Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Review – Cool fashion foldable gets an upgrade

Launched alongside the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 that we recently reviewed, the Galaxy Z Flip6 is its more lifestyle-oriented and compact cousin though both feature the same powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor.

Where its sibling has measured, iterative updates, the Galaxy Z Flip6 has more radical improvements that enhance its core design. We got our hands on a sample for field testing and after taking it out for a whirl, here’s our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 review where we share if it’s worth your money.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Review – Build and Design

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 retains a similar design to the older Flip5 with a similarly sized cover display and main folding display with most of its upgrades being primarily related to its performance and capabilities. Where the larger Galaxy Z Fold6 has noticeable updates to its weight and slimness, the Galaxy Z Flip6 has identical dimensions to its predecessor, measuring in at 6.9mm thin when fully unfolded and 14.9mm when folded down and weighing 187g. 

@hitechcentury Checking out the stylishly new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 which has better cameras, a bigger battery and improved performance too after its global debut at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2024 in Paris! #snapdragon8gen3 #foldable #samasamabelajar #malaysia #sembanggadget #techtok #fyp #tech #samsung #galaxyzflip6 ♬ France Accordion Swing – MIZUSATO Masaki

Fortunately, Samsung hasn’t rested on their laurels and they’ve refined the design with a redesigned dual rail hinge that is slimmer and lighter, retained the use of improved Armour Aluminium for the frame and chassis and layered the backplate and front cover display with tough Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

The weight savings from a refined hinge and other modest interior modifications of the chassis give the new Galaxy Z Flip6 its largest upgrade ever – a bigger battery. At 4,000mAh, it’s 300mAh larger than its predecessor to offer even better endurance.

That’s not all, they’ve also enhanced the main dual camera array, giving it a primary camera equal to the Galaxy S24 with a 50MP F/1.8 main camera with dual pixel phase detection autofocus as well as optical image stabilisation. The secondary 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle camera is otherwise unaltered along with the interior 10MP selfie camera on the folding display.

Upgrades aside, Samsung has also implemented a matte finish for this generation and our Galaxy Z Flip6 review sample in blue looks surprisingly posh with the finish allowing it to repel fingerprints in an effective fashion. Overall build quality is excellent with the biggest aesthetic difference from its predecessor being its larger-sized camera rings that are colour-matched to fit the finish of the phone.

In terms of port and button placement, our Galaxy Z Flip6 review sample is similar to its predecessor with a volume rocker and power button/fingerprint reader to the right, a USB-C port at the base for charging, a nanoSIM card tray on the left as well as two speakers with one up top near the earpiece and the other next to the aforementioned USB-C port.

Build quality is top notch with a precise fit and the aforementioned posh matte finish lends it an exceptionally premium feel. In fact, the Flip6 actually has an IP48 dust and resistance rating, making it the first Flip to get dust resistance while retaining the ability to survive in up to 1.5 metres of freshwater for up to 30 minutes at a time.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Review – Specifications and Benchmarks

As upgrades go, the Galaxy Z Flip6 gets bumped up in almost every respect. Powering the phone is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor – the same processor used in the Galaxy Z Fold6 and S24 series phones. Issued as standard this time around is 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM augmented by up to 8GB of RAM Plus virtual RAM assigned off the onboard storage which you can get in either 256GB or 512GB permutations.

More important is that for the first time ever for a Flip series phone, the Flip6 gets a vapour chamber so as to more efficiently vent heat away from the processor so that it can be used for heavy duty tasks for longer like gaming or video editing. 

The front 3.4-inch cover display and main 6.7-inch main display both have the same screen sharpness and 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut though the main display itself gets an improved 2,600 nits peak brightness, making it brighter than the prior Flip5 which maxed out at 1,750 nits. Here’s how our Galaxy Z Flip6 review sample stacks up on paper:

Price	RM4,999 (256GB), RM5,599 (512GB)
Display	3.4-inch Super AMOLED, 720 x 748 pixels, 60Hz, 1,600 nits peak brightness [Cover Display], 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 1080 x 2,640 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate, 2,600 nits peak brightness [main display]
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
OS	Android 14 w/ One UI 6.1
Memory	12GB LPDDR5X RAM / 256GB (review unit) or 512GB UFS 4.0 storage
Camera	50MP F/1.8 w/ Dual Pixel PDAF + OIS and 12MP F/2.2 ultra wide angle [rear] / 10MP F/2.2 [selfie camera]
Battery	4,000mAh battery w/ 25W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless
Size/Weight	85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9mm [folded], 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9mm [unfolded] / 187g

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks with the full swath of 8GB RAM Plus virtual RAM, the Galaxy Z Flip6 scored the following benchmarks:

