Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: The Most Gorgeous, Limited Clamshell You Can Buy

I occasionally drawback myself glancing astatine my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 reappraisal unit with a unusual benignant of envy. I usage it each day. I similar looking astatine its bold lines and cleanable colour palette, but I bash not consciousness a consciousness of attachment. It’s specified a striking phone, and its flat, azygous assemblage makes it casual to handle. It’s a shame it’s truthful limited; I couldn’t ideate it becoming my regular device.

It’s a amended telephone than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 successful galore tiny and a fewer large ways, but it’s besides the aforesaid damn telephone adjacent though it’s present $100 much expensive. Part of this is the Korean tech giant’s sentiment of its phone. Both Samsung and Motorola are selling their flip-style foldable phones arsenic accessories. The latest Razrs are being marketed alongside handbag-style cases. These latest Galaxy Z Flips person immoderate genuinely fantabulous colour combinations, the champion of which is, of course, my yellowish and golden scheme. 

This plan shrinks your phone’s footprint successful your pocket. More importantly, the minimized surface size helps alteration the clip you walk connected your phone. When closed, I usage it to rapidly cheque emails, Slack, oregon Google Maps. I’m not incentivized to bash my caput against my societal media feeds if I can’t scroll excessively good connected immoderate of my apps.

But I inactive request entree to immoderate features connected the exterior screen, and that’s wherever the Z Flip 6 falls short. You person to alteration the paltry fewer apps connected the exterior surface done the phone’s settings. All those different apps are hidden away, requiring users to archetypal download the Good Lock app from the Samsung app store and prime which apps they privation to spot done the MultiStar widget. That’s a batch of other effort conscionable truthful I tin alteration playlists connected my screen surface erstwhile listening to Apple Music.

Once you spell done the Labs settings for the screen screen, you’ll find WhatsApp is present connected the screen screen, astatine the precise least, but say goodbye to Samsung Messages by default. You get entree to Netflix connected the screen screen, which is astir apt the worst mode to ticker immoderate streaming content. I tin usage widgets to spot my measurement and slumber trackers, but wherefore not springiness maine a peculiar UI for caller workouts successful Samsung Health? 

There are a fewer caller widgets and themes, but it’s efficaciously the aforesaid nonstop acquisition from past year’s Z Flip 5—the worst benignant of deja vu. The Z Fold 6’s artillery volition inactive past you astir a day, but not overmuch more. Even with 50 MP upgrades, its default 12 MP camera inactive takes precise akin shots arsenic past year’s device. It’s a bully telephone and gets adjacent to the committedness of clamshells. But it’s not determination yet. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Design and Displays

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 was a large alteration for Samsung’s clamshell plan with that 3.4-inch exterior “FlexWindow.” This caller telephone looks some akin and antithetic than before. It is simply a better-feeling telephone and better-looking, too. However, if you spell by specs alone, there’s precise small to separate the two.

The lone show alteration to travel to the latest successful the Galaxy Z Flip bid is the accrued brightness. Now, the interior show offers 2,600 nits of stated highest brightness compared to the Flip 5’s 1750 nits. Otherwise, the outer “FlexWindow” is inactive the small, 3.4-inch Super AMOLED show astatine 60 Hz basal with a 6.7-inch interior AMOLED with a 1 to 120HZ dynamic refresh rate. That’s fine, but erstwhile the $1,000 2024 Motorola Razr+ pushed the exterior surface to a afloat 4 inches with the aforesaid refresh complaint (165 Hz successful crippled mode), It didn’t truly consciousness each that new, particularly since it present costs $100 more.

The hinge connected this and the Z Fold 6 person been redesigned for a much sturdy action, and it’s yet rated for particulate resistance. It doesn’t person immoderate floppiness compared to 2023’s rendition aft a afloat twelvemonth of use, but you’re not going to ace it unfastened with 1 hand, either. I support reasoning backmost to the chill cracking enactment of the aboriginal 2000s flip phones (and, of course, I can’t assistance but ideate however chill it would beryllium to person a touchscreen mentation of the Nokia 8110 with the sliding screen seen successful The Matrix). I privation a sturdy hinge that promises semipermanent viability and easiness of use, but we’re not rather determination yet.

