Samsung unveiled six new devices at its Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris. While wearables like the Galaxy Watch Ultra received the most attention, the heart of the event was Samsung’s sixth generation of foldable phones – the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Both the new Fold and new Flip are lighter and thinner, with more powerful chips under the hood to provide a responsive experience and roll out the carpet for Galaxy AI. The main inner displays are stretched farther to the edges, and Samsung says there are some marked camera improvements.
While these new phones are closer to Samsung’s vision of perfection, they cost $100 more than the models they’re replacing. According to Samsung, this is necessary to deliver the best possible user experience.
“Our first goal is always to prioritize product experience and the consumer feedback we’ve received,” Drew Blackard, VP of Mobile Product Management at Samsung Electronics America, told me at an Unpacked event in New York City. He went on to note that for this year, Samsung is improving the camera, stretching the battery life, adding more RAM into the Galaxy Z Flip 6, and rolling out Galaxy AI to both the new Fold and new Flip.
“For the past several years, we continue to pack innovation in these devices and to deliver the experiences we wanted to this year, that meant an increase.” Of course, the saving grace is discounts and promotions, which lets Samsung ensure the Flip and Fold are “very accessible to shoppers, but again prioritizing the product experience first,” said Blackard.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 starts at $1,099.99, but during the preorder window, Samsung will double the storage from 256GB to 512GB. With a device trade-in, you can take up to $650 off, bringing the cost down to $449.99 in the United States.
Similarly, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 starts at $1,899.99, but the storage is doubled to 512GB, and with a device trade-in, the price can drop down to $699.99 for the Fold after up to $1,200 off in the US. You may not notice the price increase if you’re trading in your phone, either to Samsung or to a carrier like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile in the United States.
Furthermore, Blackard believes this year’s improvements and changes were “very much about removing all barriers and getting them at parity with traditional bar-type flagship smartphones.” The hope is that you’ll see the flagship specs on both phones – the Z Fold 6 is about the same weight as the S24 Ultra and the Z Flip has the same battery size as the standard S24 – and decide which form factor suits you best.
On the subject of a folding phone, Blackard believes “the future is bright because if you think about it, the form factors themselves are getting to the point where there’s not really trade-offs anymore.”
A lot for the money
The competition is getting stronger, especially with foldables – Motorola’s flip phone Razr starts at just $699, and history suggests it might frequently be found for much less. Still, Samsung would likely point out it’s playing the long game here and has been at it for much longer, now up to six generations.
And I think that is the real point here – Samsung’s been working towards delivering a Flip or a Fold that doesn’t mean you’re missing out on a must-have feature or an impressive spec.
Sure, I wish the Galaxy Z Fold 6 offered the same crazy powered zoom as the Galaxy S24 Ultra and that the S-Pen was integrated, but aside from that, it still checks off a multitude of other boxes… and the latest generation is shaping up to make a powerhouse of a phone even better.
Then, the Z Flip 6 feels more on par with the Galaxy S24 or S24 Plus than ever before, especially with Samsung’s display tech, which allows the internal crease to be less of an issue.
So yes, we’re stuck with a foldable tax of sorts over the likes of a standard candy bar, but the prices – while higher than last year – are still close enough to let you potentially pick the form factor you want.
Maybe it’s a massive screen with an integrated S Pen, a compact phone that flips open, or what appears to be a standard phone that opens to the size of a tablet. And if you trade in a modern phone, you can save quite a bit.
Suffice it to say, the in our hands-on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review and hands-on Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 reivew the phones impressed us, and we’re keen to thoroughly review them soon.
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jacob.krol@futurenet.com (Jacob Krol)
