Today, Samsung announced a new sequel to the world's best-selling foldable phone series and introduced the Galaxy Z Flip 6 at Unpacked in Paris.
After all the hype leading to the event, Samsung finally revealed all we wanted to know and confirmed that the new foldable brings improvements across the board, from better build quality and beefier hardware to new software features and long-lasting support.
How does the Galaxy Z Flip 6 improve build quality?
Starting with the exterior design and build, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 refines the formula established by its Galaxy Z Flip 5 predecessor and brings flatter surfaces, a speaker slit instead of a grille, and an even slimmer body that has a 6.9mm thickness when unfolded and 14.9mm folded instead of 15.1mm.
More importantly, Samsung says the dual rail hinge has an even stronger folding edge that better distributes shock on external impact. Armor Aluminum And for the foldable screen, Samsung improved the crease through enhanced layers without compromising the panel's durability.
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Everything is topped off by the use of stronger Armor Aluminum for the frame, which has 10% higher scratch resistance, and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for the cover screen and back panel. The phone is now IP48 rated, meaning it should prevent ingress of solid particles and objects greater than 1mm.
What's happening with the hardware?
Of course, Samsung's new flip phone also brings improvements to the hardware. It sports a more powerful chip, extra RAM, a bigger battery, and improved camera specifications. Here is the full spec sheet:
- Armor Aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 panels, IP48 dust and water resistance rating. The phone weighs 187 grams. It measures 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 unfolded.
- 3.4-inch Super AMOLED cover display with a resolution of 720 x 748, a pixel density of 306 pixels per inch, and a 60Hz refresh rate.
- 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex Display with a 2,640 x 1,080 resolution and adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. The same SoC from Qualcomm is used globally.
- 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage options.
- 50MP primary camera with Dual Pixel AutoFocus, Optical Image Stabilization, f/1.8 aperture, 1.0-micron pixels, and 85-degree FOV.
- 12MP ultrawide camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1.12-micron pixels, and 123-degree FOV.
- 10MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture, 1.22-micron pixels, and 85-degree FOV.
- 4,000mAh dual battery with wireless charging, Wireless PowerShare, and 25W wired charging.
- Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 5G connectivity, multi eSIM capabilities + one Nano SIM slot.
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
Samsung will release the Galaxy Z Flip 6 in four standard colors and three online-exclusive shades. The standard colors are Silver Shadow, Yellow, Blue, and Mint. Online-exclusive colors include Crafted Black, White, and Peach. Availability may differ by region and carrier.
Software enhancements and new Galaxy AI goodies
As you might expect if you're familiar with Samsung's way of doing things, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 ships with a fresh version of One UI — the company's proprietary Android interface.
However, since we're fully immersed in the age of mobile AI, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 also introduces a few Galaxy AI improvements alongside the new One UI 6.1.1 firmware update. And, to top it all off, Samsung will support the Galaxy Z Flip 6 with seven major OS upgrades for seven years.
As far as AI is concerned, Samsung says the Google Gemini app is now fully integrated with the phone, albeit, it is already available for other One UI 6.1 devices as far as we can tell. Either way, if you want to use Gemini in parallel with Galaxy AI, you can access and enable it by summoning Google Assistant.
A new Galaxy AI feature called Sketch to Image lets you draw rough sketches on photos and then use Generative Edit to convert your rough sketch into something much more elaborate. You can use this feature to draw things realistically, cartoonish, stylized, and so on.
There's also a Portrait Studio mode, which lets you turn portrait photos (containing a single person) into a 3D cartoon, animated, comic book character, and more, using Generative Edit.
On the productivity side of things, Samsung Notes boasts the same clever transcription capabilities for audio files as the Voice Recorder app. It works exactly as it did in Voice Recorder, except now it also works in Notes.
Samsung says the existing Instant Slow-Mo feature, which lets you instantly view normal videos in slow motion inside the Gallery app, now allows you to save and share clips.
For camera enthusiasts, the Galaxy Z Flip 6's FlexCam boasts a clever AI-powered Auto Zoom feature that automatically finds the best framing for your dynamic scene.
Another Galaxy Z Flip 6-exclusive feature is called Suggested Replies, which uses Galaxy AI and builds on Chat Assist to help you reply to messages quickly from the cover screen, a.k.a. Flex Window. This feature works by analyzing your previous seven messages in the conversation. It contextualizes three replies based on that information and lets you choose one to use as a reply for the last message you received.
And speaking of AI-powered communications, Samsung says Live Translate is no longer exclusive to its Phone app and now works with third-party apps.
Last but not least, FlexWindow gets four new widgets: Samsung Health, SmartThings, Reminder, and News, and four new optimized apps: Facebook, Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Messages.
More after the video…
All in all, Samsung appears to have touched on everything and brought all-around improvements through the Galaxy Z Flip 6. It's better built, it has a refined design, better cameras, improved cover screen features, more powerful hardware, and new and exciting AI-powered tools and features.
If you think the Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the right phone for you, consider pre-ordering one now and enjoying the early adopter benefits Samsung may have prepared for you in your market. Hit the pre-order button below for more details.
