New Delhi: It must be an impossible task to balance. The expectations from customers weighed against continuity with what works as it should. That has been the conundrum facing Samsung over the years since it attained a benchmark lead with foldable Android smartphones a few years ago. They have all the right to take it easy if they wish to, for they attained this finesse much before any other Android phone maker even got to the start line. Apple hasn’t even gotten on that mission. If you are complaining that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is far too similar to the Galaxy Z Fold5, at least on the spec sheet, you’re only considering half of the story.
You’d of course look at the price tag, and there, it’s a significant step up. Rs.1,64,999 now gets you the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage config. Last year, the same outlay would get 512GB of storage. Now that’s Rs.1,76,999 while the 1TB storage spec crosses the Rs.2,00,000 mark and sports an exact price tag of Rs.2,00,999. With the Galaxy Z Fold5, this storage spec would demand you part with Rs.1,84,999 instead. That does raise the question about how we define a generational upgrade over incremental updates. Is this mix of the new and the continuity, enough to push users to upgrade, and to stave off competition from the very capable (and don’t forget the Zeiss camera optimisations) Vivo X Fold3 Pro and the value for the buck OnePlus Open?
Also read: For Vivo X Fold3 Pro, three generations of refinements define characteristics
There’s a slight reduction in the Galaxy Z Fold6’s footprint and thickness, significant weight reduction (239 grams compared with 253 grams; great for ergonomics), of course, the latest generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and a cover display that’s only marginally larger but improves usability manifolds. Yet, the overall design language doesn’t change much, the camera troika is still being carried forward two generations later and while there is a significant dose of AI to play with, the One UI software feels familiar (perhaps too familiar for some; but difficult to complain because it is certainly a complete experience).
Speaking of which, Samsung is following through on the promise of 7-year OS and security updates first made with the Galaxy S24 series. That sounds like a great support ecosystem to have for the lifetime of a premium smartphone in your hands and pocket. Yet, quite who will hold Samsung accountable for their promise if they waver at some point down the line, remains to be seen. Secondly, it is unlikely that as many as 7 years down the line with this hardware, any phone maker will be able to promise smooth performance with the then-latest software.
What doesn’t change is how Samsung continues to deliver slick multi-window implementation, switching between the foldable and cover displays as well as app-specific utility. None of this would be new to existing Galaxy Z Fold users, at least true for the previous handful of generations), and a lot of it is familiar territory for Samsung smartphone users in general. In that, the Galaxy AI suite ushered in by the S24 flagships, is making its mark on the foldables too. Mark my words, you’ll find Circle to Search useful to the extent that when using an Android phone that doesn’t have it yet, you’ll tremendously miss it. Extensive utility across the suite, such as transcribing audio recordings (I find this very useful as a professional utility) and translating phone calls live which may be relevant for a demographic. For the former, don’t forget to download language packs too from the app settings.
Also read: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: AI bets, human nature and a generational shift
Photo editing smarts of course play a big role in the Galaxy AI pitch. Moving subjects around, erasing an unwanted object in the frame, filling the background and so on. But you’ll probably spend a lot of time with the Portrait Studio and Sketch to Image, particularly useful with the S Pen. The way the latter works is, that you can either sketch something (even a rough one would do, don’t worry about your lack of drawing skills) or even an image, and server-side AI processing will find a way to integrate a realistic-looking addition into the image you selected in the first place. How about adding some clouds to an otherwise plain landscape sky? Very much possible.
The beating heart of this flagship phone isn’t just any Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, but specifically, the SM8650-AC spec, where the “AC” represents the specific customisations “for Galaxy”. Those are specific optimisations for hardware with Samsung’s One UI and Galaxy AI layers but doesn’t change the basic performance characteristics of this flagship chip. I’m never the one for synthetic benchmarks to define a smartphone, but this across similar tasks feels as far as the Galaxy S24 Ultra. That pegs it close to the top of the best-performing smartphone charts, with other notable mentions being the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, the Vivo X100 Pro and the OnePlus 12. Noticed that I didn’t mention the OnePlus Open? That’s now half a generation older, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 – expect a refresh anytime soon.
Cameras, a topic of much debate and discussion, must be addressed. The Galaxy Z Fold6 uses the same three cameras as the Galaxy Z Fold5. Indeed, the Galaxy Z Fold4, before that. To be carrying forward the same specs for three generations, particularly when the Vivo X Fold4 Pro has the Zeiss optimisations and the OnePlus Open leans on Hasselblad’s expertise, is either incredibly brave or a massive miss by Samsung. Depends on how you see it. The undeniable trend is, that foldable around are stepping forwards quite a bit with photography performance. Much to the extent of their flat slab flagship counterparts.
Also read: OnePlus Open review: New benchmark for foldable phones with key software smarts
Without a doubt, Samsung has left a lot for image processing advancements to do, to fill a supposed deficit. That works to an extent. Scene Optimiser, for instance, is now a bit more restrained with dialling up colour richness, and the differences in photos with or without are more subtle. Outdoor, daytime photos look pleasing and retain details quite well – even more so in the higher resolution 50-megapixel mode, which you must switch to if the object or scene has a lot of finer details you’d want to crop into. Skin tones are handled better in general, but if you’re taking a portrait, there seem to be more aggressive corrections of finer skin and facial features.
But this is where we inevitably reach that proverbial virtual ceiling with a couple of generations-old optical hardware. Low-light photos, particularly if there are people involved, require some work to get through the sort of detailing you’d want – there is a slight lag in image processing in these scenarios, something you’ll notice soon enough. Move the phone after tapping the shutter button too soon, and you may find faces slightly blurred. Then there’s the dated telephoto, which often turns out photos that look a tad too soft, but nothing a slight sharpness tweak cannot handle.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 proposition in 2024 isn’t having the sort of cakewalk that its predecessors had the luxury of. The reason being, the aforementioned competition that’s at its strongest showing, till now. There’s a lot of perception and knowledge credit in the bank, having had years of an unassailable lead to still rely on.
Also read: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is all about polish, a new hinge and benchmark refresh
For most intents, Samsung has done just about enough to improve the Galaxy Z Fold6 on most fronts that matter – a design that’s more usable and reassuringly robust with a redesigned hinge, display improvements, more power under the hood and now a thick layer of utilitarian AI tools. However, for many from within Samsung’s smartphone user base and indeed first-time foldable buyers, cameras may hold more weight, than perhaps Samsung’s approach to this foldable generation may value. The competition can be given some credit for that. But has Samsung done enough to warrant an undeniable all-rounder tag for the Galaxy Z Fold6? Absolutely.
