To push the technological edge is what flagships are for. My first Samsung flagship experience didn’t start with the S series, it started with the Note Edge, a novel innovation in display where information could be presented in a curve off the side.
From there began the engineering of AMOLED screens that could flex and fast-forward to now, we have the 6th generation of foldable screens, taking this technology to the pinnacle of evolution. Complementing it, is the “smart” part of the experience, which started with a humble auto-complete keyboard, now grown into a full-blown predictive, context-driven and generative AI experience waiting to help and surprise you at every turn, or should I say, at every unfolding. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is hardcore engineering fused with excellence reached in the domains of display, performance and AI, ultimately coming together to give you a highly productive experience that just gets things done. One that perfectly fits a businessman. Read to know more.
Improvements in Design
Rounded corners have now given way to a more executive-looking, more muted and a less-flashy design. I am a big fan of this re-design because, number one, it makes the device look more serious. More ready for actual work. With the previous Folds, it looked more like a premium, more approachable design that wanted to please everyone, but here Samsung designers have gone for a straight-faced, no-nonsense aesthetic. This means, you will ultimately feel like carrying a digital wallet, an actual communicator, a style statement that screams “business”.
Number two, the matte finish looks classy. The material finish, the colors and the slight changes to the dimensions, all contribute to solidity and comfort at the same time. Although I wish Samsung had done the same corner radius on both the sides of the cover screen, we then realize that it’s the new hinge that demands this aesthetic.
The new hinge, which builds on the previous generation Fold 5, enables the complete folding experience, closing the display with no large gaps. I don’t know about you, but seeing this marvel of engineering in real life, I bow down with respect to the ones behind it. It’s reassuring, the closing and the opening of the fold, smooth and rewarding.
And damn, how did they make it so thin? The Z Fold 6 unfolded, is just 5.6mm in thickness and when folded, just 12.1mm. Down from 13.4mm in fold5 and 14.2 in fold4. The weight? It’s just 239g, which is as good as any other flagship these days.
A Tale of Two Displays
The centerpiece of the Z Fold experience is the display. Yes, both the displays have been upgraded. The cover screen is now a LTPO AMOLED 2X display, with 120 Hz refresh rate and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection. The display now measures 6.3 inches, and sports a nice, 2376×968 resolution. Before we go to the other one, I just want to say, this cover screen is easily one of the best displays I have seen on a flagship device. Maybe it is the aspect ratio and the size that makes it look so compact and small, that I almost forgot about the inner display most of the time.
This experience seems to match with others as well, as many in our team reported that the cover screen is so good that rarely, other than specific times, they needed to unfold. That was not the case with me exactly, but thanks to LTPO and super high 410 ppi, it really was a splendid time to spend, on the cover screen. Especially if the always on display is activated, the full screen just stays lit forever with literally zero impact on the battery. Just imagine having an always on screen, like the one on your watch, but it’s massive and super high-res.
On the inside, we have the new Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, at 7.6 inches, available with HDR10+ and peak brightness of 2600 nits. The first time I opened the fold, I was shocked. I really thought it was going to be subpar, considering the inner display is protected with plastic rather than glass, like on the outside. I mean, the experience on your fingers is absolutely different from touching glass, but the display experience was no different. The same vibrancy, the same brightness, the same dynamism of the refresh rate, just stunning.
OK, yes the crease is still there, it’s visible and can be felt while moving your fingers across it. I think it is an engineering issue to be out-innovated at a later time, but it definitely seems to have a lesser impact than before.
The 6:7 aspect ratio is not normal for anyone who is used to the wider cinematic screens that Samsung started introducing with the S8. There is no curve as well. But that’s what you get with the fold, because it’s all about productivity, like having two apps side-by-side, or having a docked set of icons available for access all the time. More on that later. In portrait, the Fold feels more like a book, and in landscape, it feels more like a vintage PC, with a CRT monitor-like aspect. Either way, it’s an experience that is uniquely exclusive to foldable screens. Thanks to the newly thinned down body, and a nicely distributed weight, the Z Fold 6, unfolded, is so good for one-handed use. Read a book, watch anime, browse the web, search with AI, check the stocks, respond to texts. Truly an all-in-one experience, with superb immediacy, awaits you with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The verdict is a big thumbs up and cautious optimism for its future.
