Samsung has just launched the AI supercharged Galaxy Z Fold 6 at its Unpacked 2024 event in Paris, France. Even though the Galaxy Z Fold 6 looks very similar to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 and has received incremental upgrades, the phone is powered by Galaxy AI unveiled earlier this year with the Galaxy S series phones. It adds an extra dimension to this device that is best used for productivity and entertainment.
While most of these features are available on the Galaxy S series and should eventually be available on other flagship Android phones as well, they make a lot more sense on the dual screen form factor and are well optimised by Samsung. Are they genuinely as good as Samsung make them sound? Well, wait till the Z Fold 6 arrives at the Digit HQ and we do our thorough Digit AI-Q tests on it.
But, I did get a chance to experience the phone at the Paris event and here are some important things you should know.
Galaxy AI is Cool
Most phone makers have ridiculed Artificial Intelligence-powered features to poor-gimmicky tools. Others have aimed them at creativity. The Galaxy AI though seems to find the right balance between fun and productivity.
So, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 gets your usual AI features like AI Image Editor, Photo Assist and Notes Assist. But, it also comes with Google’s Circle to Search and Live Translation features which we have already seen in action on a bunch of devices. These are not just cool but very effective and useful as well.
In addition, there are some new abilities –
- PDF overlay translation – This allows the phone to translate and summarise PDF files. So, you don’t have to through 60 pages of text. You can simply ask AI to put together a summary of the document and save a lot of time.
- Composer: This AI-powered feature can generate suggested text from the Samsung keyboard based on simple keywords for email and supported social media apps. It even analyses the tonality in your previous social media posts and makes the new posts sound similar.
- Sketch to Image – The most impressive new Galaxy AI feature for me is Sketch to Image. Open any picture in your phone Gallery, sketch something on it and the phone converts it into a proper image. Not only this, it creates different versions of the image as well.
- Portrait Studio – Lastly, Samsung has also added a Portrait Studio to the Z Fold 6 which creates a variety of different portrait styles such as 3D cartoon or watercolor from your existing images.
Some of these features like Sketch to Image also allow you to make better use of the S Pen, which is compatible with the Galaxy Z Fold 6. However, I didn’t get a chance to use it with the phone. So, more on it later.
Separately, Samsung is now extending 7 years of OS and security updates on both the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6. That completes an overall solid software experience.
Similar Hardware
While Samsung has gone big on Galaxy AI, there aren’t too many exciting hardware changes on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 this year. It’s still one heck of a phone – premium and classy.
The glass finish looks superb, in-hand feel of the phone is fantastic and the titanium frame makes it durable. The weight has been reduced by 14 grams from Z Fold 5 to 239 grams on the Z Fold 6 which makes the latter more comfortable to hold.
But, the screens remain more or less the same. On cover, the Z Fold 6 comes with a 6.3-inch AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate and the main screen has a 7.6-inch AMOLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate as well. Both of these are vibrant displays. The camera system is the same as last year with a 50-megapixel main camera supported by a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a 10-megapixel telephoto sensor.
The phone also packs the same 4400mAh battery as the Z Fold 5, even though Samsung claims that you will now get a better battery backup. The charging is restricted at 25W and there is no charger in the box.
So, the only major hardware upgrade this year is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset which enables a solid NPU performance and drives all the AI features I have mentioned above. It also ensures that a lot of these features are processed natively on the phone itself.
My Two Cents
I kind of expected Samsung to rely heavily on Generative AI to shape the new foldable phones. Ideally, I would have liked to see a few more hardware changes but I am also not really surprised with what I have seen at the Unpacked this year. These AI features only make the Galaxy Z Fold 6 more productivity-focused phone. They may eventually give it a completely new identity as well.
For now, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 will be available for pre-orders starting today and will go on sale starting July 24. Wait for more thoughts in the final review. Also, keep an eye on the Digit AI-Q score of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.
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