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Intro
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 released in the summer of 2024 with a few more AI tricks under its belt to add to what the S24 series launched with. It's powered by the familiar and excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that was in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The new Z Fold 6 addresses a couple of the pain points of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and improves its build by attaining an IP48 rating — for the first time ever, foldables with not only water-ingress protection, but particle resistance as well.
But, in general, it's not all that new. You might wonder — is it better to buy an old Z Fold 5 on discount? Or, Z Fold 5 owners might be considering upgrading. Well... here's everything we have on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 vs Galaxy Z Fold 5 — performance, battery life, display quality, and design and build.
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The foldable market has evolved quite a bit since the original Galaxy Fold hit. Samsung has insisted on keeping its cover screens "one-hand-friendly", with a very tall and narrow design. However, that doesn't lend itself well for dual-thumb typing and more "regular" smartphone use. Other foldables, like the Google Pixel Fold, the OnePlus Open, Honor Magic V2, Xiaomi Mix Fold 3, and others, have adopted a wide external display and a much thinner overall build.
Well, Samsung has cracked a bit. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with a 22.1:9 external display — a bit wider than the 23:9 aspect ratio of the Galaxy Z Fold 5. It is no candybar phone, but does feel a little more lax.
Z Fold 6 - top, Z Fold 5 - bottom
The main display has also had upgrades. With extra protective layers and yet another hinge redesign, Samsung says the crease has disappeared. We'd say it's still visible, but much less prominent than on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. On the Fold 6, it's also less annoying or noticeable when you swipe through it.
Z Fold 6 - left, Z Fold 5 - right
You will also notice that the shape of the Z Fold 6 is starker — sharp corners on the body and on the screens. It kind of gives you the feel like you have some more real estate to work with, and it helps the Z Fold 6 look like a futuristic digital booklet. We do like that more than the rounded corners of the Galaxy Z Fold 5, though, something can be said about them feeling softer to the touch, without much jabbing action.
The colors of the Z Fold 6 are Silver Shadow, Pink, and Navy, and there are two colors exclusive to the Samsung.com store — Crafted Black and White. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 came in Cream, Phantom Black, and Light Blue, with two extra colors at the official store — now rare to get ahold of — Blue and Gray.
In the Galaxy Z Fold 6 box, we expect you'd only be able to find a USB C data cable and the phone itself, plus the general information leaflets. No charger, and very probably — no case to go with the premium phone, unless you order one yourself. The same can be said about the Galaxy Z Fold 5's box contents.
Z Fold 6 - top, Z Fold 5 - bottom
Both phones' hinges feel sturdy and reassuring to open and close. But the Galaxy Z Fold 6 scored an upgrade in the overall durability factor — it now has an IP48 rating, which means that it isn't only water-resistant, but also protected against particles. Keep in mind that an IP4 only protects against particles that are 1mm in diameter and up — so it's not exactly dust-tight. Still, a step up from the Galaxy Z Fold 5, which has an IPX8 rating — no dust protection at all.
The Galaxy Z Fold 6 is also a little bit thinner than its predecessor, when in folded form — we appreciate that in the case of foldable phones, as they can get quite chunky when closed.
The CIE 1931 xy color gamut chart represents the set(area)of colors that a display can reproduce,with the sRGB colorspace(the highlighted triangle)serving as reference.The chart also provides a visual representation of a display's color accuracy. The small squares across the boundaries of the triangle are the reference points for the various colors, while the small dots are the actual measurements. Ideally, each dot should be positioned on top of its respective square. The 'x:CIE31' and 'y:CIE31' values in the table below the chart indicate the position of each measurement on the chart. 'Y' shows the luminance (in nits) of each measured color, while 'Target Y' is the desired luminance level for that color. Finally, 'ΔE 2000' is the Delta E value of the measured color. Delta E values of below 2 are ideal.
The Color accuracy chart gives an idea of how close a display's measured colors are to their referential values. The first line holds the measured (actual) colors, while the second line holds the reference (target) colors. The closer the actual colors are to the target ones, the better.
The Grayscale accuracy chart shows whether a display has a correct white balance(balance between red,green and blue)across different levels of grey(from dark to bright).The closer the Actual colors are to the Target ones,the better.
The screens themselves are equally excellent here. Samsung calls it Dynamic AMOLED X2, we like to shorten it to "these look awesome". Bright, punchy colors, deep blacks, sharp resolutions. And they all run in dynamic 1-120 Hz refresh rates.
