Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: AI Features Make It Even More Powerful

 

Earlier, discussions about foldable phones primarily focused on their design. However, the focus has now shifted towards the phone's productivity. Recently, Samsung launched its new foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 6, in both the global and Indian markets. We received this phone for review, and we tried to meticulously assess its productivity features along with its performance and design. After using it for around 15 days, here’s our experience.

Samsung Galaxy A06 listed on Google Play Console site, may launch soon

Design Let’s start the review with the design. First, I must say that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 looks very similar to its predecessor, the Fold 5. However, the company has made some subtle changes, which only those who have used both phones will notice. For instance, the corners have become slightly sharper, whereas the previous model had more rounded corners. There are also minor changes in the rear panel design. While the camera placement in the previous model was in a ring design, this time it has been provided in a ridged style. These are the kind of small changes you’ll notice in the phone.

Model Comparison:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: 153.5 x 132.6 x 5.6 mm, 239g, IP48 rating.
• Vivo X Fold 3 Pro: 159.9 × 142.4 × 5.2 mm, 236g, IPX8 rating.
• OnePlus Open: 153.4 x 143.1 x 5.8 mm, 239g, IPX4 rating.

One thing worth noting is that the foldable phone has become slightly thinner and 15 grams lighter than before. As far as build quality is concerned, the company continues to offer a premium phone with a solid build. Another noteworthy improvement is that the phone is IP48 certified. Previously, Samsung only offered water-resistant foldable phones, but this time the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is both water and dust-resistant. The company also claims that the hinge in the new phone has been significantly improved and is now better equipped to handle shocks and impacts. The body is constructed with an aluminum frame, while the rear panel is safeguarded by Gorilla Glass Victus 2.Overall, in terms of design, the phone looks quite good, the build quality is solid, and it has a premium feel, but there isn’t much novelty in the design. The changes made are also not particularly significant.

Display Along with the design, the display has also seen a few changes. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with a 6.3-inch cover display, offering a resolution of 904×2316 pixels. This screen is safeguarded by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for enhanced durability. Compared to the previous model, the screen size has slightly increased. Another significant upgrade is the adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz, which supports a range of 1-120Hz, as opposed to the static 60Hz refresh rate in the Fold 5.

Photo Credit:youtube.com/@Mrwhosetheboss

When you switch from the cover screen to the main screen, you get a 7.6-inch AMOLED 2X screen with a resolution of 2160 x 1856 pixels. This screen also supports a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The company has provided a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, ensuring a good viewing experience even in bright sunlight.

Model Comparison:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: Cover Screen: 6.3 inches, Main Screen: 7.6 inches, 120Hz refresh rate, AMOLED panel, 2,600 nits brightness.
• Vivo X Fold 3 Pro: Cover Screen: 6.53 inches, Main Screen: 8.03 inches, 120Hz refresh rate, AMOLED panel, 4,500 nits brightness.
• OnePlus Open: Cover Screen: 6.31 inches, Main Screen: 7.82 inches, 120Hz refresh rate, AMOLED panel, 2,800 nits brightness.

The large screen enhances the experience of watching videos and gaming, and its Flex Mode proves to be quite useful for meetings and other tasks. The display is good, and the invisible camera further improves the experience. However, one downside remains: the crease is still visible, and a large black spot appears during video playback.

Despite these shortcomings, the phone’s productivity features compensate for them. Whether it’s composing emails on the large screen, creating drawings, or using multiple apps simultaneously, everything becomes very easy with this phone. The phone also supports the S Pen, which is a good feature, but unfortunately, despite the high price, the S Pen is not included with the phone and must be purchased separately.

Hardware When it comes to hardware, there’s no shortage of performance. This phone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, one of the most powerful processors this year. The phone offers up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and comes in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB storage options, with support for UFS 4.0, which is a good feature.

We ran several benchmark tests and played heavy games, and there was no lag in performance. Notably, the phone did not experience significant heating issues. It managed to score up to 1,772,746 on AnTuTu. While this doesn’t make it the best in its segment, it’s still a good score. On Geekbench, it scored 2,287 in single-core and 7,096 in multi-core. As for graphics, the GFXBench scores were also satisfactory, with 7,432 on Manhattan and 6,710 on T-Rex. In the PCMark performance test, the phone scored 17,895.

Although it may not lead in AnTuTu scores, it excelled in the CPDT memory score, surpassing all others with a random write speed of 36.57MB per second, the highest in its category. The random read speed was 34.49MB per second.

The phone also performed well in gaming. We played Call of Duty on maximum settings, and the frame rate went up to 48.57 FPS. The gaming session started at 29.8°C and only increased to 32.1°C after 30 minutes, with an 8% battery drop. Real Racing 3 started at 28.6°C and reached 31.7°C after half an hour. In BGMI, the phone got slightly warmer, starting at 26.4°C and heating up to 33.9°C in 30 minutes. Overall, the phone managed heat well, likely benefiting from its large body. However, gaming on such a large display can tire you out quickly, but there was no lag at all.

