Market research firm Counterpoint Research recently reported that global shipments of foldable smartphones in Q1 2024 increased by 49% year-on-year, marking the highest growth rate in nearly a year and a half.
This significant growth trend indicates that global consumers are increasingly accepting foldable screen mobile phones, which are gradually becoming a new favorite in the market.
Regarding foldable screen mobile phones, we must mention the pioneer in this category: Samsung.
Since launching the Samsung Galaxy Fold in 2019, Samsung has guided us through six years of advancements in folding screen technology. Over these six years, Samsung has continuously improved the form and technology of its folding machine category.
The most notable advancements appear in the newly released Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, the sixth-generation folding flagship.
Samsung has made significant progress in its self-developed hinge technology since the previous generation, Galaxy Z Fold5, first adopted the innovative ultra-closed precision hinge design. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 continues to use this hinge structure, ensuring a smooth opening and closing experience while significantly improving overall refinement and durability.
Compared to the previous generation, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is lighter and thinner, reducing its body weight from 253g to 239g and its folded thickness from 13.4mm to 12.1mm.
In terms of performance, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, this year’s flagship folding model, has seen significant improvements.
It is equipped with the same third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform (for Galaxy) as the S24 series. This processor’s CPU’s large core frequency reaches 3.39GHz, and the small core frequency is increased to 1.0GHz, theoretically enabling higher instantaneous application launch frequencies.
This time, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 focuses on “AI” as its core concept. By integrating the new Galaxy AI technology, it introduces a series of AI functions, including photography optimization, text search, image and video retrieval, graffiti, content summarization, AI translation, and smart summaries, showcasing the powerful capabilities of AI in multiple usage scenarios.
Design and Appearance
The external screen size of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is slightly larger than the previous generation. It features a 6.3-inch second-generation dynamic AMOLED display with an updated aspect ratio of 22.1:9, compared to 23.1:9 in the previous model. Despite the larger screen size, the phone feels almost the same in hand as the previous generation.
The external screen resolution is 968 x 2376, supporting a dynamic adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz. The screen of the Galaxy Z Fold6 is still covered with tough Corning Gorilla Victus 2 glass, providing the strongest scratch and wear resistance among foldable phones. The Galaxy Z Fold6 includes a 10-megapixel front-facing camera centered at the top of the outer screen.
When unfolded, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 reveals a 7.6-inch second-generation dynamic AMOLED inner screen with a resolution of 2160 x 1856. This screen also supports a dynamic adaptive refresh rate of 120Hz, and its peak brightness has been upgraded to 2600 nits. On the upper right side of the inner screen, there is still an under-screen camera with an effective pixel count of 4 million.
The back panel of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, made of top-grade Corning Gorilla Victus 2 glass, ensures durability and wear resistance, so you don’t have to worry about scratches from keys or other sharp objects in your pocket.
The camera module on the back of the phone retains the classic side-by-side three-camera arrangement, each lens surrounded by a record-textured decorative ring, enhancing recognition and reducing the chance of scratches on the lens module.
The top of the phone includes two noise-canceling microphones, exhaust vents, and an independent speaker, creating a stereo field with the main speaker at the bottom. The capacitive fingerprint button and volume button of the Galaxy Z Fold6 are located on the same side, making it easier to unlock or adjust the volume with one hand, improving convenience and efficiency. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 package includes a 25W fast charging adapter.
Performance and Games
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 features the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform (for Galaxy), standard 12GB of memory, and LPDDR5X 8533Mbps+UFS4.0 storage specifications. We tested the 12GB+512GB storage version of the Galaxy Z Fold6.
We ran a series of theoretical performance tests on the phone, disabling the phone’s memory expansion function during the tests.
Theoretical Performance Test
In the AnTuTu comprehensive performance test, the phone scored a total of 1.6416 million points, which is about 8% higher than the previous generation Z Fold5. In the GeekBench 6 individual test, the single-core score was 2306 points, and the multi-core score was 6930 points, showing increases of approximately 15.4% and 30%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Although the heat dissipation performance of this folding-screen mobile phone may not be as good as traditional straight-screen mobile phones, its performance in extreme conditions is still impressive. In the Androbench flash memory test, it achieved a sequential read speed of 3.82GB/s and a sequential write speed of 3.02GB/s, meeting the UFS 4.0 standard.
