Verdict
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 does n’t convert much on the design front , but there are some significant changes elsewhere that make this a smart pick for those after a grapple foldable .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Last yr , Samsung ’s entire folding marketing budget was build around a construct : join the flip side . The insinuation being that as soon as you saw one of these bend smartphones in the state of nature , you would n’t be able to help yourself but to buy one .
The problem was , that for most of the years these phones have be there have been some moderately serious downsides to own one . The cameras were bad . The displays were uncollectible . The public presentation and barrage life were worse . And they were n’t very durable .
So where are we now ? With the Z Flip 6 , it palpate like we ’re reaching a point of maturity , or that we ’re close to a point where those compromises are minimal .
Design
catch the blindingly obvious out of the way first : any gadget with moving parts – like a hinge in the middle – is going to be less durable than one without . And not just because it inaugurate a stage of weakness in the frame of the speech sound when open , but also because the display on the inside is going to be subjected to a lot of movement and pressure , in the center of the showing .
In senior models , this has conduct to wakeless users discover the outer protective stratum flake off off from the display underneath .
We ’re told this time that thing are more stalwart and indestructible than before . The flexible joint is stronger , and more impact resistant . And that ’s something you’re able to feel .
The opening and shutting motion is smooth , and there ’s very little in the room of diarrhoea or squirm room in ecumenical . It ’s for certain the most stable - feel foldable flip telephone set I ’ve test so far .
Part of that touch is down to the unanimous , flat aluminium edges operate around all four sides , but also the hinge mechanism that is noticeably sloshed and stronger than most .
It ’s worth just give in here the detail that this phone actually has some debris resistance for the first prison term . It ’s got an IP48 rating , which stand for it ’s about as water - resistant as it gets , and can stop mote larger than 1 mm from getting inside it .
That ’s not completely dustproof by any mean , but a darn site well than thing have been in the past .
The best thing about Samsung ’s approach to this case of gadget , however , is the same as before : it ’s exceedingly compact when it ’s exclude . Small enough that it ’ll fit inside the small internal sac of a span of lam shorts at a stretch .
It ’s commodious , prosperous to carry around , and has a design that somehow bridge a interruption between minimalism and prettiness . No doubt helped by the playful colours available .
Screens
In 2023 , with the Z Flip 5 , Samsung introduced its first clamshell smartphone with a properly usable display on the cover . At the time , it was a reasonably big ascent from what was essentially a ticker display on the Z Flip 4 . However , it was already dwarf by the larger exhibit on the Motorola Razr poser . And this class , that comparing is even more contrasting .
Samsung nonplus with the very same 3.4 - inch cover show on the Z Flip 6 , which is kinda utile , but its humble size does have in mind that for tasks like reading and reply to messages , or seafaring in Google Maps , it ’s a petty bit more of a cramped experience than you ’d witness on the compete Motorola .
Unlike the Razr 50 ultra , you do n’t get to load any app you want on the outer silver screen . There ’s a preselected group of apps that will work , and this feature is n’t even enabled by nonremittal . It ’s a Samsung Labs feature of speech , effectively urinate it a beta software purpose .
Still , for those apps that do cultivate , it ’s convenient and mean being able to rapidly reply to messages on the fly without need to spread up the phone . Being capable to navigate around unknown areas , keeping the phone firmly in hold and seeing the next spell on the outer display is useful too .
What Samsung does do well with the outer display is those frequent , agile interaction - eccentric functions . thing you do regularly on your sound , but possibly not function you think about too much . Things like seeing what euphony go after you ’re listening to and skipping to the next track in your playlist .
you could custom-make the screen quite a lot too . you could add up full - blind widgets for thing like weather , calendar and Samsung Health data , or if you desire to , cluster widgets together on one silver screen to redeem swiping through them severally .
As always , it ’s useful for set up up hand - devoid selfies and picture shooting . And because that hinge designing is uncompromising and has the right amount of resistance , you’re able to set the telephone set to almost any angle to buck those .
There are both positives and negative with the large 6.7 - inch internal folding display on the Z Flip 6 . In the ‘ professional ’ tower , you have the fact that you do get this large display panel that folds down into a convenient pocketable build .
But , it is worth remembering one inescapable truth : it may be large in diagonal measurement , but the surface area is n’t really all that vast .
For instance , theGalaxy S24 Plus – a standard smartphone – also has a 6.7 - inch display . But because the aspect ratio is less narrow , you get quite a circle more actual display literal estate . That matter when you ’re catch 16:9 or 18:9 video ( aka – most video ) , because the Z Flip ’s slimness works against it here , adding middling heavy pillar - fisticuffs to any of those common video formats .
It means , despite technically have a 6.7 - column inch display , a lot of the time it feels like watching a 5.3 - inch display , which is pretty petite by advanced monetary standard . Of naturally some apps – like YouTube – let you amplify to fill the space , but if you do that , you ’ll inevitably stop up with slices of the TV crop out .
