It’s been over five years since Samsung took a bold step and decided to fold a phone in half. And now, it’s time for the sixth generation. The folding mechanism left people’s jaws hanging back in the day, and honestly, it still amuses me. Actually, it’s not just me. A couple of other folks in the metro would also concur. With the foldable season in full swing, the big daddy of this segment had to come up with their next iteration — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
Rs 1,64,999
What Is Good?
- Compact and lighter than before
- More usable cover screen
- Excellent inner screen
- Best hinge on a foldable
- Useful AI features
- Respectable battery life
- Official dust resistance rating
- Great choice for productivity tasks
What Is Bad?
- Pricier than ever
- Cameras need an upgrade
- Slow charging speeds
- No S-Pen included
It’s mostly the same, but the theme here is refinements — subtle, but important ones. It’s got a more usable cover screen, a minimalistic design approach (which looks stunning, by the way), an excellent inner display, and a couple of new AI features. But, all this comes at an eye-watering price tag of Rs 1,64,999. The foldable market has changed a lot over the past few years. So, should you still opt for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 over the other players? Let’s find out in this review.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Pricing and Availability in India
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes at a starting price of Rs 1,64,999, which is Rs 10,000 higher than the outgoing model. The foldable is available in three different variants.
| Variant | Price in India |
| 12GB + 256GB | Rs 1,64,999 |
| 12GB + 512GB | Rs 1,76,999 |
| 12GB + 1TB | Rs 2,00,999 |
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Design and Build Quality
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is about refinements. While it may look like minor improvements on paper, these are important alterations that improve real-world usage. The design language of the Fold 6 aligns with that of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and that bridges the gap between both series.
This minimalistic approach has helped make the foldable a more ergonomically sane device. The glossy side frames have been replaced with matte ones, but the corners are sharper than last year. It took my palm a good week to get used to them.
| Design | Specifications |
| Weight | 239 grams |
| Dimensions | Folded: 153.5 x 68.1 x 12.1
Unfolded: 153.5 x 132.6 x 5.6 |
| IP Rating | IP48 |
| Port and button placements | Bottom: USB Type-C port, microphone, and speaker grille
Top: Secondary microphones and speaker grille Left: SIM Tray |
Just like its previous iterations, the phone screams premium at the top of its lungs. It’s still a product that sparks a conversation. People are still intrigued by the fold’s openness and function as a phablet.
Despite a slightly wider cover screen, the Fold 6 maintains its form factor, making it extremely easy to carry around. Speaking of which, at 239 grams, the Z Fold 6 is considerably lighter than the outgoing model.
It comes in five different shades, two of which are special editions. Honestly, the Z Fold 6 looks stunning in all of these colours, but the White colourway just adds a bit of class to it. While the overall look remains mostly the same, the camera module gets a nice little texture which is great for fidgeting. The Z Fold 6 now comes with dust resistance, a first for foldables. It’s only poetry that Samsung is the first to infuse this.
The hinge on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is by far the best one on a foldable to date. It has the right amount of resistance required for the folding mechanism to not feel like a jarring activity. It can also stay open at different angles, giving you more ways to use the phone.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Display(s) and Audio
The cover screen is slightly wider at 6.3 inches. It can now accommodate both your thumbs when furiously chatting. The difference isn’t night and day and the screen is still pretty narrow, but slightly more usable. It’s certainly not as wide as the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro and the OnePlus Open, but I still find the compact form factor slightly easier to carry around. That said, more screen estate is always useful, so your preference may vary.