Game Testing
For game testing, we selected two mobile games, “Honor of Kings” and “Genshin Impact,” and conducted the tests in an office environment with an indoor temperature of 26 degrees Celsius. We tested both games using the highest picture quality and highest frame rate settings, prioritizing frame rate, and recording the frame rate, power consumption, energy efficiency ratio, and body heating performance during gameplay.
1. Honor of Kings
We first tested the “Honor of Kings.” Under extreme image quality and extremely high frame rate, we conducted a 5V5 team battle test for 15 minutes. The game frame rate remained stable at 120FPS, with no lag on the screen. The average frame rate was stable at 119.95FPS, close to full-frame operation. The average power consumption of the game was 3.24W, and the energy efficiency ratio was 37.02FPS/W. After the game, the maximum temperature on the back of the device reached 40.7 degrees Celsius, mainly concentrated on the right side of the camera.
2. Genshin Impact
Next, we tested the high-load game “Genshin Impact.” In the highest picture quality and 60 frame rate mode, we ran a map test in Xumi City for 15 minutes using the 7.6-inch internal screen. The game frame rate stabilized at 59.89FPS, with straight-line frame rate output, showing more stability than the previous generation Z Fold5. The average power consumption was only 4.05W, which is lower than that of the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 straight-screen mobile phone. The energy efficiency ratio was 14.78FPS/W, higher than that of the straight-screen mobile phone, indicating Samsung’s excellent heat dissipation performance. After the test, the maximum temperature on the back of the device was only 40.7 degrees Celsius, showing significantly better temperature control than some straight-screen mobile phones and the previous generation Galaxy Z Fold5.
AI Test
- Intelligent Portrait
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6’s Smart Portrait feature revolutionizes mobile photography. It intelligently converts portrait photos into various artistic styles, such as 3D cartoons, business, and cyberpunk. This technology injects unique and personalized elements into each portrait photo, greatly enhancing the fun and creativity of portrait photography.
Users can choose the most suitable style based on their preferences and different shooting scenarios, easily creating personalized portrait works. They can share these works on personal social platforms to showcase their unique side and let friends witness their charm.
- Search in Circles
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 includes a convenient circle-and-search function. By long-pressing the Home button at the bottom of the screen and using the S Pen tip (or finger touch) to circle the content you want to search, the system automatically identifies the search type (image or text) and pops up the search content at the bottom of the interface for direct browsing.
With AI technology support, searching for content in pictures becomes easier.
- Translation
When browsing English content on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6, users can select specific paragraphs through simple circle operations and quickly translate them into Chinese. The system automatically distinguishes and identifies different paragraphs, making the entire operation simple and efficient.
- Graffiti
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 introduces an innovative doodle feature, simplifying artistic creation and allowing even users without painting skills to easily create works of art. Users only need to draw a simple sketch, and AI will automatically recognize these outlines and regenerate new paintings based on them. It also provides various painting styles for users to choose from, making personalized creation easy.
In practice, the Galaxy Z Fold6 accurately captures users’ drawing intentions. For example, when users casually outline an animal, AI can create a satisfactory rabbit picture based on this outline.
Camera Test
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 features a rear main, telephoto, and ultra-wide triple camera module. The main camera uses a 50-megapixel Samsung S5KGN3 sensor with OIS optical image stabilization.
The telephoto lens features a 10-megapixel Samsung S5K3K1 sensor with 3X optical zoom and OIS optical image stabilization.
The ultra-wide-angle lens includes a 12-megapixel Samsung S5K3LU sensor with a 123° field of view. Let’s explore the camera’s actual photo-taking performance on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6.
Main Camera
In daytime scenes, the main camera captures photos with colors that are very pleasing. Light signs, building structures, and surrounding green plants all exhibit high color saturation, resulting in bright and vivid pictures.
