Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6: Which one is the right fit for you?
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Intro
Samsung has two new foldable phones and they are as different as can be: the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 is a book-style foldable that is quite the big phone, while the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is a clamshell that gets tiny when closed.
The Fold 6 is also much more expensive with a starting price of $1,900, while the Flip 6 is nearly half that at $1,100.
But while the Fold 6 can help you multitask a lot better and enjoy your content on a giant main screen, the Flip 6 is doesn't do all those fancy multitasking tricks and is mostly good as a compact phone.
But what other differences are there? Which people should go for the Fold 6, and which ones would be better off buying the Flip 6? We tell you all about these two right below.
Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Galaxy Z Flip 6 differences explained:
| Galaxy Z Fold 6 | Galaxy Z Flip 6 |
|---|---|
| Book style foldable | Clamshell flip phone |
| Bigger size Folded: 68.1 x 153.5 x 12.1mm Unfolded: 132.6 x 153.5 x 5.6mm | Smaller size Folded: 71.9 x 85.1 x 14.9mm Unfolded: 71.9 x 165.1 x 6.9mm |
| Heavier, 239g weight | 187g weight |
| Same IP48 certified | IP48 certified |
| Larger displays 7.6-inch main screen, nearly square 6.3-inch cover screen, 22.1:9 aspect ratio | Smaller screens 6.7-inch main screen, 22:9 3.4-inch cover screen, nearly square |
| Crease still noticeable | Crease in the middle is practically gone |
| Triple camera: 50MP main 10MP 3X zoom 12MP ultra-wide 10MP selfie camera (cover screen) 4MP under-display camera (main screen) | Dual camera: 50MP main 12MP ultra-wide - 10MP selfie cam |
| Same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 12GB of RAM | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12GB of RAM |
| 256GB 512GB 1TB storage options | 256GB 512GB |
| Larger 4,400mAh battery | 4,000mAh battery |
| Same 25W wired charge 15W wireless | Same 25W wired charge 15W wireless |
Table of Contents:
- Design and Display
- Performance and Software
- Camera
- Battery and Charging
- Audio Quality
- Specs
- Which one should you buy?
Also read:
Design and Display Quality
Apples to oranges
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Flip 6 carry on with a similar design language as their predecessors. There are some slight tweaks to the Fold as it uses a slightly wider aspect ratio for the cover screen and now comes with sharp corners, but for the most part it is not much different than before. And the Flip 6 is almost identical to the Flip 5, save for some very tiny changes to size.
Interestingly, Samsung has practically eliminated the crease on the Flip 6, while on the Fold 6 it is less noticeable but still there. That is one thing so many people were hoping to see, so we are glad to see progress being made!
Samsung also says it has worked on the durability and improved it on both of these devices.
You should know that both of them are now IP48 certified, where the "4" number stands for limited dust protection, against particles larger than 1mm. This still means you have to be cautious in dusty rooms, but it is a step forward. The other number, the "8" stands for water resistance, as both can be submerged in 1.5 meters deep water for up to 30 minutes (but Samsung does not advise them for beach or pool use).
As for the screens, the Galaxy Fold 6 gets a marginally wider cover screen. Foldables from most other brands use even wider screens, but Samsung is quite stubborn about this and the Fold 6 still feels a bit too narrow. This makes tasks like typing on a tiny keyboard on the Cover Screen particularly difficulty and error-prone.
But as for other screen changes, there don't seem to be any. Both remain quite sharp and have pleasing, vibrant OLED colors, and they do get plenty bright.
We will update you with exact display measurements here over the next couple of days as we finish testing these two.
Also read: Galaxy Z Flip 6: Size Comparison
Performance and Software
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 here to save us
In the past few years, it feels that flagship phones have gotten fast enough. So, the new and even faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip inside both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6 is good news, but also not something all that exciting.
Gamers also have something to be excited about: the Flip 6 is the first Samsung flip phone with a vapor chamber for better cooling, and this will definitely make a difference. The Fold 6, on the other hand, gets a 1.6X bigger vapor chamber, which is a big improvement in cooling also.
In terms of storage, both the Flip 6 and Fold 6 base models come with 256GB of storage, and you also have a 512GB version for both devices, but the Fold 6 is available in a pricey 1TB storage model, while the Flip is not.
On the software side, Samsung is focusing all on Galaxy AI, but we cannot say the new features are particularly ground-breaking.
For the Flip, you have new AI-powered portraits, as well as an interesting Auto Zoom features that picks the best framing for you, as well as an optimized translate app that shows translations on the outer screen.