The only setback for this experience would be the ability for small dust particles to enter and make some nasty scratches on the highly fragile screen-guard that is pre-installed on the inner screen. This screen-guard cannot be and should NOT be peeled away by us, because it is a protective cover for the folding screen. But the good news is, Samsung will always change it for free, if and when we approach their service centers.
Foldable Android, powered by Snapdragon
Driving two displays, and switching between them at near-instant speeds, is no mean feat. Right from the introduction, if there was one thing that made the Fold experience smooth and non-intrusive, was the raw power that enabled it under the hood. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy is what we get in this latest edition, and it is blazing fast, everywhere. Most likely, during the experience, you will definitely forget that the Fold is powered by something so fast, because when something’s so good, it generally fades away into the back and puts YOU in the front seat.
This is exactly how I would say I felt, during the course of my usage. 4nm, 8-core configuration, 12GB of RAM, UFS 4.0, all contribute to an invisible experience of raw power. Putting you in the center of the fold experience is what it does, aided ably by OneUI 6’s amazing quirks and fancies, but before we get into that, check these benchmarks and satisfy your need for authentic numbers.
That out of the way, Android 14 and OneUI 6.1.1 have come together to offer not just features, but a large dollop of efficiency as well. If you can ignore the seemingly random warming up of the device, which seems to be the case in almost all the devices these days, possibly due to smaller and smaller footprints, then what you are left with is, blazing fast performance in every aspect of the UI, including multitasking, opening of heavy apps, loading them into small windows etc. All these features are easily available at your fingertips, with buttons and gestures requiring almost no new learning curves.
For an existing Fold user, it is easier than ever, but even for a new user, it is so simple now that it is mind-boggling to say the least. Take for example, if you want to use two apps at the same time, just long press on any app in the multitasking window, and instantly, the UI will indicate split-screen functionality, with smooth animations. Place it on the left, or right, no problem, the scaling will happen in a jiffy, with no visible lag. This is one of the primary reasons why the experience is so good that things start to get out of your way, and you go through all the things that you want to do, close the screen and be done with it.
Solid Cameras
When laid flat on a table, the Fold 6 struggles to lay fully flat because it continues with the tradition of having some nice cameras on its back, three lenses and its metallic armour, jutting out, inviting you to take it for a spin. Although the configuration has remained the same (50 for the main, 10 for the telephoto 3x, 12 for the ultrawide), the clarity has been taken up a notch thanks to some AI smarts that are working overtime on the processing, to give you some of the best outputs in literally all the conditions.
The cover screen’s front camera is also decent, with the same 10MP sensor and the additional 4MP under-screen camera is suited for video-calls only. Nevertheless, there are features like the “cover screen preview” which lets you use the front screen as a selfie-preview for the main cameras, which means, you can literally take an extremely high quality selfie using the 50MP sensor, which has a large 1micron pixel, or even record amazing vlog footage with it. It’s one of the best party tricks as well, because a lot of people were in awe when I showed them this feature. Take a look at the samples and decide for yourself.
Multimedia and Comms
Before we dive into the world of AI, I just wanted to touch upon the last bits of experience when it comes to hardware. The speakers sound excellent. They are loud, full and optimally take advantage of the available space in the device. The stereo speakers are great for multimedia consumption, and they are tuned by AKG. When it comes to comms, the network reception and the call quality was always top-notch, and I never faced any sub-par experience while using the Z Fold 6.
