Review Summary
Expert Rating
It has been nearly half a decade since the first Samsung flip foldable phone was released. Since then, the company has been introducing newer iterations annually with incremental upgrades. Now, in its fifth generation (due to the company skipping a generation in 2021), Samsung’s newest flip phone which comes in the form of the Galaxy Z Flip6 features a more seamless crease and premium design, an advanced chipset, upgraded camera hardware, bigger battery capacity, and a host of AI features.
What does all this mean for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, which is priced starting at Rs 1,09,999? Read this review to find out.
Table of Contents
Verdict
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 feels like a more refined iteration of its predecessor. Although I would have liked to see more significant changes, the updates are still greatly appreciated. Performance, camera quality, and battery life have all seen notable improvements. Additionally, the crease on the screen is less pronounced, and the overall design appears cleaner While charging speeds might not fully satisfy, the enhanced AI contributes to a more enjoyable user experience.
Design and display
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 design is similar to its predecessor, with subtle improvements that make it look cleaner and more elegant. For example, the side rings of the cameras now match the colour of the body. I received the grey variant of the device, but it also comes in yellow, blue, green, mint, graphite, lavender, and cream. Additionally, the edges are flatter and have a matte finish.
While the design is visually appealing, I encountered one peculiar issue. If your finger is resting on the hinge when unfolding the device, there’s a small chance of your skin getting caught between the corners covering the hinge. Though it doesn’t sting or anything, it is something to keep in mind. This wasn’t an issue with the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, another flip smartphone, or the Fold5. Using a case should be able to help here.
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 | Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | OPPO Find N3 Flip | |
| Cover display | 3.4-inch LTPO AMOLED 120Hz, 720×748, 2600 nits, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 | 4.0-inch pOLED 165Hz 1272×1080, 2400 nits, Gorilla Glass Victus | 3.26-inch AMOLED 60Hz 720×382, 900 nits, Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Main display | 6.7-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED 120Hz, 2640×1080, 2600 nits | 6.9-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED 165Hz, 2640×1080, 3000 nits | 6.8-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED 120Hz, 2520×1080, 1600 nits |
Moving on, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 weighs 187 grams and feels comfortable for prolonged use. The company has also made the main display more impact-resistant and added a new coating to make it more scratch-resistant. Moreover, the handset is IP48 water and dust resistance certified. This is an advantage over the Razr 50 Ultra, which is IPX8-rated.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 features a 6.7-inch foldable FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED main display with a 120Hz refresh rate and peak brightness of 2,600 nits, along with a 3.4-inch HD Super AMOLED cover display with a 60Hz refresh rate. There isn’t an iota of change in the display, specs-wise. The crease on the main screen, however, has been improved to make it barely noticeable. Other than that, from viewing experience to usage, everything remains practically the same.
The cover screen provides information through app widgets such as weather, calendar, smart home controls, and notifications. Additionally, access to apps like WhatsApp, YouTube, Maps, and others can be enabled via Samsung Labs in Settings. Although the space feels a bit cramped especially when typing, it’s quite functional and can be used to send messages or quickly check directions without opening the device. The compatible apps support the continuation feature on the cover screen as well.
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 | Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | OPPO Find N3 Flip | |
| Thickness | Unfolded: 6.9mm Closed: 14.9mm | Unfolded: 7.09mm Closed: 15.32mm | Unfolded: 7.79mm Closed: 16.45mm |
| Weight | 187 grams | 189 grams | 198 grams |
| IP rating | IP48 | IPX8 | IPX4 |
The cover screen provides information through app widgets such as weather, calendar, smart home controls, and notifications. Additionally, access to apps like WhatsApp, YouTube, Maps, and more can be enabled via Samsung Labs in Settings. Although the space feels a bit cramped when typing, it’s quite functional and can be used to send messages or quickly check directions without fully opening the device. Be that as it may, I wish it was a bit more customisable and offered support for more apps.
