The king, however for the way for much longer?

Nobody has been making foldable telephones longer than Samsung. And for the primary few years, the sheer variety of enhancements we acquired on the Galaxy Z Fold line meant it didn’t actually have any competitors. However extra just lately, the tempo of innovation has slowed whereas new challengers just like the OnePlus Open and Pixel Fold have arrived. Now for 2024, Samsung has strengthened the Galaxy Z Fold 6 with a stronger however considerably lighter body, a brand new ultra-wide-angle digicam and a bunch of AI-powered instruments. Sadly, not a lot else has modified, leaving us with a really iterative improve. So whereas the Galaxy Z Fold 6 stays the most effective all-around massive foldable in the marketplace, it looks like complacency is eroding Samsung’s lead amongst flagship versatile telephones.

Photograph by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Even with out a new primary digicam, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold’s sleeker design, brighter screens and native stylus assist are sufficient to take care of its rank as the most effective massive foldable cellphone in the marketplace.

Professionals

• Tremendous shiny and colourful show
• Even lighter chassis
• Nice battery life
• Native stylus assist

Cons

• Much more costly than earlier than
• Identical primary digicam because the earlier two Z Folds
• S Pen not included
• Charging speeds may very well be sooner

$1,900 at Samsung

Design and shows: Tweaked dimensions with even brighter screens

After eliminating the hole between the display (when closed) on final 12 months’s cellphone, Samsung has adjusted the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s dimensions once more for 2024. However the adjustments are so small you must measure them in millimeters. When closed, the cellphone is simply over one millimeter thinner and whenever you open it up (in portrait), the primary display is 2.7mm wider however one millimeter shorter. It’s not a ton, however you do get just a little more room for activities. And naturally this additionally impacts the outside Cowl Show, which is about 1mm wider as nicely — simply sufficient to make utilizing its on-screen keyboard extra forgiving.

Elsewhere, all the cellphone is sharper, from its boxier edges to the extra squared-off corners on each screens. Samsung additionally says the Enhanced Armor Aluminium used within the Z Fold 6’s chassis is about 10 p.c stronger than earlier than, however I hope you’ll forgive me for not dropping it on goal simply to search out out. Holding all the things collectively is a brand new dual-rail hinge. And this time, I believe Samsung has nailed the right steadiness between one thing that’s straightforward to open but in addition holds its place whenever you need it to. However the largest design improve is a 14-gram weight discount in comparison with the earlier mannequin. Granted, that may not sound like a lot, however now the Z Fold 6 solely weighs round 4 grams greater than its non-foldable cousin, the S24 Ultra. And on an already heavy cellphone, this modification makes an enormous distinction.

As for the shows, as somebody who’s been utilizing the Pixel Fold loads just lately — which has a stable display in its personal proper — can I simply say, Samsung’s panels are so choice. Not solely has peak brightness improved to 2,600 nits for each shows identical to on the usual S24 household, Samsung has subtly shrunk and flattened the bezels, so the cellphone appears to be like much more like {a magazine} come to life. And till I see one thing higher, that is merely the most effective display on an enormous foldable proper now.

Efficiency: Expectedly speedy

The Z Fold line has by no means been sluggish and this 12 months we acquired the identical improve to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as we noticed on the S24, whereas base RAM is staying pat at 12GB. And as you’d count on, the Z Fold 6’s efficiency is quick and responsive. There’s no lag when doing just about something and due to the addition of a bigger vapor chamber on the within, the cellphone stays cooler throughout longer classes, which is a pleasant bonus to all of the avid gamers on the market who like taking part in on a very big-screen gadget.

Cameras: Principally unchanged

In the case of pictures, I’m a bit dissatisfied with the Z Fold 6, not as a result of it may’t take an honest pic, however as a result of I do know Samsung can do higher. For this go round, Samsung has caught with a trio of rear cameras, choosing a brand new 12-MP sensor for the ultra-wide lens — and it’s fairly good. However on the identical time, the ultra-wide lens is the one I exploit the least in day by day use, and it is not shut.

The opposite two cameras – the 50-MP primary and 12-MP telephoto with a 3x optical zoom — are stable, however they’re the identical ones Samsung used on at the least the earlier two generations. In a photograph of some strawberries, the Z Fold 6 produced a scrumptious pic with deep saturated hues and nice particulars. On the identical time, although, you can too see the marginally exaggerated heat tones you usually get from Samsung cameras. And at evening, the Z Fold produced a phenomenal pic of a flower in a really difficult backlit atmosphere.

