Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 review: The competition for the best foldable begins

Note: This review was first published on 25 July 2024.

Foldable generative AI with a phone?

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 worth a full review when Samsung has zero surprises in store for its highly established foldable smartphone?

Samsung has already marketed the Galaxy Z Fold6's new features as selling points. It’s now thinner and wider where they count. With its 2.7mm wider panel, the inner display is closer to a square, yet Samsung reduced the device's thickness by a whopping 1.4mm. 

TL;DR: Samsung has successfully transplanted Galaxy AI features to its highest-end foldable smartphone and further refined the leading book-style foldable. But the price increase makes it hard to swallow, especially for existing Galaxy Z Fold5 users.



The Galaxy Z Fold6 starts from S$2,548 and can be purchased on Samsung's website, its official LazMall store, and its Shopee store. For more offers, accessories and other details, check out our detailed pricing article and telco contract plans story.

As a premium device running on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, the phone also has Galaxy AI, but with even more AI features than what was launched with the Galaxy S24 Ultra. They are Sketch To Image and two new assistive tools (Transcript Assist for Notes and Browsing Assist for web browsing), which we’ve covered in great detail below. 

Other productivity-focused tools include PDF overlay (which translates text found in PDF, images, and graphs) and Composer (which refines texting and messaging copy before sending). Google Assistant has also been replaced with Google’s Gemini AI, which also changes how the phone returns search results, on-device or online.

The other upgrades aim to refine the book-style foldable phone's useability, like its 1.6x larger vapour chamber for heat management and a new dual-rail structure with a strengthened folding edge for the hinge. Topping it off is an improved IP48 rating for its water and dust resistance, while the previous handset did not have a dust resistance rating.

The triple rear camera system largely remained the same, with a 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, and 10MP telephoto (3x optical zoom) offering the same pixel size, field of view, and apertures found on the predecessor’s camera system. Nearly everything else we didn’t mention has stayed the same, functionally or right down to the numbers (refer to specs table). That includes its S Pen, an optional accessory that requires a compatible case to hold said stylus.

The most important number that did change was the price tag: The Galaxy Z Fold6 starts at S$150 more than before, and its 256GB version is offered at S$2,548. Is the new Samsung book-style foldable worth an upgrade, and is it a compelling choice?

Two steps forward, one step back

We will quickly share our thoughts about the Galaxy Z Fold6’s physicality before moving on to the host of new AI features that supposedly make the phone better to use.

In essence, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is moving in the right direction for its build (wider panel, slimmer profile). While it's not the main reason to drop S$2,548 on a new foldable, the changes are welcomed if you want less bulk in your hand or pants. After all, it is 14g lighter than its predecessor, which was itself 10g lighter than Galaxy Z Fold4, where we raved that the difference was keenly felt. Numbers don't really convey the actual feel, but the best we can do is to draw up the comparison below. If you're coming from a much older Galaxy Fold, you'll greatly appreciate the physical improvements:-

We also appreciate that it’s now IP48-rated against water and dust (the most robust of any foldable phone at the moment), meaning the new dual-rail structure and strengthened hinge helped to resolve old weaknesses in these foldables. The improved hinge also feels sturdy, but it doesn’t change how you can’t pry open the phone with one hand even if it is slimmer and lighter (editorial note: don’t). Dust-proofing the Galaxy Z Fold6 must have been quite an engineering feat since most foldables are also not officially rated against dust ingress.

That said, it saddens us that Samsung did not eliminate the most critical bugbear on its foldable phones even after six generations of book-style folding phones: the crease on its 7.6-inch, 2,160 x 1,856 pixels resolution Main Screen (which looks fantastic, by the way).

This concern is specific to Samsung’s book-style foldable only because it offers an optional S Pen accessory (the S Pen was not provided for this review, but we've tried it out via demo sets in Singapore and Paris). With the crease present, it diminishes Galaxy Z Fold6’s highly accurate annotating experience by introducing a physical “gotcha” running down the middle of the panel. Other foldable phone makers could get away with a mild crease simply because they don’t have an official stylus option.

