Review: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6

The basic idea of a foldable phone is a large screen area without the phone itself becoming unreasonably large to hold and carry. In the case of the Galaxy Z Fold 6, this means you have a relatively large, almost square screen on the inside and a long, narrow outer screen. You can use both screens simultaneously, which has a small point in combination with Samsung's new AI services for translation, and you also have the option to purchase and use Samsung's S-pen for drawing and note-taking. But only on the inner screen. The pen has at least an expanded use case because some of the new AI services can turn even clumsy sketches into more of an actual artwork.

Still, much remains the same since the first generation of foldable phones made their debut several years ago. Samsung was early, but has stuck to the original concept and hasn't made any major changes. Therefore, it's no surprise that a recent report found that most people who buy a foldable phone today have had a foldable one before. Those who haven't already been tempted to get a foldable phone earlier have not received any new arguments in recent years. Foldable phones, especially of this type that fold up like a book, are and will likely remain a small niche market.

As a new type of phone, it is likely that the pure product design and specifically the durability of the hinges and the foldable screen are what have changed the most. The name of the phone, Galaxy Z Fold 6, reminds us that this is the sixth generation of foldable phones, and particularly generation 3 was plagued by quality issues where we saw examples of the screen cracking at the fold just months after purchase. The problems do not seem to have been as extensive in Fold 4 and 5, and in the step to Fold 6, Samsung has added dual rails in the hinges and improved the screen's fold with upgraded screen layers. However, we do not have a clear picture of exactly how extensive the improvements are, other than that we hear every year that there are extensive improvements in how the folding mechanism works.

In the early days of the product category, there was a gap between the screen halves in the closed position, which increased the risk of sand or gravel getting in between and damaging the screen. Now, in addition to the hinge being more reliable, the phone is also water-resistant, protected according to IP48, so it can withstand a dip.

It handles other things as well, in terms of function. Looking at the phone as a whole, it delivers top performance but cannot challenge the best phones when it comes to cameras or screen. Sure, the foldable screen in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is clearly larger than those in traditionally designed phones like the S24 Ultra, but the plastic surface makes the surroundings reflect more easily, so you don't get the same sharp, clear image. The cameras in the phone are five in total. You have three cameras on the back, with both optical zoom and wide-angle, but nothing that can compete with dedicated camera phones like the S24 Ultra or Xiaomi 14 Ultra. So, there is a clear compromise involved when you buy a foldable phone, besides the fact that they differ significantly from others in price level. The selfie camera in the foldable screen is, as before, hidden in the screen but at the cost of the images being blurry, low-resolution, and blotchy with poor color reproduction. The images are so bad that one almost wonders why the camera is even there. In terms of usability, however, Samsung has succeeded. The selfie cameras can also be used for facial recognition when you unlock the phone, and it works well. Whether you use the fingerprint sensor in the button on the side or facial recognition in the inner or outer screen, it works smoothly.

I mentioned that most people who buy a foldable phone today are those who already have one and want to upgrade. And those who do will find it familiar. You can use the inner, foldable screen with multiple apps simultaneously in split-screen mode, and it's relatively smooth to drag icons from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen to open a new app alongside the existing one. This way, you can drag images into a document, take notes while watching a video clip or TV broadcast, or browse the web and chat about the content simultaneously. However, it's a shame to exaggerate the possibilities of being truly productive. After all, the screen is still small compared to a computer or tablet, and as soon as you bring up the on-screen keyboard, the space for content on the screen becomes clearly limited.

Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with Samsung's AI services in Galaxy AI, which for those who have followed the marketing has probably been hard to miss. Galaxy AI includes a range of different services primarily related to translation and image editing. The AI services were introduced earlier this year in conjunction with the release of the S24 series, and now Samsung has managed to refine and add some services. However, the translation functions still do not work with Swedish, but it is reportedly coming later this year. Samsung is working hard on it. For now, I have to settle for conversation translation, interpretation, and transcription from a handful of languages such as English, German, French, Chinese, Spanish, and Korean.

