Folding phones were the first real, exciting, meaningful innovation to come to mobile phones in years. They still feel vaguely like witchcraft. Samsung, the company that made this form factor mainstream has two flavours of folding phones: The Fold, which is the premium productivity model, and the Flip, which is the model that makes more sense for most users.
The latest iteration of the Flip – the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 – is very much an iteration of the previous model. There’s nothing here that changes the game. But the upgrades in this model make a meaningful difference, even if they only seem small on paper. Not enough to upgrade over last year’s model, but enough that if you’ve been on the fence, it might be time to give it a try.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review
First impressions
There were a few things that went through my mind when setting up the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. Here they are, in order:
- Is this just last year’s phone in a new hat?
- Ooh, wait, the screen on the front seems way better.
- Wow, there is less of a crease on the inside.
- It takes nice photos.
The more square edges are satisfying to hold, it looks pretty, and it has even more utility than last year. As far as first impressions go, it left a good one.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 specifications
| CPU | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| Dimensions | 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9mm When folded: 85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9mm Weight: 187 grams |
| Display resolution | Main display: 6.7 inches 2640 x 1080 (FHD+) 120Hz Sub display: 3.4 inches 720 x 748 |
| Cameras | 50MP main rear camera (f/1.8) 12MP ultrawide camera (f/2.2) 10MP front camera (f/2.2) |
| Storage and memory | From 256GB storage 12GB memory |
| Connectivity | USB C Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 NFC Smart Switch |
| Network bands | 2G GSM 3G WCDMA 4G LTE FDD 4G LTE TDD 5G Sub6 FDD 5G TDD Sub6 |
| Battery | 4000mAh 25W wired charging 15W wireless charging |
| Price (RRP) | From $1,799 |
| Warranty | Two years |
| Official website | Samsung Australia |
As you can see, the battery is bigger, there’s a more powerful chip and the camera is more fancy compared to last year (50MP main camera versus 12MP). Even though the “Flex Window” remains 3.4 inches, it actually contains more usable space. It’s exactly what you’d expect to see in an incremental bump on a smartphone in 2024.
The other big news is how much more durable this year’s model is than the Flip 5. The new dual rail hinge design doesn’t just feel more satisfying to open and close, but it should make the phone last longer. I still don’t recommend dropping it on any surface ever, because this engineering witchcraft is more delicate than a regular phone, but I guess that’s the price you pay for innovation and folding glass.
Performance
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 has exactly the kind of performance you’d expect from a premium smartphone in 2024. It’s fast and good. There’s nothing here that makes you go “Wow! I’ve never seen that before in a phone” but (my less-than-favourable opinions on generative AI aside) there’s nothing that makes you go “Wow! This completely sucks” either. To break that down into numbers:
| Device | 3DMark (Wild Life Extreme) | Geekbench 6 CPU (single-core) | Geekbench 6 CPU (multi-core) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy Flip 6 | 4,465 | 2,289 | 6,985 |
| Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 | 4,900 | 2,328 | 7,231 |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 | 3366 | 2,094 | 5,443 |
| Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | 2946 | 1,947 | 4,918 |
That benchmarking represents an incremental upgrade over last year’s model. Compared to the 2024 Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which will be the main domestic competition, it’s much faster, which you would expect given the price difference ($1,699 versus $1,999 for a 512GB model).
Compared to the significantly more expensive Fold, it’s only a little slower. The Flip 6 has enough guts and power to do pretty much everything a standard user would require, and then some for years to come.
The screen(s)
Obviously, the folding screen is the thing that makes the Flip exciting. The ability to half-fold it and use it as a tripod is super useful. But now being able to use the inner screen to face you and the outer screen to face out for translation apps is a complete game-changer for travellers and ordering in some shops where my lack of language skills makes things difficult.
In terms of the actual screen, though, while I would like it to be a little brighter (it’s still much brighter than last year’s model, I would just like more brightness), it’s still nice and crisp. It displays photos and information beautifully. I also like that the crease is less noticeable. The crease has never really bothered me, and yet the reduced crease is pleasing, so that’s nice.
