New Galaxy Z Fold 6 leak brings bad news on the US pricing front, good news concerning weight
If the Galaxy Z Fold 6 already felt rather underwhelming to you based on all the recent rumors and leaks about screen sizes, camera capabilities, battery capacity, and AI functionality, the latest word on US pricing might disappoint you even more.
That's right, we're afraid that piece of gossip from a couple of weeks ago that we refused to put our trust in at the time is today gaining steam, and the industry insider corroborating the Z Fold 6's higher prices than its predecessor is almost never wrong about this type of stuff.
These are (probably) the main Galaxy Z Fold 6 variants and their US price tags
- 256GB storage configuration - $1,899.99;
- 512GB - $2,019.99;
- 1TB - $2,259.99.
If Steve Hemmerstoffer's fresh intel (published exclusively on Smartprix) proves accurate (which seems very possible), the Z Fold 6 will be $100 costlier than its predecessor across the board, at least stateside. That's something prospective buyers may not find very easy to stomach considering how few palpable upgrades the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is expected to bring to the table compared to the Z Fold 5.
Is this the Z Fold 5? No, it's (allegedly) the Z Fold 6.
The storage variants, mind you, are all the same, and although there's no mention of that in this hot new report, we don't think Samsung is cooking up any improvements in the memory department either. That means the Korea-based tech giant expects its US-based fans to cough up more than $2,000 for a book-style foldable with 512 gigs of internal storage space, 12GB RAM, a state-of-the-art Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, and almost every other spec and feature "borrowed" from last year's Galaxy Z Fold 5.
With the extremely well-reviewed OnePlus Open priced right off the bat at $1,700 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage and Google's 256GB Pixel Fold frequently marked down from a list price of $1,800 to as little as $1,300, that's almost preposterous, and it could certainly contribute to a sales decline and market share contraction for Samsung's entire foldable portfolio.
Just like the Pixel Fold (and the Z Fold 5), the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is of course all but guaranteed to receive substantial discounts relatively soon after its commercial debut, and if history is any indication, some pretty amazing launch deals as well. But that doesn't change the fact that the Z Fold 5's already sky-high retail prices will go even higher for this bad boy's largely repetitive and very familiar-looking sequel.
Heavier on the wallet, lighter in your hand
For what it's worth, the pricier Z Fold 6 is today tipped to weigh in at 239 grams, thus trimming 14 grams off the weight number of the Z Fold 5. That's definitely good news for folks who handled last year's book-style Samsung foldable and felt a little overwhelmed by it after a while (and not in a good way).
On the other hand, we're no longer very certain that the 4,400mAh battery capacity will increase to around 4,600mAh, as some sources have suggested in the last few months. The aforementioned OnePlus Open, in case you're wondering, tips the scales at exactly 239 grams too while packing a 4,805mAh cell, which means that Samsung could reduce the Z Fold 5's 253-gram weight and bump up the battery size at the same time. Whether that will happen after all, however, remains a totally different matter.
The Z Fold 5 is far from the world's lightest or thinnest foldable. | Image Credit -- PhoneArena
In terms of color options, Navy, Silver Shadow, and Pink are once again rumored, corroborating (at least in part) a number of previous reports that also mentioned white and "crafted black" as possible online-only hues likely to be released in lower volume than the main three flavors.
Nothing else of importance is revealed or corroborated today, leaving us with... the wealth of information reported by many trustworthy sources in the months leading up to an undoubtedly glamorous Unpacked launch event likely to take place on July 10.
Things that are NOT allowed: