Sleeker phones with better cameras and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC
At its Unpacked event held in Paris, France, Samsung has unveiled its newest foldable and flipable smartphones, the Galaxy Z Fold6 and the Galaxy Z Flip6. With a big focus on AI, both phones promise to “usher a new era of mobile AI with Galaxy AI, and bring updated design and come powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC.
When it comes to the design, Samsung was keen to note that it has created the slimmest and lightest Galaxy Z series ever, bringing a new cover screen ratio to the Galaxy Z Fold6, while the Galaxy Z Flip6 got slimmer, lighter, more powerful, and now comes with a main 50MP sensor.
“Samsung’s long history of innovation has allowed us to lead in the mobile space, creating the foldable form factor and ushering in the mobile AI era. Now, we are excited to bring these two complementary technologies together and unlock new possibilities for users around the world,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our foldables meet the unique needs of every user and now enhanced by the power of Galaxy AI, Samsung is delivering an experience like never before.”
As said, both new phones get Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, pairing it up with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage space on the Galaxy Z Fold6, and 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage on the Galaxy Z Flip6. Samsung actually calls the SoC the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, which means that Qualcomm might have further tuned it for Samsung new phones. Samsung was also keen to talk about its new AI features including Note Assist, Composer, Sketch to Image, Interpreter, Live Translate, Photo Ambient and other.
The new Galaxy Z Fold6 is sleeker, lighter, and with a new cover screen
As said, Samsung has somewhat updated the design of the Galaxy Z Fold6, and while it is still the same concept, the new version is shorter, thinner, slightly wider, and lighter, compared to its predecessor. In case you are wondering, it measures 153.5×68.1×12.1mm when folded and 153.5×132.6×5.6mm unfolded, and weighs just 239g, making it one of the lightest if not the lightest foldable smartphone on the market. It also gets a whole new hinge, and it is the first foldable phone to get IP48 certification, making it dust-resistant.
When it comes to screens, you get a 7.6-inch foldable screen, or as Samsung calls it, Infinity Flex screen, and the whole new 22.1:9 aspect ratio 6.3-inch cover screen. Both are Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz panels. The cover screen and the back of the phone get Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection.
Samsung decided not to upgrade the camera system, so you get the main 50MP f/1.8 main camera with OIS, backed by a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto and 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide one at the back, and a 10MP selfie camera at the front and 4MP one under the foldable screen.
What surprised us the most is that Samsung is still keeping the 25W wired charging, alongside 15W wireless and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. This is a big letdown considering it is a flagship smartphone. The battery is a 4,400mAh one.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 runs on One UI 6.1.1 and will get 7 generations of Android updates.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 will start at $1,899.99/€1,999.99 and will start shipping on July 24th.
The Galaxy Z Flip6 is also slimmer and lighter, and gets a better camera
The Galaxy Z Flip6 got a bit more updates, as Samsung made it slimmer and lighter, gave it an upgraded hinge, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, more RAM, and better camera. It measures 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm unfolded and 85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9 mm when folded, and weighs 187g. Samsung increased RAM to 12GB, and it gets either 256GB or 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
The Flip6 comes with the foldable 6.7-inch LTPO main screen and Super AMOLED 3.4-inch cover screen, but this time around, it has a better armor aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 at the back. It also gets the IP48 resistance like the Fold6. It also gets plenty of AI features, like Auto Zoom in Flex Mode, AI backgrounds, and plenty more other “AI features”.
Samsung also updated the camera system so you now get the main 50MP sensor behind an f/1.8 lens, backed by a 12MP ultrawide one. The front selfie camera is a 10MP one.
Samsung also increased the battery capacity to 4,000mAh but still kept 25W wired and 15W wireless charging.
The Galaxy Z Flip6 will also run on Android 14 with One UI 6.1.1 on top of it and get 7 years of OS updates.
The Galaxy Z Flip6 starts at $1,100/€1,200 and will be available in Silver Shadow, Blue, Mint, Yellow, Crafted Black, White, and Peach color options, as well as the special Galaxy Z Flip6 Olympic Edition, which will be gifted to athletes at Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.