The Fold benefits more from AI with Note Assist that will auto format, summarize, correct and translate your notes easily. You also have Transcript Assist that gives you meeting minutes effortlessly, and provides summaries for those longer meets.
It also comes with the familiar generative photo editing features: you can easily move and resize an object in a photo, as well as generate cartoon-style portraits from your pictures.
What's great is that both the Fold 6 and Flip 6 get support for seven years with major Android/One UI updates and security patches. Samsung matches Google in this excellent metric, which is very user-friendly and means you will be able to use your device until the end of the decade if you wish so.
Camera
Some upgrades here and there
The bigger fold benefits from its larger size and has more cameras on board, and more specifically, you have a dedicated telephoto lens on the Fold, while the Flip does not have that.
In terms of camera specs, you have a 50MP main camera sensor on both, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera, but then only the Fold gets a 10MP 3X zoom camera. On the Flip, new is a 2X sensor crop for at least some improvement with zoom, but nothing beyond that.
The Fold 6 also still comes with that good old 4MP under-display camera, which still takes pretty bad looking selfies, but is kind of invisible.
We will have photo and video samples here to look through and compare very soon, so check back in a couple of days for an update to this section.
Battery Life and Charging
The Z Fold 6 will likely have the upper hand
Two things have happened on the battery front: first, Samsung has not changed the battery size on the Fold 6, and second, it has slightly increase the battery size on the Flip 6.
So now, you have the following numbers:
- 4,400mAh battery on Fold 6
- 4,000mAh battery on Flip 6
This means that the gap in battery size between these two is closing (the previous Flip editions had a much smaller battery).
So what are the battery life numbers?
Here are the official Samsung battery life estimates:
- 23 hours of video on Fold 6 (vs 21 hours on Fold 5), 77 hours of music on Fold 6 (vs 73 hours on Fold 5)
- 23 hours of video on Flip 6 (vs 20 hours on Flip 5), 68 hours of music on Flip 6 (vs 57 hours on Flip 5)
So as you can see, we have slight improvements in battery life on both phones, and the Fold 6 remains the longer lasting one, but only when it comes to music playback.
We, of course, will be running our own battery tests to verify Samsung's claims and we will be updating this section right here with more info on that over the next couple of days.
Charging-wise, Samsung sticks with 25W wired charging, which is the same as in previous generations. This is not particularly fast, especially when compared to rivals from China, but we guess for Samsung it is.
Both the Fold 6 and Flip 6 support wireless charging at up to 15W speeds.
Audio Quality
With a bigger size, the Fold 6 has more room for its speakers and the sound boomier and way more impressive, so that is one advantage it has going for it.
Haptics seem quite similar on both, good enough, even if these do not feel like the very best vibration motors on the market.
Specs Comparison
How will the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6 specs compare? Here's a comparison table, outlining the specs:
| Specs | Galaxy Z Fold 6 | Galaxy Z Flip 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | Folded: 68.1 x 153.5 x 12.1mm Unfolded: 132.6 x 153.5 x 5.6mm | Folded: 71.9 x 85.1 x 14.9mm Unfolded: 71.9 x 165.1 x 6.9mm |
| Screen | 7.6-inch main screen, nearly square 6.3-inch cover screen, 22.1:9 aspect ratio | 6.7-inch main screen, 22:9 3.4-inch cover screen, nearly square |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 4nm | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 4nm |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB 12GB/1TB | 12GB/256GB 12GB/512GB |
| Cameras | Main: 50MP, f/1.8, OIS, 1.0μm pixel size Ultra-wide: 12MP, f/2.2 Telephoto: 10MP, 3X zoom, f/2.4, OIS 10MP selfie camera (cover screen) 4MP under-display camera (main screen) | Main: 50MP, f/1.8, OIS, 1.0μm pixel size Ultra-wide: 12MP, f/2.2 - Front: 10MP |
| Battery Size | 4,400mAh 23 hours video playback | 4,000 mAh 23 hours video playback |
| Charging Speeds | 25W wired 15W wireless charging | 25W wired 15W wireless charging |
Which one should you buy?
The Galaxy Z Flip and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 share the same processor, specs and even the camera systems are so similar (with the exception of the zoom camera that you only get on the Fold).
So the fundamental Samsung experience is definitely similar.
The main difference have everything to do with the form factor. The big, book-style Galaxy Fold 6 is great for productivity and multitasking, as you can have three windows open and a floating window, plus it's easier to add AI on top of that.
The Flip 6, on the other hand, has evolved but because of its smaller size, it is not so much about productivity as it is about delivering a fast experience in a flip form factor, and we know that it's especially loved amongst the ladies too.
So... which one is your preferred form factor and why? Let us know in the comments right below.
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