The front screen is also now more useful and customisable, adding to the feeling that this is the phone for people who want to display their style. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 nails customisation and making a phone feel like it’s yours better than any other phone on the market. It is a little weird, though, that there still isn’t a native way to use full apps on the front screen. There are workarounds, but it seems like a missed opportunity. Perhaps that’s the rabbit they’ll pull out of the hat for the Flip 7.
Camera
If you want the best camera Samsung can make, you won’t find that on one of the folding phones. But you will still find a pretty damn good camera, and that’s more than enough. The 50MP wide and 12MP ultra-wide cameras are a huge leap over last year’s 12MP wide, and some of the new AI features make a real difference
The AI zoom makes sure the photos are always focused on what the camera thinks you want framed. Mostly, I found that the AI knew what it was doing (like when framing a group of people), but it was easy to turn off when I felt I knew better.
The big headline is supposed to be improvements to nighttime photography. As you can see in this photo of my mother holding my daughter, I’m not super impressed by either of the Samsung phones, but the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a slight edge over both of them. The light is good on the Samsungs, but the definition is unimpressive.
However, in this normal photo of a pot plant, I really like how the AI zoom framed it, and the colours are really vibrant.
This is even more apparent in the portrait-style photos of the same plant. I think the two Samsung phones really nailed the framing, blurring and greens here even more than the iPhone.
OK, first of all, let’s not judge how I’ve aged at least 20 years since I last did selfie tests. I have a newborn and I’m so, so tired. Normally, I hate how Samsung phones try to smooth over my wrinkles and bags, preferring the more natural look of the iPhone’s radical honesty.
However, this year, I appreciate the small kindnesses of the Samsung phones. You can turn off this AI smoothing, and I do think that having smoothing as a default perhaps sends the wrong message about beauty. But I still prefer the Samsung selfies this time.
AI features
These days, if it has an on button, it has to have AI. Given most generative AI is built on the back of stolen work from artists, repackaged as bland slop that reads like confident fact, I think that’s a bad thing. However, not all AI is generative AI, and some of these AI features are actually good and useful.
Obviously, Circle To Search is the big new thing from Samsung and Google and it’s a game changer. Years ago, I had to use context clues to hunt down a duck jumper I really wanted that I had seen someone wear. This took a lot of work. Now, Circle To Search does that work for me.
Obviously, it’s still just a Google search, and Google is not immune to gen AI nonsense, so one must take the results with a grain of salt at times. But it’s helped me find a pair of shoes I was curious about, and has helped me be extra judgemental about the outfits of minor celebrities, and it’s hard to put a price on that.
Photo Assist uses generative AI to transform photos you took into sketches. Another way to transform photos into sketches would be sketching them, but who has the time for new skills? The results aren’t perfect (some are downright hilariously wrong, for example, this sketch of me from the selfie photo looks like the mugshot of a clown serial killer), and I don’t know what you’d use them for, but they exist now and that’s definitely… something.
Interpreter mode is the thing that matters most, in my opinion. It’s the same real-time translation as on the S24, but with the utilisation of the front screen, making it even more useful. You can select which language shows on which screen, so it’s easier to talk to, say, a passport officer overseas without having to awkwardly keep turning the phone around, or sit at a table and have a conversation more naturally despite you both speaking different languages.
The translation is absolutely not perfect (I’ve had some hilarious mistakes in Portuguese), but the translation is still better than my language skills, so who am I to point fingers?
Who is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 for?
People with limited pocket space and a desire for a phone that’s a little more interesting than traditional candy bar phones will love the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. This is really the ultimate phone for people who want their phone to be flexible (pun intended) and allow them to do anything. Like filming a TikTok even when you forgot a tripod, or talking to someone in a restaurant while travelling without you both having to huddle over the front of the same phone. Or to just see a message without having to open yourself up to the attention vortex that is a full phone.
The only thing holding me back from wholeheartedly recommending the Flip to everyone is that you can’t drop it, because folding phones are fragile pieces of engineering wizardry. I also think the price is a bit high to suit everyone, particularly without the full camera array of other $1,500 phones.
But, those factors aside, I love this phone. Any power user is going to have not just all their needs met, but a good time playing with the whimsy of it all.
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