Software This phone runs on Android 14 with One UI 6.1.1. Samsung’s UI is user-friendly and similar to pure Android. However, the most talked-about feature this time is the AI capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.

The phone includes a Note Assist feature that records meetings and presents them in a simplified format. The company has also added a new Translate feature, which now presents these notes in your preferred language. What makes this feature particularly powerful is that it can even read and translate PDFs.

Additionally, the phone offers a Sketch to Image option, which is quite impressive. This AI feature converts images on your phone into sketches, giving them a unique look. The Portrait Studio app is also impressive, transforming your portrait photos into artistic styles.

However, the most useful features for us were Chat Assist and Composer, which are highly practical for daily use. These features not only change your writing style during messaging or emailing but also check spelling and grammar. However, they are less effective when used with regional languages. Chat Assist can type messages up to 125 words, while Composer handles long emails and text files. A nice feature is that if you’re not satisfied with the writing, you can ask it to rewrite the email.

Photo Credit:youtube.com/@Mrwhosetheboss

This year, Samsung introduced the Dual-screen Interpreter feature with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, allowing live translation during conversations with someone who speaks a different language. This feature has been further improved with the Fold 6. Now you can view live translations on both the main and cover screens. On the main screen, you can read the translated speech of the other person in real-time, while the cover screen allows the other person to read your speech in their language. The Fold’s dual-screen and Flex Mode features are also quite impressive.

Model Comparison:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: One UI (Android 14), 48 preloaded apps, 7 years of software updates, 7 years of security updates.
• Vivo X Fold 3 Pro: FunTouch OS 14 (Android 14), 46 preloaded apps, 3 years of software updates, 4 years of security updates.
• OnePlus Open: OxygenOS 13 (Android 13), 40 preloaded apps, 4 years of software updates, 5 years of security updates.

However, the translation feature still struggles in some areas, particularly with languages like Japanese, but overall, it’s a very useful feature.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with Google AI, Gemini, integrated. Although this app is available on the Play Store, it comes pre-integrated with this phone. It assists you throughout the search process. During the initial setup, you can customize its shortcut to suit your needs. This app replaces Google Assistant, allowing you to search using text or voice, and you can even add photos for searching. Features like Circle to Search are also available. Overall, the experience was good, but I would say that there’s still room for improvement.

Camera The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with a triple rear camera setup, along with a cover camera and an under-display camera. The cover camera is 10MP with an F/2.2 aperture, supporting an 85-degree field of view and 1.22-micron pixel size. Meanwhile, the under-display camera is 16MP with a 1.0-micron pixel size. This camera supports an F/1.8 aperture.

Photo Credit:youtube.com/@Mrwhosetheboss

As for the rear cameras, the setup includes a 50MP primary camera with an F/1.8 aperture, 23mm lens, 82-degree field of view, and 1.0-micron pixel size. There’s also a 12MP ultrawide camera with an F/2.2 aperture, 123-degree field of view, and 1.12-micron pixel size. The 10MP telephoto lens has an F/2.4 aperture, 36-degree field of view, and 1.0-micron pixel size. It offers 3x optical zoom and a maximum digital zoom of 30x. The company has also added dual-pixel autofocus this time.

The best part of this phone’s camera is its flexibility. For example, you can click a selfie from both the cover and main cameras. If you’re a professional photographer, you can use the main screen for an accurate viewfinder, adjust light and colors, and take photos using the Flex Mode. You can capture images from almost any angle. However, the image quality, particularly in low light, is not up to the mark. Although the AI mode makes it better, it’s still not as good as other high-end phones like the iPhone 15 Pro Max or the Pixel 8.

Battery Despite all the features, one thing hasn’t changed: the battery. The company has provided a 4,800mAh battery with the phone, the same as the previous model. During our testing, we found that the phone easily lasted a full day with average usage, which is sufficient for any foldable phone. It supports 25W fast charging, allowing the phone to reach a 50% charge in 30 minutes.

While it would have been better if the phone came with a larger battery and faster charging, it’s sufficient for a foldable phone. You can charge it wirelessly, and reverse charging is also supported, so you can charge other devices using this phone.

Model Comparison:

• Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6: 4,800mAh battery, 25W fast charging.
• Vivo X Fold 3 Pro: 5,000mAh battery, 30W fast charging.
• OnePlus Open: 5,200mAh battery, 35W fast charging.

Final Verdict If you’re considering a foldable phone and are already a Samsung user, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a good option. It’s particularly beneficial for those who want to take advantage of AI-based features. However, if you already own the Galaxy Z Fold 5, upgrading to the Fold 6 may not make much sense, as there aren’t many significant changes.

This phone is the best option for users who want to enhance their productivity with AI-based features and multi-screen modes. However, keep in mind that the camera performance is slightly weaker than the competition.