Once revolutionary, now a cornered part of the phone market. Samsung’s foldable phones are already on Gen 6 and it shows. Techzine will be reviewing the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 in detail later on, but we can already share some initial impressions.
The official launch date for both the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 is July 24, but several telco providers already have them available. As with the S24 series from earlier this year, there is a strong emphasis on Galaxy AI, Samsung’s name for a fleet of smart features for AI summaries, photo editing and more.
Read more about our first encounter with these devices here: Samsung announces Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6
Samsung Galaxy AI steals the show
We have to be honest: when reviewing the S24 Ultra, we were a bit kind to its headline feature Galaxy AI. Samsung made this AI suite the core marketing message for the flagship phone, but realistically, no one should have been buying the device at the time for AI alone. At the time, we pre-empted that there would be improved functionality, broader support for other languages and even features we hadn’t thought of yet.
How different Galaxy AI is now. Having not been allowed to summarize “illegal content” in the Samsung Browser in February (including articles from our own site, which really doesn’t contain anything untoward), the content filter now seems a lot more consistent. While the AI summaries are not as high quality as those of ChatGPT Plus or Claude, they deliver a to-the-point summary of the web page presented.
AI photo editing has also advanced significantly. This is thanks to “Sketch to image.” For now, it is not possible to inform Galaxy AI directly what exactly you want to modify in a photo. The mode of communication is visual, rewarding even the most lousy sketches of cars, plants or tables with mostly realistic simulations of the thing you were looking for. A small disclaimer appears at the bottom left of the picture that says the photo was edited with AI, but cropping it out is painfully easy. Never before has it been so easy to enhance a photographed memory or provide fake content with your own shots. Granted, it’s not possible to make too many adjustments to human faces, so Samsung is clearly trying to prevent certain types of bad behaviour. More tests are needed to unearth the real potential (and pitfalls) of the revamped Galaxy AI.
Familiar design
Last year we were charmed by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, which opted for refinement over revolution. Now that we’ve begun testing both the Z Fold 6 and its little brother the Z Flip 6, we’ve been made aware that further refinement is once again Samsung’s focus. The Fold 6 now offers a larger screen in folded form, though it’s still quite narrow, but more symmetrical than before. Whereas the Fold 5 and S23 Ultra were at best distant cousins, the Fold 6 and S24 Ultra are clearly close relatives. The displays are just as angular as on the Ultra, and the chassis looks highly similar with the dulled-out gray and high-quality finished Armor Aluminum.
The Z Flip 6 bears more external similarities to the regular S24 and is a lot more rounded. At least, that goes for the screens. The chassis is “iPhone-like,” as many would describe it, with a hard, flat edge. For a foldable phone, that may be a somewhat unorthodox choice: opening it with one hand is only possible for the most experienced foldable smartphone users.
Flip and fold
The trademark of the Flip and Fold series is its foldable nature, as one can imagine. This aspect is where it is most evident that we really need some time with the devices. While the Fold 6 can be used as a conventional phone on its front end, it offers much more potential when you get used to multitasking with multiple open apps on the inner screen. The Flip 6 is anything but conventional: the front screen is a smartwatch of sorts that doesn’t hang on your wrist but sits in your pocket.
This requires some getting used to, or call it settling in, to take full advantage of. Viewing app messages, checking the weather forecast or counting steps are the most obvious uses. However, we have already discovered Good Lock (as many reviewers before us have), which in a somewhat cumbersome way allows virtually all apps to appear on the smaller front screen. Apps that are not native for this purpose often behave poorly, as expected. Interfaces are inaccessible or overlap with each other, scaling is incorrect, et cetera. It takes some time to discover what does and categorically does not work on the miniscule display.
The story so far: Samsung plays it conservatively
It is ironic that the most exotic range of Galaxy phones is evolving so conservatively. Still, we understand Samsung’s choice not to shake up the Flip and Fold formulas too much. Outside of China, there is little choice in terms of foldables (or “flippables”). The Google Pixel Fold, which will soon be followed up by a sequel, already showed that a first-generation solution has a harder time getting away with a high price than Samsung’s more sophisticated series. It’s up to the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Z Fold 6 to prove themselves even further in the coming weeks, when its tester will be a lot more familiar with its AI features, screen functionality, cameras and more.
Also read: Review: Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra — high-quality laptop, high price