Inadvertently, you will be forced to use the main screen, which is well-calibrated for most apps except for multimedia consumption. The 22:9 aspect ratio makes it less ideal for watching videos, as you’ll see thick black bars on either side. However, it is a near bezel-less display, offering punchy and vibrant colours. It now even supports flex mode by default, allowing you to use a trackpad on the bottom portion of the screen while the phone is folded upright. My only qualm with the screen is its outdoor visibility. The brightness is slightly underwhelming compared to the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which supports 3,000 nits of peak brightness.
For security, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that unlocks the device quickly. Additionally, the phone has stereo speakers that provide sufficiently loud sound without crackling at maximum volume.
Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 has gone through camera hardware upgrades as well. The primary sensor has been enhanced to a 50MP OIS, up from the 12MP on the Galaxy Z Flip5. This is complemented by a 12MP ultrawide lens with an f/1.8 aperture. Spoiler alert! Cameras have not been the focal point of the foldables. That said, the handset still performs admirably. Both sensors produce crisp images with near-accurate colours (despite a tad saturation boost) in well-lit environments. In low-light conditions, the images are pleasing, though the details might look a bit muddy.
To give you a better perspective of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 camera quality, we compared the results with one of its closest rivals Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. Check it out:
Daylight
These daylight shots were captured using the 50MP primary cameras on both devices, with autofocus and HDR mode enabled. Both smartphones utilise pixel-binning to produce 12.5MP images by default. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 offers a wider field of view (FoV) compared to its counterpart, with accurate colour calibration. However, if you prioritise sharper results, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra might be a better choice. This flip smartphone tends to produce images with warmer tones, and the overall detail seems better than that of the Samsung device. While Motorola’s images appear more social-media-ready, the warm tones might not appeal to photography purists though.
Portraits
Similar to the daylight shots, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 captures portraits with more accurate skin tones than the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. The Samsung device also offers respectable facial detailing and edge detection. However, in terms of sharpness—particularly with facial details and hair—the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra excels. That said, the Motorola smartphone tends to boost colours, resulting in less accurate skin tones.
It’s worth noting that the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra features a dedicated 50MP telephoto lens for portraits and close-up shots. Unlike the Samsung smartphone, it does not include an ultrawide lens for capturing expansive landscape images.
Selfies
For selfies too, more details are noticeable on the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra. However, skin tones look paler in comparison to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6, which delivers more lively selfies from its 10MP front camera.
Night mode
The Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 both offer a dedicated night mode for improved performance in low-light conditions. However, the Motorola device does not allow you to disable this feature for a more natural look. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 excels in low light, with its night mode providing superior highlights and lesser light flare than its counterpart, which falls short, delivering underwhelming detail and less visual appeal.
Performance and software
When it comes to performance, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 is driven by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The SoC is said to be custom-made for the foldable, marketed as Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, with advanced AI capabilities, which are not there on the regular version of the chipset. While its synthetic benchmark scores may not be on par with regular smartphones or some foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 outperforms its immediate rival, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which uses the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 scores approximately 15 lakh on AnTuTu and achieves 1,891 and 6,158 on Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.
For everyday use, the phone delivers smooth performance. There were no stutters, app freezes, or crashes during browsing, streaming, scrolling, or when switching between the cover and main displays. The handset also manages gaming relatively well. Despite not being a gaming device, the phone’s thermal management was on par with its competitors. The Z Flip6 temperature increased by roughly 6 degrees on average after playing some of the graphically demanding games such as BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3.
On the software front, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 runs Android 14-based OneUI 6.1.1 out of the box. The phone comes with as many as 48 apps pre-installed, including six popular third-party ones which have millions of downloads. Moreover, the handset can be expected to receive seven years of major OS and security updates, which is the longest support for any foldable device in India to date.
In addition to the AI features offered by the Galaxy S24 series, the Flip6 also comes with several other Galaxy AI features. Here’s a look:
Sketch to Image: As the name would suggest, this Galaxy AI transforms sketches into images. You can draw a sketch on any image (whether taken with the cameras or downloaded from the internet) as long as it is open in the Gallery app and the sparkle AI icon is selected. The AI converts your sketch into a real object, generating several variations of the image until you find the best one. While there are areas that still need improvement, it is a fun tool to use. Sketching on the Galaxy Z Flip6 might not be as accurate as on the Galaxy Fold6 that supports an S Pen and offers bigger screen real estate. Nevertheless, the generated results bear an AI-generated content watermark on the bottom edge to add clarity.
