It has been five years since the Galaxy Z Fold Series first came out in 2019. Back then, SAMSUNG laid the groundwork that paved the way for consumer-friendly foldables devices. With the Galaxy Z Fold 6, we are looking at half a deacde’s worth of refinement and innovation from the South Korean giant.
Unlike its first few years, there are now several challengers seeking to chip away at its dominance. Despite this, the price of the Z Fold has only gone up: the base model will set you back by 106K PHP, while the top of the line variant costs a whopping 131K PHP. Compared to last year, however, this year’s focus has shifted from hardware to AI.
Is it enough to justify its premium price tag?
Build Quality and Design
Samsung continues to perfect the design of its foldable devices, and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a testament to this ongoing evolution. The phone features a slimmer and lighter profile compared to its predecessors, now weighing only 239 grams. The 14-gram difference may seem small, but it’s still a 5% weight reduction which is better than nothing.
The armor aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on both the front and back panels ensure durability, while the refined hinge design not only feels smoother but also contributes to the device’s IP48 rating, adding dust protection to its already impressive water resistance. By the way, IP48 means that it can block particles > 1mm thick and resist water immersion up to 1 meter deep.
READ: Galaxy S24 Ultra gaming review
The matte finish on the frame and bezels give the device a premium feel, and while the corners are now more squared off— clearly aligned with this year’s design language along with the Galaxy S24 Series. This design choice may not appeal to everyone, particularly because it makes the phone slightly less comfortable to hold.
We firmly believe that curves matter up to a certain point, and then the difference becomes negligible – especially on devices that will eventually be wrapped by a protective case.
Nevertheless, we have to reiterate that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 stands out as one of the – if not THE most robust and well-constructed foldables on the market. It’s not something we say lightly. We thought that the Galaxy Z Fold 4 was great, we thought that there was no way SAMSUNG could do better, but then the Galaxy Z Fold 5 comes along to wow us. How the Galaxy Z Fold 6 manages to top that just blows our mind.
There’s no gap when you snap the phone shut, and the hinge is also more compact than ever. We are extremely happy with the way it has progressed over the years. We never had any hinge issues since the Fold 4, and we feel more confident in its durability than ever before.
Of course, survivorship bias may play a factor here, since the only way to test is durability is to perform a standard set of tests to try to break it.
We have had our own share of accidents that end up breaking our foldable devices, so we are always looking forward to seeing some kind of hinge protection in the official cases. Sadly, the official cases for the Fold 6 do not provide any hinge protection. Like most foldables, you snap two pieces in the front and back covers and call it a day. As much as we love the official transparent case that came with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, we would rather live without the added bulk since it doesn’t cover the hinge anyway.
For creatives, SAMSUNG is now fully supporting the S Pen! The S Pen only works on the inner foldable display, not on the cover screen, but it remains a valuable tool for note-taking, sketching, and other creative tasks.
Interestingly, there is still no built-in slot to store the stylus. This means that you need a compatible case in order to charge it wirelessly, something that pen users may not be too happy with. We fully understand why they chose to design it this way though: Galaxy Fold users are niche enough already, and Galaxy Fold users who need the S Pen are the niche-est of the niche.
Display
SAMSUNG devices produce the best visuals, and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 continues to impress with its dual displays. The cover screen is a 6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a slightly wider aspect ratio of 22:9, offering vibrant colors and crisp visuals. This outer screen is perfect for quick tasks and notifications, but like previous models, it still feels somewhat narrow for extended use.
Unfold the device, and you’re greeted with a 7.6-inch foldable AMOLED display that supports a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s so vivid and natural-looking, ideal for multitasking and immersive viewing, especially with HDR10+ support. Samsung boosted its peak brightness to 2,600 nits, making it more brighter than before – not that it needed it anyway, but it’s nice to have that kind of flexibility within your reach for daytime use.
Needless to say, we enjoyed viewing stills and watching video content on it. We also enjoyed reading comics and manga on the Fold 6, something that we normally find too small to read on a regular smartphone.