Performance and Software
Even more Snap, even hotter Dragon
Samsung has tightened its partnership with Qualcomm over the past couple of years, and the flagship Snapdragon chipsets now come in a "Made for Galaxy" flavor. Basically, this means that they are slightly overclocked than the regular Snapdragons that other Android phones get. And, supposedly, the insight that Samsung gets from this partnership allows it to better design the thermals around those powerful chips.
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Coming back from that tangent, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is powered by last year's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Made for Galaxy. Still a very good, efficient, powerful mobile chip. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 now comes with the Snapdraogn 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy. We already have experience with that chip — it's inside the Galaxy S24 phones! It's definitely a slight improvement over the Gen 2 model, but rest assured that the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is still a very, very capable device and nobody will be running laps around it just yet.
As for software — the Z Fold 6 comes with the Galaxy AI tricks in the new One UI 6.1.1 — the full set of features we saw in the Galaxy S24, plus a new image generator, which can transform your S Pen sketches into pretty drawings. The Z Fold 6 also comes with a 7-year software update commitment — it will be getting Android builds and security patches up until 2031. The Z Fold 5 came out with a promise of 4 Android updates and 5 years of software support, so it will reach its end-of-service time about 3 years earlier than the Z Fold 6.
On specs, both of these camera modules are the same — 50 MP main camera, 12 MP ultra-wide, 10 MP telephoto 3x zoom camera. On the front flap, we have 10 MP selfie cameras on both. Inside — there's a 4 MP camera under the display, convenient for video calls, not really a photo maker.
If there are any differences in the camera quality here, it'd be software — Samsung markets the Galaxy Z Fold 6 to have the ProVisual Engine of the Galaxy S24. It's basically all the great features of the Galaxy Camera — from the excellent viewfinder, to generative editing, to portrait shot editing, to getting a video to go slow-mo by just holding it with a finger.
Main Camera
< Z Fold 6Z Fold 5 >
Very similar images from the get-go. But on deeper inspection, the Z Fold 6 is a bit less heavy-handed with post processing. Highlights are allowed to shine a bit more, before being flattened by HDR. And the sharpening is a bit less aggressive on the Z Fold 6.
< Z Fold 6Z Fold 5 >
In night shots, the two phones also take a slightly different processing route. The Z Fold 5 looks yellow-ish and soft, whereas the Z Fold 6 feels like it got an upgrade with sharper details and more natural colors — where possible.
Both phones have a 3x telephoto camera and use digital enhancement to go beyond that. Aside from the Z Fold 5 being more heavy-handed with its HDR and exposure boosting — the details seem pretty much the same from both zoom cameras.
Ultra-wide Camera
< Z Fold 6Z Fold 6 >
With the ultra-wide cameras, it's pretty hard to tell one from the other. Colors get a bit skewed, details get a bit jagged. We guess, the HDR on the Z Fold 6 photo is a bit less pronounced.
Selfies
< Z Fold 6Z Fold 6 >
The Z Fold 6 camera manages to squeeze some more sharpness and detail out of selfies, but is a pinch more saturated than the Z Fold 5, which gets us slightly more realistic skintones.
Battery Life and Charging
More of the same here
It seems nothing has changed in the battery department. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 comes with a 4,400 mAh cell — same as the Galaxy Z Fold 5. That said, the upgraded processor inside is more energy-efficient, so it's able to squeeze out more time out of that battery:
What's slightly disappointing is that we — again — didn't get any form of fast charging upgrade. We are still looking at 25 W wired charging. There's also Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 as before — no Qi2 and no magnetic ring. There's a good reason for that, though — the S Pen's digitizer does not play well with magnets close to the phone.
A more cynical opinion of the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 is that not much has changed. However, we do appreciate the slight design upgrades, and we definitely value that 7-year software update program. Since foldables are not cheap, not at all, having a promise of long support makes it easier to spend that cash. It definitely has enough going for it for us to recommend you spend the cash on a Galaxy Z Fold 6.
That said, let's say you happen to stumble upon an incredible Galaxy Z Fold 5 deal — if a retailer is clearing shelves, for example. Well, then... then — it'd be worth jumping on it. The Z Fold 5 is still very fast, powerful, useful. It doesn't have the new Snapdragon with its fancy NPU, so it may not get the full suite of cool new AI features. But we figure you can live with that, right?
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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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