Samsung’s latest foldable smartphones, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, bring modest updates rather than major overhauls. These updates focus on durability and minor design improvements, but they come with a price hike.
The Z Fold 6 now starts at $1,899, while the Z Flip 6 is priced at $1,099. Both phones use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, specifically tuned for Samsung, and promise seven years of OS and security updates.
Both models claim better resistance to drops due to an improved hinge design and materials, along with more durable inner flexible glass. They now carry an IP48 rating, offering protection against objects of 1mm and greater, but not dust. This is a slight improvement from the previous IPX8 rating, which lacked any dust resistance.
The Z Fold 6 features a slightly wider outer screen, addressing previous complaints about its narrow dimensions. It now has a 6.3-inch outer display with a 2376 x 968 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, while the inner display remains at 7.6 inches.
The phone is also lighter at 239 grams, down from 253 grams. Camera hardware remains largely unchanged, with a 50-megapixel main rear camera, a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto, and a new 12-megapixel ultrawide camera promising better low-light performance.
The Z Flip 6 retains the same 3.4-inch cover screen as its predecessor, making it smaller than the 4.0-inch screen on the Motorola Razr Plus. Software updates for the outer screen are minimal, focusing on smart reply suggestions, more widget options, and new interactive wallpapers. However, significant updates include a larger 4,000mAh battery and a vapor cooling chamber, marking a first for the Flip series.
The Z Flip 6 also features the same 50-megapixel main camera as the Fold 6 and base-model S24 devices, along with the new ultrawide camera. It offers an increase in RAM to 12GB from 8GB in the base model and starts with 512GB of storage instead of 256GB. These enhancements are presented as justifications for the increased pricing.
AI features introduced with the S24 series are present on both the Z Fold 6 and Flip 6, including a new “sketch to image” feature for the S Pen and an updated interpreter mode that leverages the foldable screens for displaying translations.
Preorders for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 are available now, with general availability starting July 24th. Samsung also offers a new Z Assurance program, which includes one free replacement of the factory-installed screen protector and a discounted screen replacement.