Samsung unveiled six new devices at its Galaxy Unpacked event in Paris. While wearables like the Galaxy Watch Ultra got most of the attention, the heart of the event was Samsung’s sixth generation of foldable phones: the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6.
Both the new Fold and Flip are lighter and thinner, with more powerful chips under the hood to deliver a responsive experience and roll out the carpet for Galaxy AI. The main internal displays extend further out to the edges, and Samsung says there are some notable improvements to the camera.
While these new phones come closer to Samsung's vision of perfection, they cost $100 more than the models they replace. According to Samsung, this is necessary to offer the best possible user experience.
“Our first goal is always to prioritize the product experience and the consumer feedback we’ve received,” Drew Blackard, vice president of mobile product management for Samsung Electronics America, told me at an Unpacked event in New York City. He went on to note that for this year, Samsung is improving the camera, extending battery life, adding more RAM to the Galaxy Z Flip 6, and deploying Galaxy AI in both the new Fold and Flip.
“Over the last few years, we’ve continued to bring innovation to these devices and deliver the experiences we wanted this year, which meant an increase.” Of course, the saving grace is discounts and promotions, which allow Samsung to ensure the Flip and Fold are “very accessible to buyers, but again prioritizing the product experience first,” Blackard said.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 starts at $1,099.99, but during the pre-order period, Samsung will double the storage from 256GB to 512GB. With a trade-in, you can get up to $650 off, bringing the price down to $449.99 in the US.
Similarly, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 starts at $1,899.99, but storage is doubled to 512GB, and with a device trade-in, the price can drop to $699.99 for the Fold after a discount of up to $1,200 in the US. You might not notice the price increase if you trade in your phone, either with Samsung or with a carrier like AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile in the United States.
Plus, Blackard believes this year's improvements and changes “are all about removing all the barriers and bringing them on par with traditional bar-style flagship smartphones.” The hope is that you'll look at the flagship specs on both phones (the Z Fold 6 is roughly the same weight as the S24 Ultra, and the Z Flip has the same battery size as the standard S24) and decide which form factor suits you best.
As for the foldable phone, Blackard believes “the future is bright because, if you think about it, the form factors themselves are getting to a point where there is no longer any compromise.”
A lot for the money
Competition is getting tougher, especially for foldable phones: Motorola’s Razr foldable phone starts at just $699, and historically, it can be found for much less. Still, Samsung would likely point out that it’s playing the long game and has been at this for much longer — as many as six generations.
And I think that's the real point here: Samsung has been working to deliver a Flip or Fold that doesn't mean missing out on a must-have feature or impressive spec.
Sure, I wish the Galaxy Z Fold 6 offered the same powerful zoom as the Galaxy S24 Ultra and had the S-Pen built in, but aside from that, it still delivers on a multitude of other features… and the latest generation is shaping up to make a powerful phone even better.
So the Z Flip 6 feels more on par with the Galaxy S24 or S24 Plus than ever before, especially with Samsung's display technology allowing the internal crease to be less of an issue.
So yes, we're stuck with a folding tax of some sort on something like a standard chocolate bar, but the prices, while higher than last year, are still close enough to allow you to potentially choose the format you want.
Maybe it's a huge screen with a built-in S Pen, a compact phone that opens with a flap, or what appears to be a standard phone that opens up to the size of a tablet. And if you're trading in a modern phone, you can save quite a bit.
Suffice it to say, in our hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and hands-on review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, we were impressed by the phones and can't wait to review them in-depth soon.
