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Samsung’s popular foldable-screen Z Flip phone returns in 2024 with a faster chip, longer battery life, and more AI.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is the smaller of Samsung’s two new foldable phones for this year, launching alongside the book-style Z Fold 6. It takes the flat sides and slab-like design of Samsung’s standard Galaxy S24+ and folds it in half, turning a large-screen phone into a compact clamshell.
The new Flip has plenty of small improvements across the board, but price isn’t one of them. It’s priced at £1,049 (€1,199/$1,099/AU$1,799), which is up $100/AU$150 from last year, making it the same price as the S24+ at launch and more expensive than its flip-style rivals.
The exterior of the phone has been refined with flattened sides and a matte finish on the aluminium, giving it a more modern, monolithic look. The 3.4-inch display on the outer shell remains unchanged, capable of displaying the time, date, notifications, quick settings and various widgets. It can run a small selection of apps, such as maps or WhatsApp, but it doesn’t match the utility of some of the best from rivals such as Motorola.
The 6.7-inch indoor display is smooth, crisp, and brighter than its predecessor, making it much easier to view outdoors in direct sunlight. The crease where it folds is also less noticeable to both the eyes and fingers. It’s still a great way to fit a large screen into a smaller package, but the foldable screen is still made of a softer material than a traditional phone, so it needs more careful treatment to keep it from getting scratched or broken.
Specifications
Main screen: 6.7-inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED Infinity Flex display (425 ppi)
Cover Screen: 3.4 inch AMOLED display
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 3rd Gen
RAM: 12 GB
Storage: 256 or 512 GB
OS: One UI 6.1 based on Android 14
Camera: 50+12MP rear, 10MP front
Connectivity: 5G, nano sim + esim, wifi6E, NFC, Bluetooth 5.3 and GNSS
Waterproof: IP48 (1.5 meters deep for 30 minutes)
Folded dimensions: 85.1 x 71.9 x 14.9 mm
Unfolded dimensions: 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm
Weight: 187 grams
Speed with a two-day battery life
Inside, the Flip 6 has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip as the S24 Ultra, with 12GB of RAM and a starting 256GB of storage, which should be plenty for most. That makes it one of the fastest Android phones available, capable of handling anything you could throw at it. The chip is also more efficient than previous versions, which, combined with a higher-capacity battery, means the Flip 6 lasts longer than previous generations.
It lasts a good 48 hours between charges with moderate use, which includes using the screen for about three hours a day and a couple of hours a day on 5G. That means you’ll need to charge it every other day or so and the phone should last through the most intense days.
It takes about 90 minutes to fully charge it with a 25W charger, but it’s not included in the box. The Flip also has wireless charging.
Android 14 with lots of AI
The Flip 6 runs One UI 6.1 based on Android 14 and will receive software and security updates For seven years after his releasemaking it one of the longest supported phones alongside Google’s Pixel 8, only Fairphone offers longer support.
It has a similar AI feature set to the S24 series, including voice transcription, translation services, various summary tools for notes and the web, and AI assistance for quick message responses and review tools.
The phone also supports Google Gemini AI Chatbot and the excellent Circle to searchNew from Samsung is Interpreter Mode, which places translated text on the Cover Screen so you can prop the phone up in an L-shape and show it to someone else to translate live conversations.
The most interesting of the new tools, Photo Assist, is found in the gallery app. It can modify photos by turning simple hand-drawn sketches into appropriately scaled photorealistic objects inserted into a scene. With a bit of trial and error, you can produce very impressive images that don’t look manipulated at first glance, and from rudimentary finger drawings. The tool is quite fun to experiment with, as it produces AI-generated images that are watermarked.
Improved camera
The Flip 6 has a new 50-megapixel main camera that’s joined by a 12MP ultra-wide on the outside and a 10MP selfie shooter on the inside.
The new main camera takes great images at 12MP resolution by default, allowing it to handle a variety of lighting conditions and produce photos with good detail and color balance. It also has a 2x on-sensor zoom, which works great in bright conditions, as does up to 10x digital zoom at the top. The camera can take full-size 50MP images, which are sharp in bright conditions, but most will get better results with the default mode. The 12MP ultra-wide camera is decent for group photos and landscapes.
The internal camera is solid, but, as with previous-generation Flips, the phone can take much better selfies with the main camera using the cover screen as a viewfinder. The camera app is packed with useful and fun features. New this year is auto-framing mode, so you can prop the Flip up and have the camera follow you around an area, capturing photos when you show it your palm.
Sustainability
Samsung doesn’t provide an expected lifespan for the battery, but it should last more than 500 full charge cycles at least 80% of its original capacity.
The phone is generally repairable. Internal screen repairs cost around £350. Samsung offers a self-repair programme, as well as Care+ accidental damage insurance which reduces the cost of repairs to £119.
The Flip 6 is made from recycled aluminum, glass, and plastic. Samsung offers trade-in and recycling systems for older devices. The company publishes annual sustainability reports but not impact assessments for individual products.
Price
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 starts at £1,049 (€1,199/$1,099/A$1,799).
For comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 costs £1,799, the Galaxy S24+ costs £999 and the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra costs £1,000.
Verdict
The sixth-generation Flip is a fairly minor update that features some small design improvements and a big boost in battery life to help keep it on par with regular premium phones.
Flattened sides and coloured accents give it a more modern feel. The internal display is one of the best on the market, rivalling the flat screen of a quality phone in colour, smoothness and brightness. Two-day battery life means it should last through the most intensive days of use, while an improved main camera and some fun new AI tricks are welcome additions.
The exterior screen looks nice, but it’s not as big or as useful as some rivals. However, no other Flip comes with seven years of software support from launch, which allows you to use it for longer and increases its resale value.
The Z Flip 6 remains one of the best foldable phones on the market, and remains the best option for packing a large screen into a small pocket. However, the durability of all foldable displays can’t compare to that of standard phones, requiring careful handling and potentially costly repairs.
Advantages: A great big screen that folds in half, IP48 waterproof, good camera, great software with seven years of updates, lots of AI features, solid battery life, fun.
Cons: expensive, less durable than a regular phone and expensive to repair, no telephoto camera, not a major upgrade, cover screen is less useful than rivals.