People will often complain about the crease in the middle of the display. It remains noticeable, though slightly less pronounced than in earlier models. I’m not sure if it something that can be avoided. The inner display appears to be a little bit too reflective to our eyes, and we are left wondering if a special type of coating or film to reduce the reflection could also reduce the visibility of the crease.
We would love to test it with an anti-glare, matte aftermarket screen protector. If you have one, please comment and let us know how it goes.
As always, the crease can become distracting from time to time, especially since videos are almost always centered. You will eventually get conditioned to the point that it’s just “there”. Just don’t think about it too much and you’ll be fine.
By the way, the Fold 6 comes with a strong pair of stereo speakers. It gets comfortably loud without breaking, so we are happy to go without a pair of earbuds most of the time.
We did see a Reddit post from someone who has own everything from the Fold 3 to the Fold 6 saying it was the worst one so far. Someone in the comments did mention that it might be a tuning issue with the 4KHz range being more pronounced.
It’s an interesting discussion, but unfortunately we do not have the previous generation units on hand to compare. We will make sure to keep this in mind for when we do get our hands on them.
Performance
Under the hood, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 AC processor. The “AC” part means that it was manufactured specifically for SAMSUNG, not that there’s much of a choice anyway: with the 8 Gen 4 in development, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is peak as far as Qualcomm is concerned. There is no Exynos variant this time around, though that may change next year depending on how well the Exynos 2400 performs on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
All Fold 6 variants pack 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM modules as a standard. If you must have virtual memory, you can enable RAM Plus to utilize up to 8GB of your internal storage. We don’t really see the need to do this, it will only impact performance in the long run. Unless you’re into emulation, 12GB is a lot, so best leave it off.
Storage options vary between 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB – all using UFS 4.0 hardware. This combination delivers smooth and snappy performance across the board, whether you’re multitasking with multiple apps, gaming, or using Samsung’s extensive suite of productivity tools.
4K video editing with Capcut? No problem. RAW image processing in Adobe Lightroom? Smooth as butter. Desktop-like experience with Samsung DEX? Enjoyable and natural.
Performance benchmarks
We ran our standard performance benchmark suite on the Galaxy Z Fold6 5G using out-of-the-box settings with virtual RAM turned off. Check out the results below.
- PCMark: 18159
- AnTuTu: 1299760 (total); 329819 (CPU); 430317 (GPU); 278900 (memory); 260724 (UX)
- Passmark: 24698 (system); 11599 (CPU); 41931 (memory); 248331 (disk); 79005 (2D graphics); 58729 (3D graphics)
Galaxy AI
SAMSUNG really went all in on AI this year, and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is no exception. On the surface, One UI 6.1.1 based on Android 14 is a much more refined than ever, however, there is a host of new AI-driven features that deal with imaging and translation:
- Draw new things into your images
- Turn doodles into art (sketch to image)
- Create unique portraits
- Translate a conversation using both screens
- Translate calls in more apps
- See your wallpaper change based on weather and time of day
- Bring your photos to life with live effects
Galaxy AI – and AI in general, gets some flak for being abused by manufacturers of consumer devices as a marketing tool to justify higher prices and lack of ‘innovation’ in the hardware department, but we have always firmly believed that software is just as critical as hardware.
However, unlike cosmetic changes, the average user may not always appreciate advancements made under the hood.
We see these flashy new Galaxy AI features as an attempt to showcase what AI can do to the average consumer. Of course, it needs to deliver value at the same time, and we believe that it truly does for a very niche set of users. At the end of the day, that’s exactly what the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is: A niche product for a very niche market. A way to showcase and test market readiness for new innovations.
With that being said, our favorite features are the practical ones that can potentially be integrated in our daily routine. This depends on your use case, but we really like the weather-changing wallpaper, translation, and transcription features a lot.
On the contrary, we found ourselves immediately forgetting about other features after using them once or twice. These are the ‘fun’ features too, such as turning doodles into art, drawing things into photos, and creating AI portraits.
Once again, your mileage may vary here, so the only way to find out is to test it yourself.
Gaming
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and UFS 4.0 storage, making it a powerhouse for gaming. The foldable’s expansive 7.6-inch display is perfect for immersive gameplay, with its 120Hz refresh rate ensuring smooth and fluid visuals. High-end games like Genshin Impact run beautifully on the device, with rich graphics and stable frame rates.