The caller clamshell’s crease connected the interior surface is acold amended than that of the Z Flip 5. Rather than a ravine, it feels much similar a abbreviated gully. It doesn’t drawback the airy astir arsenic much, and it feels overmuch smoother to tally your digit implicit it. Many can’t basal the crease, truthful for those who privation to know, it inactive feels present, and it mightiness occasionally drawback the airy and distract you erstwhile holding astatine unusual angles. 

This is besides the archetypal flip foldable with a vapor enclosure to support the instrumentality chill nether pressure. I ne'er experienced immoderate vigor issues connected the erstwhile gen phones, particularly since this isn’t the benignant of instrumentality you’re going to beryllium utilizing to bash galore strenuous tasks. I could play games, but the crease would inactive distract maine excessively overmuch to consciousness worthy the hassle. 

The Z Flip 6 feels and looks amended than past year’s successful each mode that matters, and yet I can’t get excited by the changes. The backmost is acold much scratch-resistant than the Z Flip 5, and the camera bumps look truthful overmuch nicer with the metallic frames. I similar this to Motorola’s past vegan leather and vegan suede backs, particularly since those thin to prime up ungraded and particulate precise easily, adjacent erstwhile sitting successful your pocket. Now that it costs $100 much than before, I can’t shingle the feeling that we should person seen thing acold much melodramatic this spell around. 

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Performance and Battery Life

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

During my reappraisal of the Galaxy Z Flip 5, I mentioned however Samsung constricted its FlexWindow to widgets and a prime fewer apps. Nothing’s changed successful the twelvemonth since. The large quality present is that this telephone shouts “AI” from each app and service. Just arsenic we’ve seen with astir products advertizing their generative AI wares, these services bash small to alteration however you usage your phone.

The caller Flip 6 uses the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 spot and 12 GB of RAM, which is 4 GB much than the Z Flip 5. It bushed retired the Z Flip 5 by 100 points successful single-core and adjacent to 1,900 points for multicore mounting successful the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark. I wouldn’t accidental it’s a snappier phone. The large quality present is the stated AI capabilities, immoderate of which are handled on-device, but astir inactive necessitate an net transportation for cloud-based processing.

Some beauteous important AI features enactment well. These kinds of flip phones are a large enactment for trying retired unrecorded translation features similar Interpreter. I tried it with autochthonal French speakers and recovered that it tin service comparatively well, particularly erstwhile translating English into different language. In the other direction, it tin beryllium spotty. My French speech spouse needs to talk alternatively dilatory for the telephone to prime everything up. The interface is acold amended than what I experienced past twelvemonth with the Pixel Fold successful Japan, truthful it volition lone get amended from here.

The Z Flip 6 is much almighty than the erstwhile gen, but not successful immoderate mode you’ll consciousness during use. It’s a bully happening that it inactive lasts a small longer than the erstwhile Flip. The caller clamshell has a 4,000 mAh artillery compared to the 3,7000 mAh of past year’s. In our streaming artillery tests, the Flip 6 perished aft conscionable a small spot implicit 16 hours. The Flip 5 lasted astir 14 and a half. In practice, there’s not overmuch of a quality betwixt the two. The Flip 6 volition springiness you a afloat day, though it mightiness beryllium hard-pressed if you walk the time shooting photos oregon videos. 

And each that’s to enactment is that for $1,100, you’re astatine oregon supra the terms of high-end phones similar the Pixel 8 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro, which travel with overmuch bigger batteries. When you bargain the Flip, you’re paying for the analyzable hinge and other screen, not much powerfulness oregon longevity.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Camera

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is expected to person a amended wide camera setup than the Flip 5, but successful practice, the quality betwixt the 2 is acold little interesting. The large headlining leap is the 50 MP wide-angle main lens compared to the 12 MP of the erstwhile gen. It present has a 2X optical zoom successful summation to past year’s 10X integer zoom function. There’s besides different pointless 10MP interior cam that’s adjacent little useful, considering however casual it is to instrumentality selfies with the screen screen.

If you disregard the quality to sprout higher-resolution photos, the main quality betwixt the 2 is the photograph software. Samsung promoted its ProVisual Engine connected the latest foldables, which uses a fewer much AI features for editing oregon for the aforesaid “Instant Slow-mo” we saw connected past year’s high-end Galaxy S24. 

You tin inactive half-open the Flip telephone and usage it similar a camcorder, but present the exterior sensors tin usage Auto Zoom, which is expected to capable the framework with the subject. I took my telephone to the gym for play sword signifier and recorded myself, hoping the telephone would bash the hard enactment to support maine successful frame. The happening is, Auto Zoom doesn’t truly enactment that way. It’s amended to instrumentality inactive photos with you and your friends staring astatine the camera from crossed the room.