The inner display is great for productivity-focused tasks or for showing off. Both the panels are buttery smooth to the touch, sharp, bright, and punchy. But, it still falls prey to letterboxing — a common disease amongst foldables. Watching TV shows such as Presumed Innocent and The Boys was an amazing experience, but it does take you some time to get used to the empty space.
| Cover Screen | Specifications |
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED 2X |
| Size | 6.3-inch |
| Resolution | 968×2376 |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz |
| Pixel density | 401ppi |
| Brightness | Claimed: 2600 nits, Tested: 1993 nits |
| Display Protection | Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 |
| Main Screen | Specifications |
| Type | Dynamic AMOLED 2X |
| Size | 7.6-inch |
| Resolution | 1856×2160 |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz |
| Pixel density | 374ppi |
| Brightness | Claimed: 2600 nits, Tested: 1998 nits |
While the main screen still flaunts the inevitable crease, it’s now slightly less visible than last year. Samsung has also cut down on a few layers of the display this time around, thanks to a new coating. This, in turn, has helped improve the flatness of the display. Both the displays also get a sizeable bump in brightness numbers, so using them under direct sunlight is not an issue at all.
Samsung almost never goes wrong with its display department. The outer screen is for when you want to chill, text on WhatsApp, or just scroll through endless numbers of reels. The inner display is for when you want to get some serious stuff done — be it going through multiple Excel sheets or just reading a normal research paper. The Z Fold 6 also has support for the S Pen on the inner screen, sadly one isn’t included in the box, despite such a hefty price tag.
The stereo speaker setup on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 gets quite loud without any distortions at the highest levels. The bass is good, and the output should suffice all content needs.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Performance, Software, and AI
It’s a known fact that the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a smartphone that focuses more on the productivity side of things. The synthetic benchmark scores are impressive, and this is reflected in my daily use as well.
| Hardware | Specifications |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM | Up to 12GB |
| Storage | Up to 1TB |
| Storage Test | 151763 |
| CPU Throttling Test | 53 per cent of its max performance |
| Geekbench 6 | Single core – 1996, Multi-core – 6300 |
| Software version | One UI 6.1.1 based on Android 14 |
The phone is quick, snappy, and a joy to use. This is exactly where you find your money’s worth. It handles all the productivity-heavy tasks with ease. Opening up multiple data-filled sheets, while you have Instagram and X open up in the multi-tasking view was also handled with pizzazz. Gaming on the foldable is also fun.
Call of Duty: Mobile and BGMI, both can run at high graphics and high frame rates. The phone also handles heat well, unless you use the cameras rigorously — that’s when you’ll feel the frames warming up slightly.
Galaxy AI
A major selling point of the Z Fold 6 is its AI capabilities, thanks to the NPU in the chip. While you’ll find most of the same things the Galaxy S24 series offered, there are a few more worthwhile additions.
Sketch to Image: This is an extremely fun feature for when you want to pass some time. As the name suggests, it can turn a sketch into an actual AI-generated image. I’ve tried this with multiple different scenarios, with very polarising outputs. It takes about 20 seconds depending on how complex the image is. But, it comes out with quite a lot of interesting results. This is also a great party trick.
Portrait Studio: This can turn a boring image into a punchy, colourful cartoonish photo that you can repurpose as a profile picture. The option automatically pops up when there’s a clear view of the subject’s face. You can turn the image into a comic, 3D cartoon, watercolour, or sketched picture. The resemblance in most scenarios is uncanny.
Browsing Assist: This is by far my favourite feature on the Galaxy Z Fold 6. You can summarise a 2000-word long article into five to six high-level pointers. I’ve done this with a bunch of articles and it helps you save a lot of time. Sadly, it only works on Samsung’s in-house browser.
Note Assist: With Note Assist you can summarise long notes as well. What’s more commendable is that now you can use the same for PDFs. This should help lawyers and other working professionals get a gist of the document without having to invest days and nights into it.
Interpreter: There’s no significant change here, except that now the cover screen can be displayed to the other person. Quite handy for when you travel to a new country.
Composer: With Galaxy AI in the Samsung Keyboard, it can help you cut down on a lot of time. It’s more useful for professionals who want to pen down tricky and long emails. You can just write a single prompt and the AI will work its magic. In most cases, the results really don’t need much tweaking as it lets you add the tonality of the message too.