With these foldable phones, direct translation has been introduced so that both you and the person you are talking to can follow a translated version of your conversation on each screen.

It can be used to make oneself understood, with some misses. Especially in social situations, it is difficult to explain to the other party what they should do for it to work, and the fact that the phone is foldable adds no clear added value.

When it comes to AI for image editing, I want to take you on a little journey. Galaxy AI was introduced with the ability to highlight a person or an object in your image and then remove it or resize it so that AI can fill in the empty area. This feature is now also available here. It allows you to remove a person who walked by in the background when you took your picture or something else that disturbs the expression in the image. It often works well, but can also go completely wrong. For example, when I remove a person from a group photo, the AI decides to replace that person with a giant cactus instead of, as I intended, a more generic background. There is thus a large element of randomness in the results, so a new attempt can yield completely different results.

Example with AI Editing

As an example, we can start with the image below.

I begin by selecting the person on the left. Then I get to choose to either remove them completely or resize them. I choose to remove and see that the person is replaced with a pole in the middle of the road. Not optimal.

When I remove another person in the next step, the result becomes more credible, and this is also true when I then remove the flower arrangement and AI generates a believable door that was obscured by the flowers.

AI in Galaxy Z Fold 6 can also be used to generate new subjects in the image. With the S-pen, or directly with your finger, you can sketch something and let AI create a photorealistic image that is integrated into your photo. Here, for example, I try drawing a motorcycle. As you can see, while the motorcycle is being generated, AI also takes the opportunity to remove the pole it previously accidentally created in the background and also remove other parts behind the motorcycle. The results can thus be surprising and are rarely predictable.

How much actual benefit from Galaxy AI you will personally get is hard to say. Given the results I see today, it is more of an entertaining trick to show to friends and something that you might quickly tire of once the novelty wears off. But as we know, development in AI is fast, and there is certainly a chance that the function will become more capable and thus both more fun and useful in the near future. Especially, we can look forward to full Swedish language support later this year.

Galaxy AI is at least something where the S-pen comes into use more than before because you can draw on images and create photorealistic objects, and you can also get AI's help in the Notes app to transform messy sketches into something significantly nicer.

So far AI and images, but before you start processing your images, you should use the cameras to take the pictures. We have touched upon the cameras in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 earlier in the text, but to delve a little deeper, it involves a main camera accompanied by a wide-angle and a telephoto with 3x optical zoom. You miss out on both the higher resolution and the more extreme zoom that, for example, the S24 Ultra provides. Instead, the cameras in this foldable are on par with the simpler S24, but they offer good color reproduction and take good pictures even in poorer light. The wide-angle camera also maintains good quality in more challenging situations. The selfie camera, as I mentioned, is the low point in terms of camera performance.

Own apps and other thinking

When it comes to software, Samsung includes a wide range of its own apps and services and promises industry-leading seven years of Android updates. With the price tag currently at 25,000 kronor and up, it's difficult to justify the price in terms of functionality, and also to see the target audience for foldable phones growing larger than it already is. Lower prices and more innovation in both software and hardware are needed for that to happen. And on that point, Samsung is being outpaced by most competitors who also offer foldable phones.

Questions and answers

How beneficial is a large, foldable screen?

The almost square shape limits its usefulness. Watching a movie, for example, results in black bars, and the size difference in actual screen area compared to a regular mobile is sometimes negligible. There's no real window management like on a laptop, not that it would be useful on a screen of this still small size.

Heavy and bulky?

Yes, but not extremely. It weighs one gram less than the non-foldable iPhone 13 and 14 Pro Max and 18 grams more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The OnePlus Open weighs exactly the same as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

Selfie master?

In a way, yes, because you can use the outer triple camera to take self-portraits and see the result directly on the outer screen. However, the inner selfie camera on the large screen is terrible.

An alternative

The foldable in this format that has convinced us the most is the OnePlus Open.

Camera example

The camera provides good pictures without overly saturated colors, but at the same time has clear compromises compared to the best camera phones.