Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review: baby steps in the right direction

Flip phones are back in fashion and that’s largely thanks to Samsung’s efforts, but with competition hotting up from Motorola and Xiaomi, does the new Galaxy Z Flip 6 have what it takes to rise above the competition?

For anyone who hasn’t kept track of the Galaxy Z Flips over the years, their cover screens have gotten bigger, their durability specs have leveled up, and even their cameras have been improved upon, albeit modestly.

But the Galaxy Z Flip 6 isn’t that big an upgrade over its predecessor on paper. If you’re coming from a Galaxy Z Flip 5, the upgraded power, cameras, and slightly larger battery will unlikely woo you away from your current flipper. Any Z Flip 4 or Z Flip 3 owners, however, could be tempted, provided the competition doesn’t sway them away.

What competition are we talking about? The Motorola RAZR 50 Ultra is the most noteworthy, also known as the RAZR Plus (2024) in the US, it’s the slickest flip phone on the block with its huge cover screen and great styling. Then there’s the Xiaomi Mix Flip which just launched in Europe, the flip phone battery champ complete with a Leica-tuned camera system, and for anyone on a budget, the Nubia Flip 5G, from the makers of the off-the-wall but impressive Nubia Z60 Ultra.

Having tested every flip phone that’s widely available right now, including past-gen Samsung Flips, how does the Galaxy Z Flip 6 stack up?

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Design

One of the most significant changes to the Z Flip 6’s design over its predecessor is the matte finish aluminum frame, which feels notably more secure in hold compared to the polished finish of previous Z Flip models. The matte texture makes it both less slippery and more premium-feeling, while the comfortable 187g weight undercuts most traditional phones.

On the front is the 3.4-inch cover screen, along the hinge is an engraved Samsung insignia, and around the back, a diffuse glass back keeps things looking minimalistic and simple. The Z Flip 6 is boxy when closed, and the camera module design gets a slight upgrade with color-matched frames around each lens.

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The cover screen’s notch slightly reduces its design appeal and gives it a more dated look compared to competitors like the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and Xiaomi Mix Flip, which boast cleaner, more futuristic designs.

One aspect Samsung gets things right is the hinge. It feels smooth and solid across its range, unfolding totally flat and giving you a reassuring snap when folded. Also noteworthy, the phone has IP48 water resistance, making it one of the most durable foldable phones on the market, though be warned, IP48 is very basic dust protection, so we wouldn’t put the Z Flip 6 in a sandy pocket anytime soon.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Screens

On the front of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is a 3.4-inch Super AMOLED cover screen with a resolution of 720 x 748 pixels and a 60Hz refresh rate. While the display is touch-sensitive and is easy to see outdoors, the slower refresh rate puts it at a disadvantage compared to rivals like the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, which look noticeably smoother side-by-side. Additionally, the Z Flip 6’s cutout hold it back when displaying apps that could do with a little extra screen space.

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Unfold the Z Flip 6's main display to reveal a 6.7-inch AMOLED foldable screen with a 1080 x 2640 resolution and a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate. Everything looks smooth, and it’s bright, too, making it easy to see outdoors, though foldable screens do cling onto fingerprints more readily, so smudges can hamper viewability.

The Z Flip 6’s crease in the middle of the unfolded display is noticeably deeper than some competition, which can be distracting when light hits it at an unfortunate angle, but despite this, the screen excels for video content, particularly widescreen movies, as its 22:9 aspect ratio aligns perfectly with cinematic formats.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Camera specs

One of the Galaxy Z Flip 6’s biggest spec bumps is its main camera, which gets a larger sensor with a much higher resolution of 50MP, compared to the 12MP Z Flip 5. Matched with an f/1.8 aperture lens, this is the same main sensor as found in the Galaxy S24. The main camera also benefits from OIS and dual-pixel autofocus, and captures with a wide 24mm equivalent focal length.

The secondary camera is an ultra-wide, 12MP resolution module with an f/2.2 aperture lens. It misses out on autofocus and shares identical specs with the Z Flip 5’s ultra-wide, which captured disappointing pictures and video in challenging scenes, so we’re hoping Samsung’s 2024 photo processing saves it.

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Of course, you could use the cover screen cameras for selfies – a double tap of the power button fires it up in double time – but when you want to use the main display or have a video call with the phone part-folded on a surface, the 10MP punch hole selfie camera is on-hand. Modestly specced, its f/2.2 aperture and 1.22µm pixel size matched with a relatively wide 85° field of view make it fit-for-purpose without making any waves.

Interestingly, Motorola and Xiaomi both opted for 2x optical zoom cameras in their flip phones instead of an ultra-wide, while Samsung stuck with a more traditional wide + ultra-wide combination. We prefer Samsung’s approach; after all, in-sensor zooming is better than ever, and the telephoto camera in the Razr 50 Ultra and Mix Flip have modest reach and miss out on OIS, holding both back in challenging environments.

Running Samsung’s One UI 6.1.1, the Z Flip 6 is loaded up with a number of AI tools out of the box, including generative fill tools that support crop-free rotations (AI generates the additional content to rotate without tightening the frame) and AI object removal/resizing.

