The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is officially here, kickstarting a new generation of Samsung foldables into a more competitive landscape than ever. So the question is, has Samsung offered any noticeable improvements from last year's Galaxy Z Fold 5?
That's a tall order. The Z Fold 5 was a pretty good improvement in its own right. With a thinner, lighter design helped by a new Flex hinge, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 felt more polished than ever before, and Samsung addressed one of our biggest complaints by improving image quality via from previous editions thanks to software fine-tuning.
Has there been a noticeable improvement? Our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5 comparison looks at what's likely to change, based on our testing.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Specs
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Price and availability
Samsung has been charging $1,799 for its high-end foldable since the days of the Galaxy Z Fold 2. That's what the phone maker charges for the Galaxy Z Fold 5, but sadly that has now changed. The starting price for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is now $1,899 for a 256GB model — $100 more than you would have paid last year.
It's not ideal, especially since we had been hoping for a low cost version of Samsung's foldable in the form of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 FE. But since that has reportedly been canceled, we're left paying even more for our foldable fix.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is on sale right now. Pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 are open until July 23, ahead of the foldable going on general sale on July 24.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Design and display
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 introduced some key design changes to Samsung's foldables lineup, highlighted by the Flex hinge, which allows the phone to close all the way flat, without the gap we had come to expect from previous Folds. The new design helped the Z Fold 5 feel more streamlined, too.
Initial Galaxy Z Fold 6 rumors suggested more changes, particularly to the phone's exterior display. The aspect ratio on the cover display on past Z Fold models the current Galaxy Z Fold is very narrow, particularly when contrasted with the wider Pixel Fold outer screen. As a result, jotting down notes on the Samsung cover display could feel a little cramped.
Sadly those rumors didn't come to fruition, and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 looks more of less the same as its predecessors. There has been a minor change to the design, since the phone is now 0.1-inch wider and 0.05 inches shorter when unfolded. Which isn't a huge change, and not the kind of thing most people will noticed.
That said the Z Fold 6 is now thinner and lighter than the Z Fold 5. It weighs just 8.4 ounces to the Z Fold 5's 8.92 ounces, and 0.22 inches thinner when the phone is open.
Both phones have a 7.6-inch internal foldable display, complete with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The cover display on the Z Fold 6 is 0.1-inches larger than the Z Fold 5, measuring 6.3-inches.
The inner display test results below show the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is now far brighter than the Z Fold 5. However, the Z Fold 5 still manages to win on color coverage and accuracy.
Samsung's placed a lot of emphasis on durability with the Z Fold 6, but that doesn't expand to adding titanium to its frame — as you'd find in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Instead the phone is made from armor aluminum, which is supposed to be 10% stronger than the Z Fold 5.
Samsung has also added an extra protective layer to the screen, and combined with the new Dual Rail Hinge it improves the shock resistance and decreases the display crease. The Hinge is also said to be twice as strong as the Flex Hinge in the Z Fold 5, while also being thinner.
Finally the Z Fold 5 offers IPX8 water resistance, which means it's capable of surviving submersion in up to 1 meter of fresh water for 30 minutes. The Z Fold 6 ups that rating to IP48, meaning it has the same level of water resistance but also officially-rated protection from dust particles up to 1mm in size.
The Z Fold 6 is available in Silver Shadow, Pink or Navy, as well as Craft Black and Purity White if you buy direct from Samsung. The Z Fold 5 is available in Icy Blue, Phantom Black, Cream, Gray and Blue.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Cameras
We felt that image quality improved from the Galaxy Z Fold 4 to the Galaxy Z Fold 5, even if Samsung didn't make any changes to the camera hardware that its foldable uses. Instead, we'd chalk up the changes to software tweaks that produced better colors and more balanced shots.
We had better hope that history repeats itself with the Galaxy Z Fold 6, since the phone has the exact same camera setup as before — a 50MP main camera on the outside of the phone joined by 12MP ultrawide and 10MP zoom lenses. Throw in an external 10MP selfie cam and a 4MP under-display camera, and you've pretty much got the setup for the Z Fold 6.