The rest of the skin remains the same from the S24 series. OneUI functions perfectly fine with no unnecessary bloatware or spammy notifications. The transitions are splendid and the customisation options are aplenty. Samsung also instills extreme confidence in its products by backing them up with long software cycles. So, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will receive seven years of updates.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Cameras
The cameras on the Z Fold 6 remain untouched over the last two iterations — which is honestly quite disappointing given how the market is moving towards more camera-centric phones. More than that, for the asking price of Rs 1,64,999 you would expect camera tech that’s similar to the top-tier model of the Galaxy S series.
| Camera | Specification |
| Primary (rear) | 50-megapixel, ƒ/1.8, 23mm (OIS) |
| Ultrawide (rear) | 12-megapixel, ƒ/2.2, 12mm, 123-degree FoV |
| Telephoto (rear) | 10-megapixel, ƒ2.4, 3x Optical Zoom, (OIS) |
| Selfie Camera (in-display) | 4-megapixel, ƒ/1.8, 26mm |
| Selfie Camera (cover screen) | 10-megapixel, ƒ/2.2, 24mm |
That said, the camera trio on the rear are still capable of taking great shots whenever called upon. The primary camera takes excellent shots of landscapes albeit with boosted colours. The dynamic range and details are excellent and well-controlled throughout different scenarios of the day.
The shutter and processing speeds are also quite fast, so you won’t miss out on crucial moments. Another party trick of the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is using the cover screen as a mini-display when clicking your friend’s photos. Quite handy, I must say.
Sadly, I can’t say the same for nighttime photos. Unless and until, you provide ample artificial lighting. What’s commendable is that the Fold keeps noise levels in check.
The ultra-wide-angle camera also clicks bright and sharp photos, with minimum distortion at the edges. The 3x telephoto camera takes decent photos and allows you to digitally zoom up to 30x.
The main selfie camera does a good job of capturing proper skin tones and colours around the subject. The dynamic range is also well-controlled here. The other selfie camera is not very useful for selfies. It’s more useful for unlocking the phone using facial recognition.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Battery and Charging
This is another department that does not see an upgrade. The Z Fold 6 comes with the same battery pack you’ll find on the Z Fold 4 and Z Fold 5. However, the screen-on-time numbers were quite respectable.
| Battery | Specifications |
| Battery | 4400mAh |
| Charging Adapter | No |
| Charging Time | 1 hour and 45 minutes |
| PCMark Battery Test | 10 hours 20 minutes |
I consistently got about six hours and half hours with the usage varying between both displays. This was with the brightness at 80 per cent and the refresh rate set to 120Hz. It lasted for 10 hours and 20 minutes in our PCMark battery test. For more context, this is more than what the Honor 200 Pro and the Motorola Edge 50 Pro could offer. On the other hand, the iQOO 12 with the same chipset has managed 17 hours and 55 minutes in the same test. So, this should help you paint a pretty picture.
The charging speeds are still pretty archaic at 25W. It can take the foldable about an hour and 45 minutes to charge from dead.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 Review: Verdict
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a clear case of subtle refinements — but ones that were actually crucial to make it a more usable foldable. It’s now a more ergonomic and lightweight fold, while still maintaining its classy appeal. The slightly wider cover screen and less prominent crease take it an inch closer to a traditional smartphone. The increase in the brightness numbers is also commendable and quite useful.
The Z Fold 6 still remains an excellent choice for folks high on productivity. It does all that while being pocketable and powerful. Despite coming with the same battery capacity, the foldable managed more than respectable numbers during my usage. The new AI features are more useful than ever, particularly the browsing and note assist.
However, Samsung has chosen to carry over the cameras and charging speeds of the previous generation, both of which also play an important role. AI can go only so far for these. So, if both of these are crucial for you, I would recommend looking over to the Vivo X Fold 3 Pro and the OnePlus Open.
But, if AI in Android phones is all you seek to make your life easier as a medical student, lawyer or engineer, the Z Fold 6 is the torch bearer in this area.