Portrait Studio: This feature allows you to convert simple self-portraits into a stylised image, with Comics, 3D cartoons, Sketch, and Watercolour as the available options. Sketch and Watercolour provide more realistic results, while Comic and 3D cartoons can be less accurate and sometimes completely off. Additionally, the feature only works on individual photos, not group photos, and the effect is not applied to the entire image.
Suggested replies: The feature on your screen looks at your last seven messages sent to a chat and suggests possible replies. Although nearly accurate, the replies sounded formal and lack that human touch.
Interpreter: This tool utilises both the cover and main screens to display translations, enabling real-time conversation with another person who might not speak the same language as you. The cover screen shows the translated text to the other person, while the main screen shows the translation in your native language. This provides a more natural experience than twisting the phone back and forth to see both sides of the conversation.
Besides this, there are a handful of other features as well such as Google’s Magic Eraser-like Photo Assist to delete, move around, and resize objects in a photo, Instant Slo-mo to convert regular videos into slow motion, Live Effect to add depth in your image, Text-to-image to create wallpapers, Notes Assist, Browser Assist, among other things. Overall, Galaxy AI offers a mix of productive and fun tools.
| Smartphone | Pre-loaded apps | OS updates (Android) |
| Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 | 48 | 7 years OS, 7 years security updates |
| Motorola Razr 50 Ultra | 42 | 3 years OS, 4 years security updates |
Battery and charging
To keep things running, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 is equipped with a 4,000mAh battery. The battery is decently optimised to last a full day of regular usage. On the PCMark battery test that runs a series of tasks till the battery life drops below 20 percent, the handset achieves 9 hours and 2 minutes. This is underwhelming compared to the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra flip smartphone, which scores over 12 hours with its 4,000mAh battery.
| Time | Charge percentage (20-100) |
| 15 minutes | 46 percent |
| 30 minutes | 70 percent |
| 45 minutes | 86 percent |
| 60 minutes | 94 percent |
| 77 minutes | 100 percent |
In our 30-minute video streaming test, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 performed marginally better, consuming 4 percent battery compared to 5 percent on its counterpart at similar resolution and volume levels. Battery optimisation during gaming shows negligible differences between the two smartphones. After playing BGMI, Call of Duty, and Real Racing 3 for half an hour each, the Flip6’s battery was reduced by 21 percent, while the Razr 50 Ultra consumed 20 percent battery.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 supports 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. However, the compatible charger must be purchased separately. The wired charging solution takes approximately 77 minutes to charge the device from 20 percent to 100 percent. This is relatively slow compared to the Razr 50 Ultra, which can achieve a full charge in about 45 minutes with its 45W wired charger.
Final verdict
This brings us to who should consider buying the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6. At over a lakh, it’s not easy to recommend. Additionally, its nearest rival, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra does shine in aspects like outdoor visibility, customisation options, charging speeds, and image quality.
Nevertheless, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 manages to make a compelling case for itself when it comes to performance. It is currently the most powerful and durable flip smartphone in the market. Additionally, its AI features are also unmatched by competitors, though their long-term utility for end users remains to be seen. The phone also boasts the longest software support for a flip smartphone, along with accurate colour reproduction and a stylish design. These factors make the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 a compelling choice for those seeking a compact foldable smartphone.
Editor’s rating: 8 / 10
Reasons to buy
- The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 design comes with subtle improvements, giving it a cleaner appearance.
- The Galaxy AI tools can be utilised for both productivity and fun.
- The cameras capture clear and detailed images, with vivid colours.
- Best in-class performance in a flip smartphone.
Reasons not to buy
- Takes a while to charge its 4,000mAh battery.
- The cover screen customisation options and app support are not as vast as competitors.
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