it comes in at $1799.99. The difference between the specs is so minimal that most people would never notice, so going $219 cheaper would make more sense.
But you could do even better. The OnePlus Open can be purchased for $1699. It has the same GPU and chipset as the Z Fold5 but far better battery life and cameras that blow the Z Fold range out of the water. Even the new OnePlus Open Apex with 1TB of storage comes in under the Z Fold6 at $1899.99. The new Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold will come close at $1919 for the 512GB model, but it has 16 GB of RAM and a slightly better camera.
My biggest issue with Samsung right now is that they seem too comfortable with their foldable range and are relying on the strength of the Samsung name. This is their sixth model, and they still haven’t improved the screen dent—it’s still uncomfortable to use, the cameras aren’t getting better, and the specs largely remain the same. It’s as if they think people will buy this device and be impressed simply because it folds open. That was acceptable for the Z Fold1 through Z Fold5, but there are companies mastering the foldable at a rate that I’m not sure Samsung can keep up with.
“My biggest issue with Samsung right now is that they seem too comfortable with their foldable range and are relying on the strength of the Samsung name.”
Many people will pick up the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and be satisfied, thinking that the issues with the main screen size just need an adjustment period. However, I have examined all six Z Fold devices, as well as two from OnePlus and two from Google. Even without considering other brands that started out stronger than the Z Folds and are already improving, consistently choosing the Z Fold phones year after year and noticing how little Samsung is doing to enhance them is a major reason why I am so critical. If the phone isn’t getting better and the price is increasing, then it isn’t a great phone.
Don’t release a new phone if you aren’t going to do better than the last. There are good things like the sleek lines, brilliant display, and interesting features. But the core of what makes a smartphone worthwhile, like camera, battery, and quality of life, continue to be pushed into the background. If Samsung can drastically improve these areas, I would be first in line to buy it.
This is Samsung’s sixth attempt at a foldable, not including the Flip devices. By now, everything should be smooth sailing. With the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 smartphone, the company has made the bare minimum improvements, but it still lags behind competitors at a major price hike. The small outer keyboard makes this device a must-miss for me, but the company has made some strides to improve it.
Hopefully, Samsung will get on the right track, and the Z Fold7 will improve enough to justify the inevitable price increase. If not, the competition will continue to improve, and Samsung will be left in the dust.
