Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 First Impressions

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 have been announced globally. In India, the new foldables from the house of Samsung are already up for pre-bookings while they go on sale from July 24. At first glance, the new foldables seem identical to their predecessors, but when you look closer, you see tweaks that have made a difference.

Among all the smartphone manufacturers globally, Samsung stands out with its AI strategy for its Galaxy devices. It all started in January of this year with the S-series smartphones, and finally, we now have AI features expanding to more Galaxy devices. Under-the-hood changes aside, the company has given Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 a complete makeover in terms of AI integrations in software, which we will dive into in some time.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 price in India

The all-new foldables are flat Rs. 10,000 more costly than their predecessors. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 price starts at Rs. 109,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, while the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage model costs Rs. 121,999.

The Galaxy Z Fold 6, on the other hand, starts at Rs. 164,999 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB model, while there are two more SKUs – 12GB + 512GB storage at Rs. 176,999 and 12GB and 1TB storage at Rs. 200,999.

Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 features a 6.3-inch cover LTPO AMOLED display

This year, Samsung bumped base RAM on the Flip 6, and it now stays at 12GB RAM instead of 8GB RAM on the Flip 5, which is a good increment.

The company has left no stone unturned to woo customers and has also introduced Galaxy Z Assurance, which offers two screen/ parts replacement pack worth Rs. 9,999 at Rs. 999 for the Flip 6 and the same offer for Fold 6 worth Rs. 14,999 at Rs. 999.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6: AI, AI and more AI

During the pre-briefing of the foldables, Samsung confirmed that AI was the second most important feature of why people bought the S24 series, and it only made sense to bring the AI features to new-age foldables. Well, Samsung hasn’t disappointed.

There are tons of AI features built into the Samsung Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6, but I will talk about some of the stand-out features and keep the rest for our review.

New Galaxy Foldables come with tons of AI features

Both foldables come with an all-new Interpreter feature that can translate on the spot and utilises dual screens for face-to-face conversation. The company calls it Conversation mode, and it may be handy if you’re travelling to a place and are not familiar with the local language. The Note app is already popular with Galaxy users, and Samsung has added some new tricks. For example, you can use Note Assist for things like automatic transcription, translation, and summarising the meeting, all by recording your voice in Notes. Then, there’s PDF Overlay translation, which can translate a PDF file into a language pack you have already downloaded to your device. If you have the language pack, Samsung stresses that this feature works on-device – a neat touch.

There’s also Live Translate, introduced earlier this year, which translates calls in real-time. The company has confirmed the feature will be available with some third-party apps. Then, Fold 6 gets Sketch to Image, a fun AI feature added this year where you can sketch something, and AI creates art pieces. For example, the one thing we tried was drawing a tree on the side of the road. And, we were not great with our drawing, yet AI picked it and presented multiple options—a convenient feature for the new Fold 6 users.

Samsung Galaxy Flip 6 features a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED display

Some minor additions include Composer, which seamlessly crafts messages based on brief input and suggested replies by AI, where Galaxy device suggests some responses based on the text. There’s also Overlay translate, which instantly translates on any screen – just open your camera and point to a board in a different language, and Fold 6 or Flip 6 will do their job. Samsung has also added Portrait Studio, where you can click portraits of your friends or pets and try out different portrait styles, including 3D cartoons. Samsung has also added a Homework feature for math solving, and you can use it by clicking the photo of the math problem. With the help of Google, you get results with a step-by-step guide to solve the problem. For the Flip 6, Samsung has introduced Flex Cam, which handles auto zoom after detecting the subject and automatically zooms to capture the best angle. The feature can be handy for utilising Flip 6 camera setup. Of course, the Circle to Search is on the new foldables and needs no introduction.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6: Initial thoughts

The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is now slimmer and the lightest book-style fold Samsung has ever produced. Compared to Galaxy Z Fold 5 (253 grams), the Fold 6 weighs 239 grams. To compare, the iPhone 15 Pro Max weighs 221 grams. The good thing is that this design change is visible, and you can feel it while using the device. However, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 still doesn’t fit as a phone you can use with a single hand for most tasks. The crease is not as clearly apparent as on Galaxy Fold 5; slight improvement is visible.

The Galaxy Fold 6 sports a 7.6-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display with 2600nits peak brightness

Samsung stressed that the hinge is improved and more durable – something we see every year with incremental updates. The display is bright, and colour reproduction is top-notch. The 2600nits peak brightness does the job well, but more on the display in our review. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor powers both the new foldables. Another big claim from Samsung was for the vapour chamber, which is said to be the biggest ever used on a Galaxy Z device. Again, we can only vouch for it once we do our performance tests. The cameras on paper appear almost identical to Fold 5. We will reserve our verdict on the camera for our review. The battery – a 4,400mAh unit – remains the same as Fold 5.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 features an upgraded main camera and a larger battery

Coming to the Flip 6, the clamshell-style foldable from Samsung gets some major bumps this year. Starting with the main camera, the Flip 6 gets a 50-megapixel primary sensor and a larger 4,000mAh battery compared to 3,700mAh on the Flip 5. Both the new foldable get IP48 water resistance. The crease on the Flip 6 is almost invisible, as, during hands-on time with the device, we scrolled through the device and could barely notice the crease. The display seems decent, and the upgraded camera is excellent for the Flip 6. The performance was top-notch in the limited time I spent with the phone. We will reserve the verdict on the Flip 6 for our review.

Stay tuned for our Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 and Flip 6 reviews.