However, while the larger vapor chamber helps keep temperatures in check, extended gaming sessions can still cause the device to heat up, leading to some serious thermal throttling. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 runs extremely hot at maximum performance speeds, and we observed some crazy thermal throttling on the Galaxy S24 Ultra which runs on the same chipset.
If you watch our hands-on gaming review video for the Z Fold 6 right around the 10:30 mark, performance gets cut down by half – a whopping 46% in our thermal throttling tests.
WATCH: SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold6 gaming review video
That’s massive performance dip over time that could potentially impact extended gaming sessions. Should this happen, we recommend turning your graphics settings down or capping frame rates to a maximum of 30 FPS.
Despite these thermal issues, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 delivers an impressive gaming experience, particularly when using the large inner display. The cover screen, though slightly narrow, is still functional for quick gaming sessions, but the inner display is where the device truly shines, offering a console-like experience in your hands.
Camera
SAMSUNG Galaxy Z Fold 6 features a versatile camera setup, although it doesn’t bring significant changes from its predecessor. The device is equipped with a 50MP main camera with OIS, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and OIS.
The main camera captures excellent detail in well-lit conditions, with vibrant colors and a good dynamic range. Low-light performance is solid, with the camera’s night mode effectively reducing noise while maintaining sharpness.
One of the standout features of the Z Fold 6 is the ability to take selfies using the main camera, thanks to the cover screen acting as a viewfinder. This allows for high-quality selfies, far superior to those taken with the 10MP front-facing camera or the 4MP under-display camera on the inner screen, which are more suited for video calls than detailed photography. This is one of our personal favorite features on the Fold – and one that we use on a regular basis.
Due to the size of the device however, triggering the shutter can be a challenge. SAMSUNG provides several ways to do this, using voice commands or by showing your palm. The latter can be inconsistent at times, especially when trying to capture low light photos. It could be a software issue, but I often find myself struggling to trigger it, which leads to an embarassing situation where everyone is posing for 5-10 wasted seconds that we end up not capturing.
Low light performance on the phone is quite remarkable, but we were really hoping for better camera hardware for better photos and videos when zooming in.
Speaking of videos, our hand-held captures were very stable thanks to OIS on the main and 3x camera. Hit play to watch the sample video or head over to TechKuya on YouTube for more.
WATCH: Galaxy Z Fold6 camera test
Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 houses a 4,400mAh battery, the same capacity as its predecessor. While the device offers decent battery life, it’s not a standout feature. In typical usage, which includes a mix of browsing, messaging, streaming, and some gaming, the battery can last through a full day, but it’s not uncommon to find yourself reaching for the charger by the evening, especially if you’ve been using the inner display extensively.
Charging speeds remain a weak point for Samsung. The Z Fold 6 supports 25W wired charging, which is considerably slower than many of its competitors. It takes about 1 hour and 41 minutes to fully charge the device, which is underwhelming compared to the rapid charging technologies offered by other brands. The phone also supports wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, but these are similarly slow, making power management a bit of a challenge for heavy users.
Like its predecessors, the phone does not come with any kind of charger out of the box. Not a problem for the phone’s target market, but we always found it amusing how the most expensive devices cannot even supply a charger, which contrasts the low-end market. It feels weird to open the package and find a cable but no charger.
The absence of any kind of charging accessory out of the box clearly does not deter the market from buying high-end phones.
Our battery life test was conducted in our lab with the following conditions:
- Brightness calibrated to 200 cd/m2
- Wi-Fi: Enabled (Wi-Fi 6)
- Bluetooth: Disabled
- NFC: Disabled
Since the Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with two screens, we tested both and arrived at the following results:
- Cover display: 14 hours
- Inner display: 10 hours
- Screen off: 46 days
It is interesting to note that the 14-hour uptime of the cover screen is quite close to our Galaxy S24 Ultra battery life results, which we measured at 14 hours 30 minutes. With the
Nobody buys a Fold just to limit themselves to the cover screen though, so what do we feel about the 10 hour battery life with the inner screen? To answer this, let’s look at actual usage.