More puzzling is that the thinner body also brought back its wedge-like fold, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold4. This means that the Galaxy Z Fold5 was the last Samsung book-style foldable with two parallel halves when closed (an example with the Z Fold5 closed). While the asymmetry is mild, we can't help but feel that Samsung's haste in reducing thickness meant overlooking the hinge's dimensions, which resulted in this folded state.

If the phone’s most affordable variant (256GB) didn't cost S$2,548, we’d think these shortcomings were part of the deal. However, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is now at its highest price since the Galaxy Z Fold3 debuted. We expected all the urgent kinks to be ironed out since the company is confident enough to raise prices, but they’ve somehow arrived at charging more for a slimmer version of an old design.

Serving Galaxy AI on a foldable platter

The software side of things, however, bears slightly better news. A considerable part of the experience comes through Galaxy AI, which you can read more about here.

Sketch To Image

One new Galaxy AI feature that launched with the Galaxy Z Fold6 is Sketch to Image. Available in Samsung’s in-house Notes app, Sketch to Image was made by Samsung to help its users express their creativity while taking notes or simply doodling away.

Once you’re done sketching in Notes, you tap on the Galaxy AI icon inside the toolbar above your work. You circle your drawing and select between five artistic styles (Watercolour, Illustration, Sketch, Pop Art, and 3D Cartoon) before hitting the Generate button. The Galaxy Z Fold6 takes approximately 20 seconds, using on-device generative AI to fabricate four versions of your chosen art style.

As seen in our example, Sketch to Image can turn a bunch of chicken scratches into presentable artwork that looks much less ambiguous than our original attempt. While it does generate cats with three eyes or two tails at times, getting four options meant that you'll still land on a favourable interpretation at some point.

You can also save the final result as an image to your Gallery app by holding a finger down on the artwork and hitting “Save Image”. Users can rest assured that Samsung makes it obvious it’s AI-generated art with a watermark at the bottom-left corner (sadly, it’s pretty easy to crop it out, so that needs a bit more thought). 

Samsung also said the image’s metadata would contain a tag indicating it was AI-made. However, checking image metadata isn’t exactly common knowledge, and it relies on users to actively verify things they see or read.

The Gallery app also supports Sketch To Image, where you can further enhance existing photos with generative AI (the same AI watermark and metadata still apply). Our TikTok clip above shows an example of this.

We tried pushing the limits of Sketch To Image and found that it’s pretty aggressive in avoiding sensitive subject matters. In this example, we added a poorly drawn shoulder-mounted machine gun to the AI-generated cat, but Galaxy AI decided that a blocky crossbow was more family-friendly.

It had no problems recreating an angelic cat with fewer details sketched out, so we’re led to believe there’s some censorship built into this feature. Time (and users) will tell if the censorship is heavy-handed, misguided, or just right.

Sketch To Image seems like a good addition for users who need to jazz up text-only notes with reference visuals. While its utility is appreciated, it still concerns the erosion of art in the face of generative AI derivatives. Hopefully, Samsung can find the balance of making Sketch To Image more practical across the whole device while preserving the dignity and value of artists.

As it is now, it’s a situational tool that may help users out in a pinch, and it’s basic enough to communicate a point without putting skilled artists in a predicament.

Transcript Assist

Transcript Assist is another new feature in the Galaxy Z Fold6. According to Samsung, you can voice record while penning down notes, and receive a transcript and separate summary attached to your memo.

In our trials, we found the feature lacking in a few ways. First, it’s not very different from separately recording notes while typing away in another app, as Transcript Assist did not attempt timestamping our notes. We half-expected Galaxy AI to be able to read our notes and append itself to the correct part of the recording using speech-to-text recognition and vice versa, so that’s a missed opportunity right here.

Second, the accuracy of the speech-to-text could be improved (the original video for reference is here). While it could identify and separate the correct number of speakers and separate them, the AI got many of the words wrong, rendering the transcript slightly unreadable without significant editing. While we don't deny that the recording had strong Singaporean accents, the speakers were enunciating words relatively well; hence, we think the AI needs more work.