3DMark WIldLife Extreme	4,939
3DMark WIldLife Extreme Unlimited	3,954
3DMark Steel Nomad Light	1,660
3DMark Steel Nomad Light Unlimited	1,243
3DMark Solar Bay	8,445
3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited	6,747
Geekbench 6 Single Core	2,298
Geekbench 6 Multi Core	6,993
Geekbench 6 OpenCL	10,416
Geekbench 6 Vulkan	13,598
PC Mark Work 3.0	17,602
PC Mark Battery Life	14 hours 16 mins

Compared to its predecessor with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy , the Galaxy Z Flip6 and its newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy processor scores better on all benchmarks from single to multicore performance and graphics. The larger battery also contributes to better endurance too with the benchmarks yielding 14 hours and 16 minutes of usage. Unfortunately, charging speeds haven’t been improved and its still at a conservative 25W though this is still enough to get it to 50% after 30 minutes of charging.

In practical usage scenarios with mostly use of the front cover screen and flipping the main display open to tackle emails, texts, gaming and the like, it offered comfortable all-day performance without issue with enough pixel crunching power to handle current-day gaming including Warzone and Genshin Impact on default settings.

Interestingly, when stress tested with 3D Mark’s Steel Nomad Light Unlimited stress test, our Galaxy Z Flip6 review sample offered up decent performance under load with a best loop score of 1,701 before dipping down to a low of 871 and having a stability score of 51.2% which is to be expected as the phone isn’t expected to be a heavy duty workhorse like its sibling the Fold6.

The front cover display is still viewable in daylight though the main display offers noticeable improvements this time around with its improved brightness. It would have been nice to have the front cover display be just as bright as the main display but it does the job to skim through notifications and the like.

Of note is a reduced crease on account of the improved hinge which does make the experience a bit more immersive. The stereo speakers, one in the earpiece and the other at the base of the phone are decent, offering good volume and a fair amount of detail for gaming and movie watching duties.

One quibble here is that the front cover display is, by default, limited to telling the time, notifications and the like through basic widgets. If you want additional functionality, you’ll need to install Samsung’s Good Lock app off the Galaxy Store which adds additional hoops through something that ought to be enabled by default or more easily accessed by users.

That quirk aside, the Galaxy Z Flip6 benefits from the full swath of Samsung’s Galaxy AI updates and you’re able to benefit from translating, summarising and creating text with prompts along with deleting and modifying aspects of images in their generative edit feature. 

Galaxy AI’s Live Translate mode and especially Interpreter mode which uses both displays simultaneously so that a user can interact with another user in a different language with written translations are novel though it’s something that will likely be of more use to frequent travellers.

The biggest takeaway is that the Galaxy Z Flip6 has a whopping 7 years of OS and security updates which ensures that your investment is safe, secure and updated all the way to 2031.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Review – Cameras

The improved cameras and the unique nature of its design make the Galaxy Z Flip6 capable of capturing excellent selfies and to act as an ergonomic camcorder by turning on video mode and holding it halfway-folded and sideways like a late 20th century camcorder. This time around though, they’ve improved camcorder mode slightly by adding in a digital zoom mode just where your thumb would be when held.

By flipping the hinge halfway up and using the cover display as a viewfinder, the Flip6 is also capable of capturing wefies and group shots with ease on the large 50MP F/1.8 main camera that also has Dual Pixel PDAF and OIS for steadier shots. Better yet, the main camera itself has intelligent autofocus for selfies and wefies, intelligently zooming in and out depending on where you stand or how many people are in the shot to ensure best results. 

This setup makes it even more capable than the Galaxy S24 series for selfies which is quite a feat. The ultrawide camera is otherwise unaltered save for minor improvements to the ISP. This setup enables the phone to capture up to 4K@60fps video though it lacks any telephoto capabilities and maxes out at 10x digital zoom by cropping the image off the main sensor. Also retained from the older Flip5 is the internal 10MP F/2.2 selfie camera that’s primarily used for video calls.

In terms of overall performance, our Galaxy Z Flip6 review unit naturally offers the best results when using the main 50MP camera with better image quality across the board in both daytime and low light conditions though zoomed in shots beyond 2x for stills and videos ends up soft as the phone lacks a telephoto lens.

Seeing as the main camera can also double as a selfie camera, the Flip6 takes excellent selfies with lifelike skin tones and good separation of the subject and the background. If you keep your shots and videos under 2X zoom, you’ll yield great results suitable for most social media.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 costs more than its predecessors at launch with the 256GB model costing RM500 more and the 512GB model costing RM600 more. Working in its favour is the fact that it has better performance paired with a vapour chamber, a larger battery and better cameras along with a rather posh, refined design.

These enhancements make it a significant upgrade over its predecessor, even for Flip5 owners. In its own right, the Galaxy Z Flip6 is a compact and powerful phone, though these benefits come at a rather premium price.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 review unit courtesy of Samsung Malaysia. For more details and to purchase please visit https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-z-flip6/buy/