Practically speaking, our daily usage scenario looks more like this: brightness somewhere around 70-100 percent, with mobile data and Bluetooth enabled, and GPS running from time to time. This drastically impacts screen time, only mitigated by how long the phone stays closed in your pocket.
We have seen a big improvement but in the greater scheme of things, we are resigned to accept the 10 hour battery life as “good enough”.
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is undeniably a premium device, and its price reflects that, starting at 106K PHP. That’s at least 5 times more than the phone budget of your average Pinoy, so that price barrier already eliminates anyone who does not truly need it or have enough disposable income to play with cutting-edge foldable technology.
For those who do, you get a superb display, a top-tier processor, and a number of fancy AI featuers that you may or may not actually end up using. The incremental improvements over the Galaxy Z Fold 5 may leave some questioning whether it’s worth the upgrade, and that’s before we even factor in the competition.
Thing is, SAMSUNG no longer has monopoly over foldables. For starters, Google Pixel 9 Fold, OnePlus Open, TECNO Phantom V Fold, and HONOR Magic V3 are showing some market success. Then there’s the HUAWEI Mate XT, which has shown great interest with up to 1.3 million pre-orders just 7 hours after its announcement.
Worse, Apple is rumored to be working on a foldable iPhone.
In the end, competition is good for consumers. It creates market pressure driving prices down and forcing companies to innovate, which is what SAMSUNG did and why it has dominated for so long. Innovation created the Galaxy Fold, and innovation is what will propel it to the next level. Unfortunately, the market seems to appreciate tangible, physical changes more than software ones such as Galaxy AI.
Making the hinge smaller more compact is a good start. Perhaps it’s time for SAMSUNG to take bigger risks in the hardware department to maintain market dominance.
Galaxy Z Fold6 is available in Silver Shadow, Pink and Navy, while Galaxy Z Flip6 is also available in Silver Shadow, Yellow, Blue and Mint color options. Official Philippines prices are as follows:
- Z Fold6 1TB – Php 130,990
- Z Fold6 512GB – Php 113,990
- Z Fold6 256GB – Php 105,990
- Z Flip6 512GB – Php 78,990
- Z Flip6 256GB – Php 70,990
- Buds3 Pro – Php 14,990
- Buds3 – Php 8,990
- Watch Ultra – Php 40,990
- Watch7 BT (44mm) – Php 18,990
- Watch7 BT (40mm) – Php 16,990
- Watch7 LTE (40mm) – Php 19,990
Galaxy Z Fold6 specs
- Display:
- Main Screen: 7.6-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 2160 x 1856 pixels, 374ppi, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
- Cover Screen: 6.3-inch HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 2376 x 968 pixels, 410ppi, 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
- SIM: Up to two Nano SIM and Multi eSIM
- OS: Android 14 with One UI 6.1.1
- Chipset (SoC): Snapdragon® 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
- CPU: Not specified in detail, but part of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform
- GPU: Not specified, but included in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform
- Memory (RAM) + storage:
- 12GB RAM with 256GB internal storage
- 12GB RAM with 512GB internal storage
- 12GB RAM with 1TB internal storage
- Main camera (rear): Triple camera setup
- 50MP Wide-angle Camera (F1.8, Dual Pixel AF, OIS)
- 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera (F2.2, 123˚ FOV)
- 10MP Telephoto Camera (F2.4, PDAF, OIS, 3X optical zoom)
- Selfie camera (front):
- Cover Camera: 10MP (F2.2)
- Under Display Camera: 4MP (F1.8)
- Connectivity: 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.3, GPS, USB Type-C (implied)
- Battery: 4,400mAh (typical) dual battery with fast charging and wireless charging capabilities
- Colors: Silver Shadow, Pink, Navy, Crafted Black (Samsung.com exclusive), White (Samsung.com exclusive)
- Additional features:
- Audio: Dual loud speakers
- Water Resistance: IP48
- Security: Samsung Knox with Samsung Knox Vault
- Folded dimensions: 68.1 x 153.5 x 12.1mm
- Unfolded dimensions: 132.6 x 153.5 x 5.6mm
- Weight: 239g