What’s weird, however, is that the Summary perfectly captures the technicality of what’s discussed in the video clip with no errors (see screenshot). As expected of AI, it left out the more human aspects of the entire interaction (raising of voice, insecure tone in reply, and the uncomfortable static shot of one speaker). Even more impressive (and weirder) was that the Summary had accurate timestamps, although you can’t tap those timestamps to jump to the relevant section of the audio recording.

Transcript Assist has some ways to go before it can be a valid productivity tool, but we’re glad that Samsung is at least trying to increase the value of AI features beyond the sum of its parts. With a little more work in its accuracy, UI, and feature set, we can foresee Transcript Assist being indispensable to many white-collar workers and C-level executives who take less umbrage at doing their jobs. 

Browsing Assist

Finally, there’s Browsing Assist, which only works on the Samsung Internet app (the default web browser for Galaxy mobiles). In its three-starred Galaxy AI icon within the control bar above, Browsing Assist offers Translate (using Samsung’s on-device translation pack) and Summarise.

Summarise works well at abbreviating content even if it loses out on details (which is the whole point of summarising). Translate was also sufficient at capturing the essence of non-English articles we’ve tried, even if the translated content is not 100% accurate.

(Note: Samsung's translation tool is made in-house and currently only supports 16 languages. They've added Arabic, Indonesian, and Russian since Live Translate first appeared).

All in all, these new Galaxy AI features, which debuted with the Galaxy Z Fold6, are helpful. However, they don't require a foldable form factor to work well (since AI-assisted drawing, translation, and recordings can also be done on standard smartphones).

Rival phone brands watching Samsung closely would heave a sigh of relief since Samsung hasn't yet found a killer generative AI app or use case specifically for foldable phones (and patented it). However, users hoping Galaxy AI might have something special for their very expensive Galaxy Z Fold6 might disagree.

You’ll also notice we skipped past all the other aspects of the Galaxy Z Fold6, and that’s because the device functions just the same way as its predecessor did. You can still prop the phone up and watch content hands-free on its secondary 6.3-inch Cover Screen, and the handy Taskbar for drag-and-drop convenience is still around. The multi-window view also works just like before. You can check these features and capabilities covered in our Z Fold5 review.

Imaging Performance

There weren't massive changes to the Galaxy Z Fold6's camera system this time around. Samsung stuck to a 50MP main camera shooter (Dual Pixel AF, OIS, f/1.8, 1.0μm pixel size), 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.2, 2.0μm pixel size, FOV 123°), and 10MP telephoto camera (PDAF, OIS, f/2.4, 1.0μm pixel size, support for 3x optical zoom). The maximum digital zoom offered is 30x. Functionally, the imaging is identical to what the predecessor offers.

Nonetheless, we took some photos with the Galaxy Z Fold6 to verify that it's just as good as before. You get rich colours, with its software tuning doing its best to add life and detail into every shot taken. A considerable amount of tuning has been used in its ultra-wide photography since most ultra-wide cameras are nowhere as colour-accurate as Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold6. 

Understandably, the 30x digital zoom is there to check a box and to provide serviceable use. The other cameras at their regular zoom ranges can output awe-inspiring imagery, which is what we've come to expect from Samsung's pricey phone.

Benchmark Performance

The Galaxy Z Fold6 packs a Samsung-customised Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. This processor is primarily responsible for the phone's on-device AI performance and core browsing experience. A significant difference is that Samsung's chipset also has a 1.6x larger vapour chamber than its predecessor's, so we expect impressive thermal management on this device. 

We're pitting it against other SD8G3 rivals to see if Samsung's magical touch matters. For comparison's sake, we also include its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold5.

Putting it to the test

To find out how the competitors line up specs and price-wise, check them out in this link.

To find out more about the tests we conduct and what they relate to, we've jotted them down here.

Benchmark Performance remarks

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is one of the top-performing smartphones money can buy now, competing with other SD8G3 rivals. Compared to its predecessor, the gains are only significant if you're demanding plenty of graphical output, such as gaming or photography. The synthetic numbers imply it will be a similar experience to the Galaxy Z Fold5 if you're browsing the web, replying to messages, and generally recalling or moving files from your device.