It ’s clear then , that this internal display has some way to go before it ’s as skillful for watching movies and TV shows on as a more traditional smartphone projection screen . peculiarly when you add in the aforementioned issue with optical lucidness , reflections and fingerprint blot .
Still , as foldaway displays go , it ’s really rather good . I essay it side - by - side with the latest Motorola competitor , and – compared to that phone – the presentation was almost always clearer and crisper . It was more seeable even in tricky conditions outdoors in bright daylight , specially when I was n’t look at it directly head - on while shooting photos and video at clumsy angle .
So while it ’s still not up there with the top monotone deoxyephedrine panels , it ’s among the best on a folding headphone , strictly because it seems dependable at handle reflections and cutting through those than a wad of other plastic film - crown flexible panels .
It ’s also capable of pass crest of 2600 nit , with 120Hz adaptive refresh rates and AMOLED good to ensure that it ’s bright , legato and vivacious .
Cameras
Cameras – as mentioned – have been a fleck of a weak office for foldable telephone set in the early class . Especially with Samsung ’s Galaxy Z Flip line . However , thing are beginning to change for the latest model .
Now , you do n’t get the triplex - camera or quadruple - camera systems you ’d find on S24 Plus or S24 Ultra , which means you do n’t get a dedicated zoom lens . But in my time with the Z Flip 6 , I did n’t bump I really missed it all that much .
Part of the reason for that is that it has the same 50 - megapixel basal camera that ’s in the Galaxy S24 + . It ’s a very strong performer , in middling much any situation . Whether it ’s bright daylight , equally light up , heavy backlit with passel of fantasm , dusk , night time , indoors or out – you may pretty much guarantee the telephone will take a pictorial matter quickly , dependably and give you a undecomposed final result at the end of it .
A big part of that is the look-alike processing done by the internal hardware and algorithms , but it ’s also the improved detector in that main camera , which is better at capture light and creating depth of field than its predecessor .
The other benefit is that because it ’s a comparatively large , high-pitched - resolution detector , it can sensor crop without losing much in the mode of particular or clarity . That means when I press the 2x soar option , or even the 4x rapid climb option , I can still get sharp , good - look shots with lilliputian in the way of crudeness or noise ( at least in day ) .
It is worth noting , at 4x , especially in lower sluttish situations , there ’s a sense that the algorithm or AI processing colours in some of the texture and detail , so that it looks more like a drawing than a naturalistic photographic gaining control , but I was still by and large impressed that I never really felt the need for a zoom television camera .
Plus , it ’s get an ultrawide lens too so , unlike the newfangled Razr 50 Ultra , you may still get those super wide landscape and images if you need to jam in as much into the frame as possible . It ’s still a footling weak compare to the master photographic camera , with images look a petty grainier and rough compared to the primary quill , but it check colours well and is utterly fair to middling for bright scenes .
Video is similarly hard and offers effective stabilisation while shooting handheld on the move . With 4K@60fps , vibrant colours and effective processing of spark and contrast , telecasting appear good too . It does a large job of assure vivid skies do n’t get blown out and over - exposed while keep your face or subject from being too sullen and shadow , even using the hapless internal photographic camera .
It does still have something of an stilted coloring , making blue sky attend a scrap too blue at time – even giving grey overcast days a blue hue – but it ’s a dependable system that makes seizure of exposure and video recording uncomplicated and convenient .
Performance
With Samsung announcing the summation of thecustom Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxyprocessor and a vapour chamber for the first time in its grapple Flip series , I had high Leslie Townes Hope for the performance of the Z Flip 6 . And , for the most part , those Bob Hope were well - placed .
There ’s no denying the Z Flip is a powerful earpiece . It ’ll benchmark up there with some of the big , beefiest flagship monstrosity . It can technically reach gamy inning rates , and run games form of address with high visual configurations enabled , without too much trouble .
There is something of a caveat here though : it can lam them , and scarper them really ably , but only for scant bursts of time . Once I initiate stress - testing over longer periods , really putting the Z Flip to labor , it start getting noticeably warm in the top half , under the glass near the cover screen , and frame rate became a snatch inconsistent .
It is deserving noting here , however , that this is when running exam specifically designed to put phone under extreme stress . For anything you ’re likely to do with it – unless you ’re gage for hours in Call of Duty or Genshin Impact at their highest possible options – it ’s unlikely you ’ll experience this .
For fooling games , social medium , and any quotidian - type examination I could think of hunt down it through , the Z Flip held its own really well . There was no sluggishness , slowdown or overheating .
Even after 30 minutes of Mario Kart Tour play along now by 60 proceedings on Netflix , it did n’t seem to heat up too much at all , and it stayed smooth , fluid and reactive .
Software and AI
When it comes to the Z Flip 6 ’s software package experience , affair are much the same as they have been . You get a few optimisations for the foldable form element . For illustration , there ’s the power to promote whatever app you ’re in to the top one-half of the display if you part close down the phone , and have controls on the bottom one-half .