The difficulty is that after Google launched the Pixel Fold, Samsung doesn’t actually have an excuse for saddling the Z Fold 6 with downgraded pictures when in comparison with the S24 Extremely. The Pixel Fold has an extended 5x optical zoom and an edge in general picture high quality. Simply check out two zoom photographs taken by the Z Fold 6 and the Pixel Fold. In a vacuum, Samsung’s picture doesn’t look dangerous. However then check out the Pixel’s picture. It is noticeably sharper and extra detailed.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 digicam pattern versus Google Pixel Fold

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 digicam pattern versus Google Pixel Fold

And it is the identical factor in actually low-light conditions, just like the one I took of some Bluey collectible figurines, the place the Pixel Fold captured a much less grainy, sharper and extra well-exposed pic. And after being pleasantly stunned with the cameras on the S24 Extremely, it’s a disgrace Samsung’s costliest cellphone sits in second place on the subject of pictures.

AI options: Enjoyable and sometimes helpful, however not important

As we noticed again originally of the 12 months, Samsung has introduced the Galaxy AI suite it launched on the S24 to the Z Fold 6. And by and enormous, a whole lot of the options are the identical together with issues like Chat Help which you should use to generate social posts or emails whereas deciding on a wide range of tones. There’s additionally assist for Google’s Circle to Search together with translation and summarization instruments. A pair new tweaks for the Fold is that now the cellphone can translate textual content in place as an alternative of spitting it out into an enormous unformatted blob, which is good however type of situational. And I ought to point out, Google Lens already gives related performance. Maybe the extra essential one is the flexibility to do dual-screen translations, so every individual can see textual content of their language in real-time, relying on what facet of the cellphone they’re taking a look at.

Some new additions are the Portrait Studio instrument that may create an AI-generated drawing of somebody primarily based on a photograph and a spread of kinds like comedian or watercolor. It’s enjoyable and it’s good for fun or two, however I’m unsure how helpful it is going to be regularly. There’s additionally the Sketch to Picture characteristic that lets you add a easy drawing to an present picture after which have the cellphone generate a extra sensible rendition of it in your closing picture. I nonetheless suppose Samsung’s fundamental AI picture modifying instruments are probably the most helpful of the bunch, as they make it straightforward to delete distracting objects or do easy contact ups. However as soon as once more, all of this feels extra like bonus content material slightly than core necessities.

Battery life: Nice longevity however may use some sooner charging tech

Whereas Samsung didn’t enhance the scale of the 4,400 mAh cell within the Z Fold 6, the cellphone does have barely higher battery life as a result of improved vitality effectivity from its new chip. On our video rundown take a look at, it lasted 20 hours and 7 minutes when utilizing its massive primary display and 25 hours and 19 minutes when utilizing its exterior cowl show. That first quantity is even higher than we noticed from the Pixel Fold (15:22) and OnePlus Open (19:19), so in case you want a big-screen cellphone with ample longevity, the Z Fold 6 is the simple decide.

Sadly, its charging hasn’t modified a lot. You continue to get 25-watt wired charging and 15-watt wi-fi charging, that are each fairly mediocre figures in 2024. And whereas I wasn’t anticipating to see assist for Qi2 magnetic charging on the Z Fold 6 after Samsung opted to not add it to the primary S24 line, I’m nonetheless a bit miffed {that a} cellphone this costly is chopping essential options off the spec sheet.

Wrap-up

It wasn’t way back when virtually each part on the Z Fold line was unmatched by its rivals. However now telephones just like the Pixel Fold exist, which gives higher general pictures. Then there’s the OnePlus Open, which weighs the identical because the Z Fold 6 even after its latest food regimen. And let’s not overlook, each of these rivals are 2023 fashions. Plus there are Chinese language rivals just like the Honor Magic V3 and the upcoming Xiaomi Mix Fold 4, that are each thinner and lighter than Samsung’s champion.

Don’t get me fallacious, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 remains to be an excellent foldable, an ideal one even. It’s acquired glorious efficiency, robust battery life and helpful options like native stylus assist. However it looks like in spite of everything this time sitting fats and completely happy on its throne, Samsung has a diminished starvation for whole domination. As an alternative of long-awaited options like a built-in S Pen or an improved under-display digicam, we acquired a bunch of AI-powered instruments and methods, that are enjoyable however not true spotlight sights. And at $1,900 — which is $100 greater than final 12 months — the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is the costliest it has been for the reason that Z Fold 3. However I assume that is the value you pay Samsung for having such a protracted reign on high.