Some thing have changed behind the scenes, with Samsung confirming the Ultrawide lens can now film in 4K and at 60fps, with improved low light performance. But that doesn't change the fact the hardware is essentially the same for another year.
This zoom comparison, for example, isn't really that different between the two phones.
However there is a brightness difference between the two phones' ultrawide cameras.
At night however, we're back to minimal differences.
There's a more noticeable change to the camera housing, though, with the Galaxy Z Fold 6 featuring larger black rings around each lens. Will that make much of a difference? unlikely, but it does help differentiate the two phones by look.
We will be putting the Galaxy Z Fold 6's camera through its paces before long. Once we have we'll be able to compare the output from both phones, and see if Samsung has made any major advances in computational photography.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Performance
Samsung usually turns to the best Qualcomm silicon available when it releases a foldable phone. For the Galaxy Z Fold 5, that was the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. For the Galaxy Z Fold 6 that's not just the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it's the Galaxy-specific Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy — the same as the chip found in the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The figures above show a considerable increase in performance for the Z Fold 6, especially in the single-core portion of the Geekbench 6 CPU test and the Solar Bay GPU test.
Both the Z Fold 6 and Z Fold 5 come with 12GB of RAM and UFS 4.0 storage options — which is faster and more power efficient than the old UIFS 3.1 storage chips. However the Z Fold 6 also comes with special optimization for games running the Vulcan API, ensuring a better and more immersive experience — aided by a vapor cooling chamber that's 1.6x larger than last year.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Battery life and charging
Samsung kept the Galaxy Z Fold 5's battery the same 4,400 mAh size as its predecessor. The same has happened this year, with the Z Fold 6 packing in the same capacity battery.
The Galaxy Z Fold 5 lasted 11 hours and 15 minutes on our battery test with the main display open and running its standard adaptive refresh rate. The Z Fold 6 was able to last almost as long at 11 hours 13 minutes on an equivalent test, but only on one run. On average, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 manages roughly 10 hours 35 minutes, which is disappointing to see.
The Z Fold 6 used the same 25W charging speed offered by the Z Fold 5, which is a shame as we'd liked to have seen the same 45W speeds as the Galaxy S24 Plus and Ultra. Our testing revealed basically identical refuelling performance from the two phones, with the Z Fold 6 and Z Fold 5 filling up to 56% and 55% respectively after 30 minutes of charging time.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Software
With Samsung pushing Galaxy AI, it's no surprise that the features that on this year's Galaxy S24 phones have come to the Z Fold 6. But rather than just repeating the same features, some of which already came to the Z Fold 5 in the OneUI 6.1 update, Samsung has improved upon them.
One of those improvements comes in Interpretor Mode, which utilizes both screens to show both sides of the conversation. So while you see a real time translation in English, the person you're speaking to will see it in their own tongue on the cover display. Live Translate will also come to third party call apps, letting you translate phone conversations in more places.
Other new features include Sketch to Image, which improves your doodles, Portrait Studio that transforms your selfies into one of four different art styles, Chat Assist will draft emails and messages with contextual awareness, while Samsung Notes also supports Live Transcription.
The Z Fold 6 (and Z Flip 6) will also be getting first access to the next wave of Circle to Search features. While they will come to other Android phones later, presumably including the Z Fold 5, it means Z Fold 6 owners will have early access. These new features include circle to scan QR codes, circle to translate a whole screen and circle to solve math equations.
Samsung will also be extending the same 7-year software and security support enjoyed by the Galaxy S24 to the Galaxy Z Fold 6. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 gets four years of Android updates and an additional fifth year of security support.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs. Galaxy Z Fold 5: Outlook
You'd be forgiven for feeling a little disappoint in the differences between the Z fold 5 and Z Fold 6. This is a very iterative update, especially on the hardware side of things, and it's about time Samsung started offering more substantial upgrades to things like the camera.
That said the improved durability and emphasis on software feature, particularly Galaxy AI, could be appealing. Primarily to people who either have an older Galaxy Z Fold phone or are looking for their first ever foldable. Z Fold 5 owners don't really have that much to entice them into picking up a new handset. And considering the amount of extra competition Samsung now faces, it's probably going to have to step up its game a little more.