For apps without custom controls , you get a touchpad for controlling an on - projection screen cursor , which is pretty cool . As well as rent screen and screenshot ascendence and the option to drop down the notification spook .
For apps with dedicated ‘ flex ’ mode , things are even more commodious . YouTube , as an lesson , will give you playback controls for the video you ’re watching . The tv camera app will give you camera controls , and if you hold it like an old - school camcorder in the video gaining control musical mode , it ’ll give you a handy small touchpad for zooming in and out of the scene .
Otherwise there ’s AI stuff , as with any new Galaxy . As well as all the other usualGalaxy AIfeatures there ’s also a productive image feature article that lease you chalk out on any photograph , and it ’ll generate a realistic or 3D object to constitute that sketch . And it can be both astonishingly dear , and surprisingly bad .
For illustration , I draw a crude kat in one pic , a frog in another and a butterfly in yet another . It translated them perfectly , even using the vividness I ’d used in the resume . However , when I tried to draw a classic Loch Ness Monster in a lake – with the three humps sticking out of the water – it take out me seagulls . And when I try out likewise to draw a shark ’s fin menacingly approaching some actual seagull resting in a pool , it generated picayune remote control sailboats . There ’s workplace to do here , still .
And of trend , there ’s the Portrait Studio lineament which can mother digital theatrical performance of your selfie in toon or sketch stylus which is kinda merriment , for about five mo .
There ’s also the long - terminus software promise to consider as , with a thumping seven years of OS upgrades to issue forth , the Z Flip 6 will persist in to get updates long after much of the foldable competition has been go out by the wayside .
Battery Life
If you ’re a clean user , the Z Flip 6 might just be your dream telephone when it come up to battery seniority .
If you ’re the case of person whose phone is mostly in understudy , screen locked , off , and used for perhaps an hour or two a twenty-four hours – especially if you use the outer display for quick replies and updates – then there ’s a luck you could get this telephone through a couple of days between charges .
With my own casual , relatively light usage at abode of 3 time of day or so of blind clock time mixed between a few low - intensity apps and tasks , I could end up the twenty-four hour period with around 35%-40 % left . On a really light day with only an minute on screen , that was closer to 80 % . In short , it ’s fabulously buttoned-down with shelling succus when not in participating use .
If , however , you ’re more likely to spend anywhere between 5 - 6 hour using the interior display for gambling , scrolling senselessly through brusque picture streams or WhatsApping constantly , you wo n’t struggle to enfeeble the Z Flip ’s comparatively diminished 4000mAh battery in a day . Especially if you ’re move around a lot in an urban area with 5G.
I ’m very much not in that kind of area , and so my shelling usage is generally a lot less demanding than for a lot of buyers .
The battery being so small does have the vantage of being able to refill relatively quickly though . It can do closely 60 % in half an hr plugged in , or most 75 % in 40 minutes based on our examination . After that – to do the final 25 per cent seems to take an age – so it may well be that it ’s still a case of necessitate to keep it stop up in overnight for a heap of people .
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Should you buy it?
Samsung ’s refinement of the Z Flip 6 think of it ’s closer to being a no - via media foldable than ever .
The experience on offer from the Flip 6 ’s 3.4 - inch cover cover remain fairly circumscribed compared to the likes of theRazr 50 Ultra .
Final Thoughts
In the end , I ’ve derive by from my time with the Z Flip 6 without the same tactile sensation of enjoyment and excitement as I did with some of the elderly poser . That ’s perhaps a dear thing though , because instead of introducing raw , capricious or nerveless feature , this clock time Samsung focused on practical advance .
The strength feels well this fourth dimension , the powerful processor is n’t as hamstring by the want of efficient cooling , and even stamp battery spirit from the relatively low capacity is pretty solid . The photographic camera does n’t sense like much of a weak spot any longer either . Even the video display seems better in brighter condition .
In short , it ’s a sheath of the common compromises that total with close down flip phones being understate to the point where this is really a solid all - round phone . It might not be as exciting as theRazr 50 Ultra , but it ’s the phone I ’d feel less guilty recommending to any ally or kinfolk , because it ’s reliable , moderately sturdy and works really well .
It ’s still got some weaknesses , but they ’re far less intrusive or hampering than they used to be .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every mobile phone we go over thoroughly . We utilise industry - standard tests to compare features properly and we habituate the earpiece as our primary twist over the inspection catamenia . We ’ll always assure you what we find and we never , ever , bear money to go over a product .
FAQs
It has an IP48 dust and pee resistance rating , mean it can live being submerged in up to 1.5 m of water for up to 30 bit , and it can repel rubble larger than 1 mm too .
Samsung has intrust to seven O upgrades for this twelvemonth ’s grapple foldaway .
Test Data
Full Specs
