Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review: Great phone held back by price

Where to buy

Would we recommend the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6?

The short answer is if price wasn't a factor, I'd 100% recommend the Z Flip 6. It's definitely up there among the best if you're into foldable tech.

Now for the slightly longer version…

Any flip phone will always bring out the nostalgic millennial in me, but the Galaxy Z Flip 6's premium, sleek design and impressive durability take it to a whole new level.

Couple that with a bigger battery, faster chipset, enhanced cameras, and cool AI tricks, and you'll find yourself falling in love just a little bit more.

But that's just my standalone verdict.

Comparing it to the Z Flip 5? There's not a day and night difference, and the eye-watering price makes it hard to justify an upgrade (it's $150 more expensive than last year too!). This makes it a bit of a hard sell unless you are able to snag a massive deal such as impressive trade-in value, or if price isn't a concern.

Galaxy Z Flip 6 design

I'm a sucker for a matte finish and this year the Z Flip 6 delivers after saying buh-bye to the glossy back.

Otherwise, it's mostly kept the same sophisticated, compact design and folds into a neat square, perfect for pocket storage. This is despite having a larger battery.

So it looks very similar to the Z Flip 5 but the rings around the cameras are more prominent now, which gives it a pretty fun look.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

There's again sturdy Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the outside panels and a reinforced armour aluminium hinge.

What's new, though, is that now there is dust resistance (finally!) on top of water resistance with a rating of IP48. So in theory, you can submerge it under 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.

Galaxy Z Flip 6 display

The 6.7-inch foldable OLED display is vibrant and sharp, with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling. It's all essentially unchanged from last year.

The crease in the middle where the screen folds over is pretty minimal. You can't even really feel it, though it is noticeable from certain angles.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

It does take a minute to get used to a slimmer design plus a narrower keyboard, but I personally think if I had a case on it would be much easier to hold. The aluminium sides do get slippery, making the flip a tad bit awkward to hold.

Other than that, it's fantastic streaming movies and shows on the 6.7-inch screen.

Samsung's also bumped up the brightness to 2,600 nits, making it easy to see the display, even on sunny days.

Cover screen

The 3.4-inch OLED cover screen is handy for quick glances, sending short responses to messages or running certain apps. And you can go funky with the wallpapers that include moving animations.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

The cover screen isn't as functional as the Motorola Razr's cover, but it gets the job done with notifications and widgets.

My main gripe is you need to install the Good Lock launcher to add up to 12 widgets. It should have been built in by default.

Galaxy Z Flip 6 performance

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 runs on Samsung's One UI 6.1.1 with Android 14 and comes with seven generations of OS and security patch upgrades. It's also designed with some cool foldable-specific features.

For example, you can split certain apps for better multitasking on the foldable screen. I tried this with Live Interpreter and it was seriously good, and probably my favourite feature of the lot.

You can essentially speak into the microphone and say whatever it is you want. The person on the other side will see a translation pop-up on the cover screen. It makes face-to-face conversations in two languages super easy.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Another AI feature that was kinda cool is the image generation capability. You can scribble something on your image and it'll generate it for you. I sketched a cloud like a two-year-old and it gave me a more visually appealing version (FYI, this sunset picture was taken with the Galaxy Z Flip 6).

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

The Z Flip 6 is the first of its series to have vapour chamber cooling, so you'd expect better thermal management here. But I did notice the phone heat up fairly quickly a few minutes into playing Call of Duty which I wasn't expecting.

Galaxy Z Flip 6 battery

The battery capacity has been bumped up from 3700mAh to 4000mAh which is fab! I still had about 20% juice left after using it from 7am to 10:30pm on a normal weekday.

This included streaming Netflix on my commute to and from work. Taking pictures for about 20 minutes, playing Call of Duty for about 15 minutes, watching YouTube for about 35 minutes, listening to a podcast for 18 minutes, scrolling on TikTok for about 45 minutes and then the usual WhatsApp and casual phone calls during the day.

Keep in mind that I use my phone a moderate amount of time on most days so I was more than happy with the battery life.

I did get annoyed with how long it took to fully charge the flip, which was around an hour and a half.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 cameras

The Galaxy Z Flip 6's camera setup has been noticeably revamped.

The main camera now boasts a 50MP sensor from the S24 series, paired with a 12MP ultrawide lens. It's also pretty cool that you can fold the phone halfway and take pictures and videos. It made me want to start vlogging straight away!

Daytime shots on the flip are fantastic. The images come out sharp, detailed, and free of noise, with colours that look natural and vibrant. My main complaint will be sometimes there's excess sharpening which makes the images look more processed that you'd like.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Skin tones look great, though facial details could be sharper. But I do really like how the shadows play out.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Low-light performance is solid too though again, images can come out a bit sharp.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Selfies? You can use the main camera with the cover screen for high-quality shots or the 10MP front camera for convenience. I was generally quite happy with the results as your average everyday user who likes taking pictures.

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

Image: Mariam Gabaji/Finder

All opinions expressed in this review are based on the author's own experience with the phone. Use this review for informational purposes only.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 v Z Flip 5 specs and price

Here's a quick rundown of the specs and pricing for the two models so you can see where they're similar and where the Z Flip 6 has come in with improvements.

How to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 6 on a plan?

All the major telcos - Optus, Vodafone and Telstra - are offering the Z Flip 6 on a 12-, 24- or 36-month plan. You can compare these in the table.

How to buy the Galaxy Z Flip 6 outright

Price

RRP: $1,799.00

Where to buy

Check availability at eBay

Check availability at Amazon