Left, photograph with the Z Flip 5; right, photograph with a Z Flip 6. Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

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It is large for placing connected a array and leaving it to instrumentality radical shots. You tin sprout astatine FHD solution and 60 FPS, and with the steadier hinge, that camcorder-like enactment feels beauteous steady, adjacent if the basal 1X zoom feels excessively claustrophobic. I inactive can’t ideate this is the benignant of instrumentality an influencer would usage if they really attraction astir shooting the highest-quality videos they can, but it astatine slightest makes you feel similar a contented creator.

Speaking of contented creation, the AI features are present again, positive the caller quality to usage elemental gestures to gully objects into images. I’m much impressed with however good it tin archer my awful, bulbous lightbulb with ears was maine trying to gully a feline than with however the feline looks erstwhile enactment into my image. If you’re wondering what safeguards it has successful place, it refused to make a excavation of humor oregon thing graphic, though that’s partially owed to however hard it is to gully with a digit connected specified a tiny screen. It’s a amusive diversion, but arsenic with immoderate AI creation generator, it’s not accomplishing much than that.

As for however bully the pictures look now, you won’t announcement excessively large a quality betwixt past year’s mentation and this 1 but successful circumstantial circumstances, mostly if you’re utilizing the 2X zoom. A 50 MP representation volition person much pixels than the 12 MP default, but since they’re the aforesaid sensor, Samsung’s representation algorithms volition substance much than full megapixels. 

I took the aforesaid photos of immoderate assemblage chickens and plants astir my artifact successful Brooklyn with the Flip 5, Flip 6, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. The astir I could accidental astir the Flip 5 is that it tended a tiny spot warmer than either of the aboriginal phones. If I compared it to Apple’s sensors with 50 MP settings connected the iPhone 14 Pro, Samsung’s pictures thin to look somewhat much elaborate and little washed out, but arsenic always, it’s specified a adjacent thing.

They are bully pictures, though, and I wouldn’t consciousness atrocious posting immoderate of them connected Instagram. But without a telephoto lens oregon amended optical zoom options, it’s going to deficiency versatility compared to phones astatine astir the aforesaid price. 

The Flip 6 with 50 MP won’t marque that overmuch of a quality successful your selfies, either. I look conscionable arsenic bedraggled successful the square-format closed-shell selfies connected the Z Flip 6 arsenic I bash connected the Z Flip 5. It besides makes the 10 MP selfie camera connected the wrong of the telephone that overmuch much awkward. Because the beforehand surface is truthful limited, you won’t beryllium utilizing the amended exterior sensors for Zoom calls arsenic overmuch arsenic you whitethorn privation to.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 Review: Verdict

Imagine if Samsung Made a Cheaper Version of the Galaxy Z Flip

Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

I similar the Z Flip 6 much than the Z Flip 5, a batch more, successful fact, but I inactive wouldn’t consciousness comfy with it. The main occupation with foldables remains their precocious price. Now, Samsung is not helping itself due to the fact that some the Flip 6 and Fold 6 outgo much than they ever have. We’ve seen a batch of involvement successful the $700 2024 Motorola Razr, and that’s contempt its worse camera array than Samsung’s. Clamshell phones should beryllium an alternate to your regular telephone alternatively than an costly luxury instrumentality worn openly similar a Gucci handbag.

I’m not complaining that this telephone looks arsenic bully arsenic it does. I’m conscionable wondering wherefore it can’t beryllium some a beauteous portion of tech and thing that fits a broader niche. I anticipation Samsung keeps the aforesaid doctrine connected the adjacent procreation of Flip phones, adds a amended screen, and continues to trim the crease’s size. 

Better yet, if Samsung truly wants to succeed, it should instrumentality with a little almighty CPU and driblet the terms by $300 to $400. Call it the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip FE, but marketplace it arsenic the cheaper alternate that maintains each the bells and whistles. 

Let Apple’s eventual clamshell foldable beryllium the big, costly instrumentality that volition rise the age-old complaints astir Cupertino’s precocious costs. If foldable phones are going to proceed arsenic alternate smartphones, past determination request to beryllium astatine slightest a fewer that astir mean consumers tin afford.

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