Galaxy AI
Surely, the entire universe is now revolving around this phenomenon. Yes, the large language models are here, and they have started infiltrating all aspects of our lives, including our smart devices, of which the Fold is at the top of the value, so naturally, it should get the best, right? Truly, it does get the best of the Galaxy AI experience, because for the first time, we have on-device, generative AI. From the ability to turn any portrait into an art work or adding generative elements into any photo, or even turning a rough sketch into art, such magic is now possible on devices like the Galaxy Fold 6. Nope, it is not available for any other smart device right now. This kind of exclusivity really spurred me into trying these features and in the end, I stopped using them because they really need to get better at this. Truth be told, GenAI is still at really early stages of evolution so expecting some massive improvement with on-device is a far-fetched expectation, which I should ask everyone to lower. Reality is far from hype. Here are some images I had used AI to generate.
Not so great, right? But don’t worry, that’s not the end of Galaxy AI. It permeates into all other kinds of places, like the gallery for example, where with the S24 series, we already saw how powerful it had become. It’s the same set of amazing editing features that let you remove objects, fix faces and so on. These features are still the best implementation that I have seen, when it comes to AI being used to fill cut-outs and remove literally anything you want. And how about those beautifully depth-mapped portraits in the camera? Well, those are powered by AI as well! These things are now taken for granted.
The next set of new experiences from AI come down to note-taking, summarizing, translation and so-on. This is the chatty side of the AI experience, where we get to interact with content on the screen, or text. We can make the AI listen to our audio and create a transcript, a summary of the transcript and translate it into any language. Powered by Gemini, we can talk to AI directly and get whatever the help we need, directly in the messages app. The “circle to search” which I rarely used, is definitely useful to segment out parts of an image and let AI read and gather information around it. I would say, these features are part of the most delightful aspects of AI, and they have started to “just work” the way they are expected to work. These are truly magical times we live in, and getting to experience them on this device is a godsend. Verdict is, forget the GenAi experience and dive deep into the textAI, we’re good and so productive.
Battery Life
Initially, when I started using the device and checked the specs, I was a bit worried that 4400 mAh might not be enough to sustain such a powerful device with two screens. I was wrong. The main reason was the cover screen. It’s just way too good at reducing the display frequency to 1Hz and increasing standby battery life, because you still get to see the screen. Similarly, the inside-screen and the Snapdragon experience ensured that I got things done really fast, closed the display and moved on to doing what I am supposed to do in real life. This way, the battery concerns faded away, and I was rarely in search of a charger. Just put it in charge at night, and we are good. Yes, there is no crazy fast charging like the Chinese brands, but what we get is a stable charging speed and hopefully long life. A long life is definitely needed, for the price we are spending on this product.
Pricing and Conclusion
“It’s overpriced, too costly.” is the first response I get when I mention the price to anyone. Well, that’s what technology is. Additional expenditure. The worth will be decided by the buyer according to their needs. Let’s say, you are a businessman, who has way too many things to take care of, on a daily basis. You want things to get out of your way, you don’t want to wait, you want to refer to two things at a time, or more. You want to gather information using AI tools and summarize the briefings in your mails. Furthermore, you want to use many specialized apps to make yourself more productive, you need really good battery life and an always-on screen. At the same time, everything should be pleasant.
If you’re this person, then I will recommend the Galaxy Z Fold 6 to you, without batting an eye, without thinking for more than a second. Sure, there might be other foldable devices on the market, but they too, are hovering around the same price range, and then it comes to brand preference. For now, Samsung is the best bet, for they have the deepest experience in servicing the Fold customers for the longest period. Hence, pricing should always be put into context and 1.6 lakhs, although, seems high on paper, for a person who makes this amount or more every day, the Fold 6 will be a great companion.
This is why I call the Z Fold 6 a business man’s flagship. It’s the combination of the stunning new squarish design, the display technology that enables amazing productive features in software, aided by the advent of AI, assisted by a solid set of cameras and enabled by blazing fast performance that doesn’t kill your batteries. You’re in for a ride that takes you to the heights of productivity in such a small form factor. The future of personal computing is morphing, and it looks highly likely that it will resemble something in the form of a foldable device. Take the bet, have fun.
The Galaxy Z Fold6 starts at Rs. 1,64,999 for the 12GB+256GB model and goes up to Rs. 2,00,999 for the 12GB + 1TB model. It is available from online and offline retailers with offers.