Samsung’s AI Portrait Studio is also on hand when in need of a party trick, so you can generate cartoon-like versions of yourself, and you can draw objects to appear in a photo.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Camera review

In bright environments, the Z Flip 6 can capture impressive levels of detail, capturing crisper shots than the Flip 5’s 12MP camera. There’s less aggressive over-sharpening which suggests processing has less work to do to create a passable shot, however, detail falls off when the lights drop, and at night, photos can look unrealistically smooth, with skies looking a bit blue, bright spots looking a bit yellow and general picture quality being passable but not excellent.

One area Samsung does win out over much of the competition is skin tones, making the Z Flip 6 a capable selfie camera.

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Samsung’s signature zingy colors are back, with saturation and vibrancy ensuring shots look pleasingly lively for casual use, but a bit overkill to a discerning eye, especially in skies, leaves and pops of red.

Switching from the main camera highlights the Z Flip 6’s main limitation – the ultra-wide camera – it just can’t keep up with its smaller size and weaker spec. This is especially noticeable in lowlight scenes, which result in muddy-looking detail throughout handheld shots.

While no flip phone has nailed cameras thus far, the OPPO Find N3 Flip sets a higher bar with its triple camera and autofocusing ultra-wide camera.

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As for video capture, the Z Flip 6 edges ahead here thanks to strong performance from its main camera. The 50MP main sensor produces sharp 4K videos at up to 60fps, particularly in well-lit conditions. Colors are vibrant, which works better for videos than it does for photos, and the dynamic range is strong, too, for a flip phone.

OIS also holds a scene together well, as does part-folding the phone, wedging your elbow into your ribs, and shooting in FlexCam mode for old-school camcorder style stability.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: additional features

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, which delivers a significant performance boost over the Z Flip 5’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Practically, the biggest benefit for non-gamers comes in the form of heat management, with the new chip optimized to stay cooler. Despite this, during demanding tasks, including prolonged WiFi hotspotting and wireless charging, the Z Flip 6 can warm up noticeably, and if you really slam it with reverse wireless charging and Wi-Fi hotspotting on a hot day, it can even shut itself down to cool off. This isn’t unique to the Z Flip 6, but it is a characteristic of powerful flip phones.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6’s RAM has been bumped up to 12GB for smoother multitasking compared to the 8GB found in the Galaxy Z Flip 5, though storage options remain the same, starting at 256GB and capping out at 512GB.

We mentioned some of the AI features as part of Samsung’s OneUI 6.1, but the smarts go way beyond imaging. First, there’s the cover screen UI, and this supports a few more apps out of the box than the Z Flip 5 did when we reviewed it. To really crack it open and load up your entire app library on the cover screen, though, you’ll still need to install Goodlock from the Galaxy Store. On top of apps, the cover screen features quick access to notifications, quick toggles, and a few handy features like your clock, timer, recorder, and calendar, and its look can also be highly customized.

Samsung's translation, voice recording/transcription/summary, and other AI tools are also a handy addition to the Z Flip 6's arsenal, with the highlight being the dual-screen interpreter. Fire this up with the phone part-folded, and you can have a conversation with someone speaking a different language, seeing a translation of what they say on the screen in front of you, while they see a translation of what you say. This worked well in our experience, and while it's a bit clunky for quick-fire conversations, it's handy when there's a bit more time to set everything up.

Running Android 14, Samsung promises an impressive seven years of software updates for the Galaxy Z Flip 6, making it the most future-proofed flip phone on the scene.

We do prefer Motorola’s more stock-looking Android interface across both the cover screen and main display. It’s less feature-heavy but also feels a bit less clunky, with fewer doubled-up apps – Samsung Wallet and Google Wallet, Samsung Browser and Google Chrome, etc.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 features a 4,000mAh battery, a notable upgrade from the Z Flip 5's 3,700mAh, and on most days, we didn’t struggle to get from morning to night on a single charge. Heavy hotspotting and unfolded use did leave us low by the day’s end, but the inclusion of wireless charging made it easy to mindlessly charge at our desks when we thought we might need a midday top-up.

Samsung’s 25W wired charging speeds are slower than the competition, but thanks to the relatively low battery capacity, we could still charge it fully in around an hour when plugged in.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is, unsurprisingly, the best flip phone Samsung makes, so if you want a clamshell and are a Samsung ride or die, then you can confidently pick one up. There's plenty to love about it, and even though the cameras aren't always the best, by flip phone standards, the Flip 6's photos and videos are consistently respectable.

For anyone looking to venture beyond Samsung's foldables, there hasn't been flip phone competition this fierce since the 90s. Between Motorola, Xiaomi, and the lower-cost, lesser-known brands like Nubia and Tecno, it could be worth shopping around.

Unlike traditional phones, we also find flip phone love to be a bit more subjective, given how much comes down to style and feel. Our top flip phone of 2024 is the Motorola RAZR 50 Ultra, also known as the RAZR Plus (2024) in some regions, but we know other reviewers who prefer the Flip 6, and others who prefer the Mix Flip.

So while the Z Flip 6 is a good phone, with any luck, the fact the competition is hotting up lights a fire under Samsung for 2025, and maybe, just maybe, the Z Flip 7 will be the game changer some probably wished the Z Flip 6 would be.

Want to know more about the Z Flip 6's competition? These are the best flip and fold phones flexing their features right now, and if you aren't sold on the Flip, check out our guide to the best camera phones of 2024.