Battery Life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life test to determine a modern Android-based smartphone's battery uptime in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage with a combination of both web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing (on documents), and more. 

It seems like the improved thermals on the Galaxy Z Fold6 helped in getting more uptime when compared to its predecessor. However, it's not the longest-lasting book-style/folder type out there, but that's fine since the phone will likely last the bigger part of the day (we benchmarked it on its Main Screen, like how we do for all book-style foldables, so you might get longer uptime if you rely on the Cover Screen more).

The phone's battery drain is manageable during heavy generative AI use. A mixed use of note-taking, recording, photography, and general browsing also took no more than 18% with two continuous hours of use.

The Galaxy Z Fold6 took about two hours to fully charge on regular charging. We couldn’t try its 25W wired fast charging since Samsung did not provide a charging adapter in the box. (Really? At a starting price of S$2,548?).

A good phone, but not a good upgrade? How's that possible?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is an excellent premium-grade phone in a precarious situation.

There’s very little to complain about on its own, given that Samsung has done an astounding job bringing one of the biggest mainstream AI-enabled book-style foldable phones to life. It also checks all the boxes one would expect from a pricey bar-type smartphone. Despite its big Main Screen, it clocked in better uptime than its predecessor. It feels even more durable than before despite Samsung making the device slimmer and lighter, and the company added just enough new features to Galaxy AI while keeping what’s excellent about it.

Undoubtedly, most users new to foldables would stumble upon the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and wonder why they didn’t give this form factor a chance. The Galaxy Z Fold6 retains the same sense of heightened productivity, novelty, and wonder as its predecessor. It's a pity the 6th-generation crease stayed, which can be off-putting to users who expect an expensive phone to have these kinks sorted out.

While we did share our gripes about some of the new Galaxy AI features offered via the Galaxy Z Fold6, we believe Samsung can improve them with enough user feedback, firmware updates, and better AI training models, so that’s not a cause for concern unless you’re raring to use AI to hack your productivity once you unbox the device.

Ironically, being an excellent device that repeats its success also meant that Galaxy Z Fold5 users would feel left out. They have no strong reason to upgrade to a Galaxy Z Fold6. There isn't a killer generative AI app that exploits foldable form factors, and some Galaxy AI updates will eventually come to their older phone. Also, while shaving a few millimetres off the Fold6 is nice, you can't deny that the Fold5 folded more neatly into parallel halves, unlike the Fold6's wedge fold.

With the current slate of Galaxy Z Fold6 changes (or lack thereof), you’re paying for a chipset and materials upgrade, which might not be your top priority if your Galaxy Z Fold5 is chugging along just fine. It doesn’t help when the starting price is harder to swallow, either. That’s also before we consider all the classic things that Samsung isn’t doing very well on, like excluding a charging adapter for such an expensive piece of equipment.

While Samsung still leads the foldables pack, its rivals are quickly closing the gap. Already, these opponents are hitting back with branded collaborations for photography, thinner and parallel bodies, improvements to UX, and minimal to no crease. Given how aggressive foldable development has turned out in recent years, we think Samsung's choice to play it safe makes it dangerously close to having its rug pulled from underneath by another brand.

Just because it’s not a wise upgrade doesn’t mean it’s not a good phone. Samsung is still at the top of the game, with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 flexing upon all other Android phone makers through its physical construction and software polish. In the generative AI arena, Only Google has something powerful enough to trounce Galaxy AI. The rivals' foldables are also not IP48 water-and-dust resistant. For now, Samsung holds firm with a complete package — inside and out, folded and unfolded, if you can stomach the higher price point.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is officially available now (from 24th July) at these official price points:-

• 12GB + 256GB config: S$2,548
• 12GB + 512GB config:​​ S$2,728 
• 12GB + 1TB config: S$3,088

Order the phone here:

• Official Samsung website
• Samsung LazMall store
• Samsung Shopee store

For more details on its offers and where to buy information, don’t forget to check out our pricing article here, or find out what the telco contract plans and offers are like.

Galaxy Z Fold6 users can also check out our article here for suitable phone cases as well.