Despite this, the photos do not show any overexposure issues, and the details are fully preserved.
Night View
In night scenes, the Z Fold6 intelligently enables night scene photography mode, extending the exposure time to reduce the brightness of bright areas. This ensures that the anti-glare effect remains excellent, even around bright neon signs.
Even when zooming in on a huge billboard in a shopping mall, the details remain discernible, demonstrating excellent performance in suppressing strong light.
Telephoto
The 3x telephoto lens easily captures a sense of atmosphere due to the reduced field of view. The lens supports up to 30x magnification and is equipped with OIS optical image stabilization technology, ensuring high-quality images can be efficiently captured in well-lit environments with a high success rate.
In terms of color performance, it tends to output high saturation, just like the main camera, making photos appear brighter and more vivid, which looks very pleasing.
Ultra-wide Angle
The ultra-wide-angle lens of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 supports 123° wide-angle shooting. The 12-megapixel resolution ensures relatively fine picture quality. The imaging remains relatively pure during the day, retaining the true colors of elements such as the sky and green grass.
Charging and Battery Life
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 has a built-in 4400mAh battery and supports 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. We conducted a series of tests to evaluate the wired charging speed and battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6.
Charging Test
We began the screen-off charging test at 5% power. After 10 minutes of charging, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s power level reached 21%. After 30 minutes, the power level increased to 49%, nearly half. At the 60-minute mark, the power level was at 86%. The phone took a total of 81 minutes to fully charge.
Battery Life Test
To test battery life, we used Battery Dog, a professional battery life test tool developed by Fast Technology. The test included a 20% power test and covered various usage scenarios such as CPU high voltage, CPU multi-threading, AI recognition, image browsing, video playback, and web browsing. Battery Dog simulates real user usage scenarios as closely as possible.
During the test, Battery Dog adjusted the screen brightness to 50%, turned off automatic brightness, and set the volume to 30% to maintain consistent environmental variables across all model tests.
External Screen Battery Life
For the 6.3-inch external screen, Battery Dog measured the battery life to 20% remaining, giving a battery life of 7 hours, 23 minutes, and 29 seconds. Based on the rate of power consumption, the comprehensive battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6’s external screen is about 9 hours, nearly 2 hours longer than the previous generation Z Fold5.
Internal Screen Battery Life
For the 7.6-inch internal screen, it took 6 hours, 36 minutes, and 45 seconds to measure from 100% power to 20%. After conversion, the full-charge battery life is nearly 8 hours, which is about 1.5 hours longer than the previous generation Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5.
Verdict of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6
As the first Samsung foldable device to incorporate AI, it provides an unprecedented experience to users through a series of innovative AI functions. These functions improve users’ work efficiency and make artistic creation accessible, enriching their daily lives and entertainment.
The Smart Portrait function uses AI technology to convert portrait photos into various artistic styles, adding fun and personalization to photography.
The circle-and-search function simplifies the search process, while AI translation and graffiti creation broaden the user’s creative space, making artistic creation accessible.
While further reducing weight and thinning, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 folds seamlessly, hovers at multiple angles, and has strong damping with no rebound. It stands out as a near-perfect product in the foldable screen mobile phone field, maintaining an industry-leading folding experience.
Notably, the Galaxy Z Fold6 can perform hovering operations at an angle of nearly 170 degrees. In the folding screen mobile phone market, such a large range of folding is rare. Samsung truly deserves recognition as the originator of folding mobile phones.
In terms of performance, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform (for Galaxy) makes the Galaxy Z Fold6 the most powerful large folding phone to date. In our actual tests, high-load mobile games like “Genshin Impact” maintained stable performance. This is a first for Samsung’s large folding phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 has made significant performance optimizations, dispelling the notion that “large folding phones have poor performance.”
In summary, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 achieves new heights in hardware performance and sets a new benchmark for AI technology in the smartphone market. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 opens a new chapter for foldable screen mobile phones in AI development, reaffirming Samsung’s position at the forefront of technological innovation in foldable phones.
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